By: Precious Mills
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS (Wednesday 10th November, 2021) — “So if you’re a business operating in St. Kitts and Nevis, you can access up to 30,000 Euros in grant funding,” said Manager of Competitiveness and Export Promotion at the Caribbean Export Agency (Caribbean Export) Dr. Damie Sinanan, who is currently on mission to the Federation relating to the 2021 Direct Supports Grants Programme (DSGP) — a total of 3 million Euros provided through the European Union — aimed at helping businesses “bounce forward” from the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by providing upfront access to funds.
He was speaking at a press conference held on Wednesday 10th November 2021 at the conference room of the Ministry of International Trade, Industry, Commerce, Consumer Affairs and Labour located at Bladen Commercial Development in St. Kitts.
“This particular iteration of our grant funding focused directly on COVID relief and recovery. We want to focus on building better companies, more resilient companies coming out of this COVID-19 pandemic. We know that the private sector was hit very hard by the pandemic due to lockdowns, due to loss of customers and restrictive travel, and so economies that are heavily dependent on tourism including St. Kitts and Nevis really felt the brunt of the pandemic,” Dr. Sinanan stated.
He added: “The purpose of this grant is to really look at how we can assist businesses in bouncing forward — not bouncing back but bouncing forward — because we want to build more resilient businesses.”
Under the current call launched in October, the grant amount has been doubled to a maximum of 30,000 Euros per grant, compared to the previous 15,000 Euros. Areas covered under the grants programme include digitalization, renewable energy, marketing plans, new products and services, as well as purchasing of machinery and equipment. Dr. Sinanan urged businesses in the Federation: “Please do not let this opportunity pass you by. Apply for the grant funding. It can make a world of difference in your business and also make a world of difference to the economic development of St. Kitts and Nevis.” For more information, visit www.carib-export.com or email dsgpinfo@carib-export.com.