General Manager of the Barbados Trust Fund Limited (BTFL), Gerry Amos, presents a cheque to client Naya Jordan, proprietor of Gemini Blessed, a vegetation and livestock business. (C. Pitt/BGIS)

General Manager of the Barbados Trust Fund Limited (BTFL), Gerry Amos, has praised Minister of Energy, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Kerrie Symmonds, for ensuring that the entity received the funding to assist aspiring entrepreneurs to own businesses.

He expressed his gratitude last Thursday during a networking and loan disbursement session to 125 new clients at the Parkinson Resource Centre, The Pine, St. Michael.

Mr. Amos added: “It was important to have all of this happening just before Christmas, and I can’t express how happy I am to see this happening…to see the joy on people’s faces, and we worked extremely hard to make this possible. When I say extremely hard, we have been working seven days sometimes until 8:00 p.m., just to make this happen.”

Meanwhile, one of the recipients of the funds, Deong Williams of Deodan Enterprises, a food catering and food and beverage training company, described the funds he received as “my life saver”.

“Working in the food and beverage industry for more than 25 years, it has been difficult finding a job….  Mr. Amos and Mr. Dottin said ‘you put in too much we want to help you’,and it is still a little struggle right now…”

Mr. Williams continued: “If they had the capital to give more Barbadians, it would be a great thing for this country.  It is following up with training and it has opened my eyes to let me see that you can do this and you can still go forward and be successful.”

Another recipient, Naya Jordan, proprietor of Gemini Blessed, a vegetation and livestock business, said with so many people laid off, receiving funding from any agency showed what was possible after “your situation”.

“Funding is quite needed, especially since COVID, when a lot of persons have gone into establishing a business to not only survive, but to establish themselves….  I am young, and I will try to utilise that advantage now, so that I can build on something generational. I have two children and I really need to put things in place, and getting the best tools to ensure that my business is viable is necessary, and that is what the Trust Loan has been able to provide…,” Ms. Jordan emphasised.

julie.carrington@barbados.gov.bb

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