The recent revelation that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has launched a funded program – Women Growing Together in America – aims to encourage women entrepreneurs in the hemisphere to integrate their businesses into foreign trade and regional value chains. of recognition throughout the region. Here in the Caribbean, above all in Guyana, the usual ‘huff and puff’ for an entrepreneurial path to economic emancipation for women has not been adequately matched, even remotely, by practical steps to achieve the goal that. Over time, the Stabroek Business has conducted numerous interviews with local women-owned micro and small businesses. A significant number of these have blamed the lack of any real institutional support from government and Business Support Organizations (BSOs) for their failure to put their businesses on a sound long-term basis.
We fully anticipate the disapproval of our BSOs in response to our assertion that, historically, these have been gender, the leadership very balanced in favor of men in mostly unprotected positions. We challenge them, however, to do anything even more like a persuasive case to the contrary.