Sophia business owners, disrupted by housing development, undergo training

A total of seven small business owners living in Sophia, Greater Georgetown, on Wednesday commenced training in capacity building under the Central Housing and Planning Authority’s (CH&PA) livelihood restoration plan.

It is a two-day training session being held at the National Library through a collaborated effort of the Housing Authority, Small Business Bureau and Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).

The training targeted business owners who had to close down their shops to facilitate Phase Two of the Adequate Housing and Urban Accessibility Programme.

It is important to note that these business owners were reimbursed by the government for losses incurred during the period of closure.

Wednesday’s training was on financial management and record-keeping, entrepreneurial awareness and small business development.

The CH&PA Deputy Director, Donett Bess-Bascom, said: “We expect that this initiative will equip the persons who are benefitting from the training to build their capacity to save…it will enable the business households to invest in their businesses so as to ensure they maintain their livelihoods and overall improving their economic conditions.”

Meanwhile, Raushell Underwood, the training facilitator from the S.B.B, said that through this collaborated effort with the CH&PA, the business owners will be exposed to financial literary and record-keeping training.

She said it will maximize their business knowledge skill for the businesses and the community.

The Adequate Housing and Urban Accessibility Programme is an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) funded project being implemented through CH&PA to improve the quality of life for Guyanese in urban and peri-urban Georgetown by providing access to affordable housing and basic infrastructure for low-income populations.

In March, 20 other small business owners who were affected by the construction also participated in the training.