UWI-Roytec, TTMA renew MoU for small business training

UWI’s School of Business and Applied Studies Ltd (UWI-ROYTEC) and the TT Manufacturers Association (TTMA) have renewed their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the period September 20, 2023-September 19, 2025.

Through this MoU, a release said, UWI-ROYTEC and the TTMA collaborates to offer the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) tool kit to latter’s membership, the local manufacturing sector, the public and the Caribbean region.

The overarching goal of the SME tool kit is to make available much needed technical training that will lead to increased productivity, efficiency and profitability of local and regional SMEs.

The objectives of the toolkit training programme include:

Increasing the competitiveness of SMEs through training and applied studies;

Identifying the unique problems and challenges of SMEs locally and crafting creative and relevant solutions;

Ensuring the export readiness of SMEs.

Since the beginning of this partnership in 2019, approximately 300 people and companies have benefitted from training in the areas of: strategic business management, business development strategies, customer relationship management sales generation for SMEs, quality management, production management, resource and operations management, innovation and new product development, information and communications technology management, people management, financial management, export management and cost accounting.

At a signing ceremony on Tuesday, TTMA CEO Dr Mahindra Ramdeen highlighted the importance of the partnership to the continued development and growth of the local manufacturing sector, primarily the non-energy sectors.

This training will allow the local labour force to compete on a regional level.

Wendy Augustus, Executive Director-UWI-ROYTEC, explained that the SME Tool Kit partnership has played and continues to play a pivotal role in UWI-ROYTEC fulfilling its strategic mandate to expand its Corporate Training Programmes to build human capital both locally and regionally.