Above: Dominica (Photo: Dominica Tourism)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Dominica’s small business sector is showing signs of growth, according to Tourism Minister Ian Douglas.

The improvement comes along with concomitant growth in the tourism industry.

Douglas said more than 1,000 persons had been able to set up their own businesses through Dominica’s Small Business Support Unit.

“We have noticed that those proprietors have graduated to the next level, where they want to expand,” he said. “They have now gone outside the ambit of small business, so they need more capital.”

The challenge for the government now is to keep up with that expansion, he said.

Dominica’s government has now placed another $10 million in the National Bank of Dominica on loan to the National Development Foundation of Dominica.

That funding will target young persons who have started their own businesses through the Support Unit.

According to the government, approximately 1,600 jobs have been created and sustained in Dominica since the Small Business Support Unit was launched in 2008.