Trust Fund expands rural outreach to boost small businesses

The Barbados Trust Fund Ltd is ramping up its outreach efforts in rural communities, launching an aggressive programme to engage entrepreneurs in St Lucy and St Peter as part of its 2025 plan to support small and micro businesses, the fund’s general manager Gerry Amos has told lawmakers.

“For 2025 and 2026, we are rolling out a very aggressive community programme,” he told Parliament, meeting in committee on the Appropriations Bill.

“We are going back to those communities to ensure that we go on a road trip, business to business, trying to engage more persons from these parishes to take the opportunity to join the Trust Fund family. We realised that a lot of persons in communities are not aware of the Barbados Trust Fund Ltd. So we felt that it was in our interest to get out there and take our programme to these entrepreneurs to make sure that we help them to enhance their business.”

Minister of Business and Energy Senator Lisa Cummins announced that a new satellite office has also been established in St Peter to facilitate easier access to the programme for residents in the north of the island. Additionally, the trust fund will be hosting monthly pop-up events that will provide entrepreneurs with opportunities to showcase their products and services.

The minister added that the trust fund had distributed roughly more than $10 million in loans over the past five years, with capital injections ranging from $2m to $3.4m annually.

The funds have primarily supported businesses in the retail trade, services, tourism, agriculture, and cultural industries. (SZB)