MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Promotes Entrepreneurship Through 20-week Startup Design Course, Supports “Small Business Credit Guarantee Scheme”

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), the monetary authority of six Caribbean nations including Antigua and Barbuda, in partnership with the Antigua Barbuda Investment (ABI) Bank, a private bank founded in 1990, recently hosted a 20-week entrepreneurship course in the country of Antigua and Barbuda aimed at helping aspiring entrepreneurs to improve their presentation and business plan development skills. Three groups of entrepreneurs concluded the course by presenting their business plans to a panel of bankers who provided feedback on the plans. The bankers comprising this panel were drawn from the Antigua Commercial Bank, the Eastern Amalgamated Bank and the Caribbean Union Bank, which all participate in the Government of Antigua and Barbuda’s Small Business Credit Guarantee Scheme, which is administered by the government-owned Antigua and Barbuda Development Bank (ABDB). Through this scheme, ABDB provides guarantees of up to 80 percent of loans of up to XCD 50,000 (USD 18,000) disbursed by participating financial institutions to small businesses that have insufficient collateral to borrow under standard underwriting guidelines.

The members of ECCB include Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Financial information for ABDB is not publicly available.

By Makai McClintock, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

Caribarena Antigua, “Bankers Provide Feedback,” http://www.caribarena.com/antigua/business/banking/103760-bankers-provide-feedback.html

MicroCapital: January 13, 2012, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) Releases 2010 Latin America & the Caribbean Regional Snapshot,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-microfinance-information-exchange-mix-releases-2010-latin-america-the-caribbean-regional-snapshot/

MicroCapital: May 6, 2011, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Spanish Fund for Latin America and The Caribbean (SFLAC), International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Assist Salvadoran Microfinance Institution (MFI) Ahorro y Credito de RL in Developing Savings Product, Building Sustainable Business Plan”, https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-spanish-fund-for-latin-america-and-the-caribbean-sflac-international-finance-corporation-ifc-to-assist-salvadoran-microfinance-institution-mfi-ahorro-y-credito-amc-de-rl-in/

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