Yesterday, Thursday 20 September, the Medina government launched the single platform for small business through which entrepreneurs can expedite incorporating a company at a cost of RD$2,500 using the facility available at the chamber. The new department is under Deputy Minister Ignacio Mendez at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

For the occasion, Maribel Gasso, president of the Santo Domingo Chamber of Commerce, gave a speech in which she called for the government to eliminate the 10 barriers that most affect small business in the country identified by the Market Probe study of 80 small businesses. She mentioned that small businesses have to pay taxes upfront, and that business laws are the same for small and large business. "We have to accept that while we are all businesspeople, the same rules that apply to big business cannot apply to small business. This is the same that you do not give the same dose of medicine to a teenager as to a child," she said. She urged making procedures and government rulings less complex and burdensome. "We need clear rules that stimulate new business and creativity among Dominicans," she said.

The ten barriers are: 1) lack of business inclusion, 2) deteriorating government credibility on what and for what government funds are used, 3) existence of laws and rulings that are considered unfair, 4) a complex and burdensome tax system, 5) not taking into consideration the size of the company in laws and rulings, 6) government red tape, 7) need for better financing and collection programs, 8) poor state of Dominican education, 9) deficient training programs and 10) technology gap, exacerbated by some of the highest Internet costs in Latin America.

www.camarasantodomingo.org.do/maribel-gasso-insta-eliminar-diez-barreras-que-afectan-desempeno-de-mas-de-un-millon-de-mipymes-y-sofocan-el-desarrollo-economico/

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