By Annelia Nixon

anixon@tribunemedia.net

Bahamas Accelerator Small Business Development Centre held a press conference yesterday to award recipients of the 2024 Women Entrepreneurs Initiative, giving over $600,000 worth of grants to 83 women, including those on the Family Islands.

Executive director of SBDC  said recipients who did not receive a grant reached out to “express their disappointment in all manner". She said she understands  that everyone would want to receive a grant but realistically it isn’t possible. 

“The reality is not everyone who applies will be granted, “ Mrs Rolle said. “We have repeatedly said, and we need to continue to say, that all of our grant programmes are overwhelmingly oversubscribed. Every single grant programme, in particular the women’s entrepreneur initiative, compared to all others is always overwhelmingly oversubscribed.”

Mrs Rolle described the process of elimination of recipients as the adjudication process. She said it is a “two tier process”. The first tier consists of information sessions which highlight and details regarding the programme. She said this normally happens before the programme launches. Then the application opens.

“So first level of adjudication is really ticking whether or not the applicant has fulfilled all of the requirements and prerequisites to that training,” Mrs Rolle said. “Now if there were any type of surveys, tick, the request or requirements for certain documents, business licence, invoice, etc. Tick, tick, tick.  That pool is determined just based off those pure requirements, nothing else.”

Mrs Rolle said applicants who have met all the requirements move on to the second tier and are scored, on a rubric, by business advisors, consultants and external  participants, as well as some  of our SBDC team members.

“Second level adjudication then has a scoring mechanism or format based on a rubric and that rubric looks against a number of variables,” she said. “One, market viability, innovation, use of funds. Those are some of the things that are checked against the application and then the scoring. Based on the score and then against the budget already determined for the programme, those applicants are selected based on  the scoring.” 

Mrs Rolle said SBDC has intentionally ensured that more than 50 percent of the budget goes towards Family Island businesses. While recipients owned businesses with varying functions, a few had the same end goal, spreading knowledge about women and fertility. 

Recipient Dashanae Butler said she first dreamed up her business, Be Natural, which consists of self-care kits in 2021. She said the uncertainty of job security during the pandemic pushed her to start a business. However, she said the passion for the products she sells came about in 2022 when she relied on her own stock to help heal herself with self-care after her pregnancy experience. 

“I actually went through a really traumatic pregnancy period and so in that period of just being sick, not well, overwhelmed, postpartum is real, all of that stuff, Be Natural is actually what I turned to,” Mrs Butler said. “I actually used my inventory at that time because there wasn’t much going on and  I would go to my bathroom and I would do my self care routine. I would say my mantras and that was like my saving grace. A lot of things happen in our lives as women and we kind of put on a  face and carry on. As I realised, this was something I could actually share with my sisters, that is where the heart and passion of Be Natural came from.”

Mrs Butler said she plans to use the grant to expand her line from natural soaps to natural serums, lip balms and other natural products. She also said she wants to use the grant for a media push which she noted she learned a lot about during the Digital Diva Course with SBDC. She gave SBDC praise for their services.

“Small Business Development Centre really helps you and equips you,” she said. “When you come in you may not know what to do but I love that they had the structure where  you have the courses. Go for your dreams. Girls run the world. There’s nothing that we cannot do.”

Doctor Latazia Stuart owns Doctor Tazz Bahamas consulting Agency and provides fertility coaching services for individuals as well as seminars, trainings, and workshops for corporate entities that “are looking to help their employees navigate fertility challenges in the workplace.” She said her business was born from the experience she had with her own fertility problems. 

Mrs Stuart said she sees the grant provided to her by SBDC helping her in the marketing area and to spread the word. 

“One of the signature programmes that I did this year was hosting a fertility empowerment international conference,” Mrs Stuart said. “So, I’m preparing to do the same conference again in April 2025 and my goal is to use funding from this grant to host that, where I'm able to provide education, bring in doctors, bring in resources, to continue expanding the resources and support of our community.” 

Mrs Rolle says the future of SBDC looks bright but it is also looking to meet demands when there aren’t enough resources to do so. Despite this, Mrs Rolle said SBDC is trying its best.

“We have an e-commerce platform that we’re about to launch that will give access to some of our clients to have their products displayed for local and international purchase,” she explained. “So, we are looking at having multi-purpose initiatives, not only training  but the other levels or changes in terms of  funding modalities that we can assist entrepreneurs. We are looking to expand  our partnership, regionally and internationally that give entrepreneurs another level of support that is just  unknown to them currently. So, the future of the SBDC is bright.”