The Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) is launching a “Men in Business” initiative, which seeks to increase support for male entrepreneurs.
Eureka Smith, SBDC’s corporate communications manager, told Guardian Business: “We sent out a survey a few months ago focused on the men, what their interests and concerns are, and we got a lot of feedback about what types of support they are looking for. We saw that a lot of men have been requesting more support from the SBDC.
“From that survey, we decided to launch Men in Business. That will kick off last week with a full session where we talk about what to expect from the program. The standalone grant funding, the pitch competition, the mentorship program and the training costs, we’re going to be talking about all of that on September 26.”
A survey of 369 male participants, with 58 percent from New Providence and 42 percent from the Family Islands, revealed that they all want assistance with either starting a business, or maintaining their current business.
“Sixty percent of the respondents fall within the 26 to 45 age range. We did have some younger participants, between 18 and 25. Some of them have been operating for 12 months or less. Some wanted guidance, others wanted mentorship,” Smith said.
“We had four sectors represented: food and beverage, tourism, transportation, and agriculture, all reflecting where growth and support are critical. We had 62 percent of the participants asking for funding, about 16 percent asking about mentorship, and 11 percent asked about training. Almost 10 percent asked about networking, and less than one percent asked about advocacy.”
The “Men in Business” initiative comes after the SBDC concluded its second Creative Entrepreneurs Grant initiative, with applications closing on August 30. It also comes a month after the SBDC awarded $600,000 in grant funding to 83 women.
“We deal with everybody, we don’t deal only with females,” said Smith. We want to make sure we target all the demographics. We don’t want to leave anybody out, so soon, we’ll be launching something for people with disabilities.”
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