Program to analyze smaller Caribbean businesses' strengths

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Small and medium-sized businesses in the Caribbean looking for help on how to better manage their enterprises can now get some free advice courtesy of Scotiabank and the Inter-American Investment Corporation, a multilateral financial institution.

The program was announced Tuesday morning at a press conference during the 32nd Miami Conference on the Caribbean and Central America at the Inter-Continental Hotel in downtown Miami.

Beginning in March, businesses in the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago will be able to get a free analysis of their weaknesses and strength, as well as training and technical assistance. All of it will be free, and delivered by business students and professors at the University of West Indies, the College of the Bahamas and a network of professors in Belize.

Pat Minicucci, Caribbean region head for Scotiabank, said the Canada-based bank believes that in challenging economic times it is important to support businesses in the region. The bank employs more than 1,200 people in more than 600 offices throughout the Caribbean region.

''We believe in them. We support their dreams and we are committed to helping them succeed,'' Minicucci said of small and medium-sized business enterprises.

The conference kicked off Monday evening with Thomas Shannon, Assistant Secretary of State Western Hemisphere, telling the audience that the Bush administration, through its polices in the region, was ``building the basis for a new partnership in the region.''

He said the challenges for the incoming Obama administration in the region include immigration, public security, integration, enhancing regional institutions and addressing the risks faced by vulnerable economies.

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