Basseterre, St. Kitts, November 4, 2026 (PMO) – Drawing on his own experience of delays in opening his medical practice, Prime Minister the Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew said the Government’s business licence reform was driven by a determination to ease the burden on entrepreneurs and improve coordination across government agencies.
Speaking at the Launch event for the new Business Licence Portal, Prime Minister Drew recalled his own challenges with the application process. Looking deeper into the delay, Dr. Drew recognised a wider problem rested on the government’s shoulders.
“It was really a government issue in terms of how the process was, because the Ministry of Health has to wait until the paper comes from here to them,” he explained.
That experience raised a deeper concern for the Prime Minister, who expressed that if a medical professional was finding the process difficult, what was it like for someone with fewer connections or less familiarity with government offices? He said his own difficulties, together with those shared by others, helped drive the vision for a ‘One-Stop Shop’ where entrepreneurs could receive coordinated support.
The reform addresses a challenge with direct consequences for people investing their savings in a business. For a first-time entrepreneur, those costs can put pressure on a venture before it has earned its first dollar.
Through the new online portal and assistance coordinated by the Ministry of Small Business, Entrepreneurship, Cooperatives and the Creative Economy, the Government is working to make requirements clearer, applications easier to submit and progress easier to follow. Stronger coordination across agencies is intended to reduce the burden on applicants who previously had to move between offices seeking information and updates.
Prime Minister Drew also stressed that access to entrepreneurial opportunity must extend to people with different educational backgrounds. Adding that people with promising business ideas should be able to obtain guidance and support, including those who have had limited formal education.
He also placed the initiative within the Government’s wider effort to modernise public services and diversify the economy under the Sustainable Island State Agenda. Digital transformation, he explained, connects that work and offers practical ways to ease the difficulties people face when accessing essential government services.
For more information and to begin your business licence application, visit businesslicenceskn.gov.kn
