Trade Minister Gopee-Scoon advised the fourth cohort of the Unit Trust Corporation’s (UTC) Scale Up programme that while there are many qualities that make businesses great, resilience is the most important of them all.
"Resilience is important because there are continued changes in the marketplace that could make or break you, but you have to be able to change.
"There may be a change in leadership in other territories who have other plans that may really affect your business."
Gopee-Scoon said there may be other policies or initiatives by other governments that may also inform how well you do and what you do.
"How do you respond? Can you respond? Do you change direction?"
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She was speaking at the opening ceremony for the fourth cohort at the UTC's head office on Independence Square on Friday.
She recalled two periods when businesses had to be particularly resilient, recently during the covid19 pandemic and in the 80s.
"Some of you may not have been around for one of the most difficult times in TT’s history, the 80s. For business it was a truly difficult time in terms of periods of devaluation and periods of recession.
"In that time many businesses would have failed or would have had to appeal to the banks. The banks would have had to be more supportive of customers and change the more traditional means in which the customer/bank relationship existed."
She said covid19 was similarly challenging.
"You had to re-think, reshape and pivot and be strong, and rely on the government, because you don’t know what else is coming."
She mentioned several facilities the government put in place, including the SME stimulus facility and the Eximbank credit facility.
Gopee-Scoon said the SME stimulus facility gave businesses the ability to borrow up to $1.5 million for a period of ten years, with a low interest rate.
She said more than 1,000 SMEs have benefited from the programme to date.
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"You can use it toward your working capital, you can purchase a vehicle – not for personal use but for your business – machinery and equipment. It is, to me, the strongest programme that the government has put in place."
Noting that she had grown up in business, Gopee-Scoon said her father was in retail, her husband was in manufacturing and her son is currently in the creative industry.
She said they all, at one point or another, had to show some form of resilience.
"From my own father, I saw him come from a point of losing everything, having to start again, diversifying to another business and yet still grow and be a true success. So I have seen the benefits of resilience," she said.
The Scale Up programme was launched in 2021. It now boasts a total of 34 companies and 173 graduates.
The programme targets established businesses with high growth potential. Through a series of workshops and mentorship classes, it gives participants the knowledge and tools to scale their operations effectively.
