Nedco exhausted

IF YOU blinked, you might have missed it.

At Wednesday’s hearing of Parliament’s committee on state enterprises, Clarry Benn, chairman of the National Entrepreneurship Development Company Ltd (Nedco), made a brief, candid admission about the entrepreneurial relief grant allocated to small businesses during the pandemic.

“There was a large group of people who were eligible for the grant, but resources were totally exhausted,” Mr Benn said. He reported that 5,457 applicants asked Nedco for help. But only 3,373 have received assistance so far.

Over the last two years, as many businesses suffered or were shuttered and as Nedco itself was subject to cost-cutting and mandate reorientation, many complaints were aired about the level of assistance being offered to small businesses.

In response to concerns about the absence of a more robust stimulus package on par with what occurred in other countries, Cabinet ministers stuck to the same theme.

They repeatedly pointed to Government’s billion-dollar spending on social grants, pensions and public-sector employment.

Additionally, they noted the ad-hoc measures introduced during the pandemic to help the unemployed, tenants looking for rent relief and, indeed, small businesses needing support through Nedco.

Mr Benn’s disclosure of funds simply running out brings into focus the deficiencies of the initial allocations.

It is also consistent with the fact that people have expressed frustration when it comes to accessing relief, and widespread complaints about delays in disbursals in other areas.

While Nedco says an additional $20 million will be added to the initial $30 million grant funding allocated by the Ministry of Finance, there remain legitimate questions about whether enough was and is being done.

By some estimates, about 70-85 per cent of all business activity in TT is done through enterprises that employ fewer than 25 people.

These are the very enterprises that have been most vulnerable to the economic impact of the pandemic, with lower levels of reserves, decreased revenue, increased costs, reduced financing options and greater susceptibility to staff shortages due to illness.

Nedco’s Cabinet-mandated shift to a new focus on youth enterprise means it is also intended to zone in on a particularly susceptible subset of small businesses: start-ups, which traditionally pose higher risks.

On Wednesday, much attention was rightly paid to the fact that Nedco’s financial results for the period 2018-2021 are late.

Such delays, which are sadly common at public enterprises, make it harder to gauge exactly how well the company has done when it comes to disbursing its relief grant allocation.

But the picture of a state enterprise possibly buckling under the sheer volume of small businesses seeking help is already crystal clear.