Enterprise Support Project will provide grants and financing to eligible MSMEs through participating financial institutions, which currently include Qredits and the Windward Islands Bank Ltd. MSMEs are important for the economy and employment in Sint Maarten, but often lack the financial resources of larger firms, so are more vulnerable to shocks. Many firms continue to struggle since Hurricane Irma, and have been further severely affected by the unprecedented economic disruption caused by COVID-19. Business continuity planning training will be provided to enterprises and financial institutions in Sint Maarten, as well as training to lenders to improve their MSME lending products. Overall the project intends to provide direct financial assistance to more than 500 MSMEs, including training to 150 MSMEs over the next four years.
Key in this project is the opportunity for St Maarten to properly develop its Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise sector through other important aspects of the project. This is a study to strengthen the resilience of the economy to future shocks, in addition to incorporating trainings to enterprises and participating financial institutions. The aim is to improve MSME lending capabilities to ensure better MSME access to finance and improving resilience of businesses.
Ministry of Economic Affairs and other organizations such as the Social Economic Council (SER) and St Maarten Chamber of Commerce (COCI) to foster a strong and cohesive collaboration in the spirit of Private and Public Partnerships (PPP) to provide support to the NRPB, ESP Team in successfully executing this mission.