Thirty-one female entrepreneurs were awarded grants through the Women’s Empowerment project (WEP). The project which is funded by the Republic of China on Taiwan, has reached its third and final cohort of participants.
During an award ceremony held at the Kingstown Baptist Church on Friday February 3, Taiwanese Ambassador to St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) His Excellency Peter Sha-Li Lan congratulated the recipients. Ambassador Lan acknowledged urged the recipients to put the funds to good use in order to ensure their businesses advance.
The project was spearheaded by the Centre for Enterprise Development. Co-ordinator of the project, Keisha Phillips said the WEP is geared towards the development of small to medium sized enterprises and forms part of efforts to engender a culture of sound financial management among small business owners.
The third cohort commenced in August and ended on December 31, 2022. The final activity for this project will be the Business Plan Competition, which will see ten (10) finalists. Three of the finalists will each win $26,000 each.
Grants under the WEP have reached EC$243 thousand dollars.