Government is set to revitalise North East Hamilton with the goal of reawakening the entrepreneurial spirit which once thrived in the area.

Yesterday, the Bermuda Small Business Development Corporation (BSBDC) unveiled detailed and ambitious plans which will see a new Economic Empowerment Zone split into 13 districts to support the implementation of strategic goals borne out of consultations with area residents and business owners.

The EEZ scheme won't just be a glorious paint-over but a total revitalisation, BSBDC staffers said.

The area once served as the hub of black entrepreneurship within the central area of the Island until it saw its target markets scatter with the introduction of integration, they said.

But integration ultimately made it harder for those businesses to continue to operate when faced against well-funded competition that existed outside of the black community. "I'm not saying that integration wasn't good, but these effects were probably off-shoots of it that weren't necessarily anticipated," BSBDC general manager Michelle Khaldun said.

Explaining plans for the EEZ with the help of artists' impressions of how the area will look once developed, Ms Khaldun said the plan is at heart a grass-roots movement.

"It started more than two years ago by actually going straight to the people in the community themselves," she said. "We engaged a consultant to actually walk the streets of North Hamilton. We talked to business people, the residents, people we would call the area's influences social and church leaders and got from them in their own words, what they want from North East Hamilton.

"We then called in the Uptown Market Association (UMA), one of the area's entrepreneurial and social advocacy groups, to sift through our findings to see if we could get some common themes from the data.

"Those themes came out of the UMA's 'nine strategic goals' and we helped them to articulate their business plan. But we realised that all we had was these words.

"And we know that words can simply describe what the area 'can' look like, so we asked a group of architects and designers in Bermuda, especially those that live and work in the EEZ, if they could tell us how we can create this sort of environment from a Planning perspective."

More than ten architects and designers volunteered their time and came together over a period of roughly a year to brainstorm, producing detailed designs and architectural sketches.

However, said Ms Khaldun, the plans must still go through a finalisation period that also requires the approval of other parties such as the Corporation of Hamilton and legislation to make certain provisions and ensure a smooth transition.

"The second thing they came up with," added Ms Khaldun, "is that we need some design guidelines that will actually facilitate the creation of this revitalisation.

"In design you can create regulations and policies that will allow certain commercial uses, open space and all these things are what you need to have for a vibrant community.

"It's been wonderful because we can always say that it has actually been a collaboration, not just a Government initiative, but collaborative with the community itself."

Starting in November, the BSBDC will launch a media blitz that will inform the public about the detailed proposals through various advertising and public round-table discussions.

And, during this period, expected to be roughly 60 days, the public is invited to view all of the imagery and architectural illustrations and submit feedback, added Maryem Biadillah, BSBDC development officer.

"Our presentation will be the result of all of our hard work and in addition to having it available for the community to come and look at, we have the vignettes for the area.

"This will be in addition to all of the legislation and amendments that have happened to procure this project.

"The summary of this plan is going to be available in different areas, we're going to speak on the talk shows, speak to the media and try to make sure that anybody that has an interest and feedback is heard and collected.

"You can tell us any way you feel comfortable as we are getting the information because this is just the beginning for this consultation process it's a product for the community built by the community.

"The Minister of Finance Paula Cox, responsible for the BSBDC, has said many times that Government cannot always do things on its own and the community should feel empowered enough to talk and submit feedback and we agree."

When asked how Government will track the scheme's progress, that will provide low-interest loans, grants totalling around $10 million, as well as tax exemptions, Ms Biadillah said through surveys.

"We have benchmarks and will conduct surveys on a regular basis in order to compare the findings to the benchmarks that we put together," she said.

The Ministry of Finance has granted the UMA and Youth on the Move (YOM) $250,000 each, as touted by Minister Cox during a Court Street news conference last week.

It's earmarked to help with the associations' budgets for the district and will see a number of social programmes created.

However, the groups will not be just handed a cheque to spend without restraints, as they must submit details of their yearly budget to account for their operational expenditures, Ms Khaldun said.

"We (BSBDC) were not architects of those financial plans but we looked at their budgets carefully, vetted them and saw that they were sound and were sanctioned for the purpose of revitalisation," she continued.

"Out of our initial focus group that I spoke about, was the issue of youth development and regarding the YOM, it fit with what the community said and the has the programmes that they are planning to implement."

Bank of Bermuda HSBC has shown serious interest in helping to develop within the Zone through a range of proposed loan designs, The Royal Gazette was told.