Minister of State in Foreign Trade and Business, Sandra Husbands, has reiterated the importance of the growth of Barbados’ micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, describing it as “critical”.
Ms. Husbands expressed the view today as she addressed the official opening of a Workshop on Business Plan Writing, coordinated by the Small Business Development Unit of the Ministry of Energy and Business, as well as the Barbados Trust Fund Limited, at the Warrens Office Complex.
She told those undertaking the one-day training that the MSME sector could not grow unless the services provided to enable them to do so were positioned to help them make those next steps.
“So, this particular programme has been designed to help us better train our entrepreneurs, so that they can pivot, retool, and reinvent themselves. This is part of our effort to empower and enfranchise more ordinary Barbadians to live out their entrepreneurial dreams. Those entrepreneurial dreams mean something to families.
“If each entrepreneur is able to succeed, it gives hope to the family members that the things they want to strive for in their lives are possible. When they fail, not only does a family lose the opportunity for his dreams, but a nation remains small, and struggles for economic development every time there is failure in our MSME and entrepreneurial class,” Ms. Husbands told her audience.
She indicated that MSMEs should have access to constant training, shaped and packaged to suit their circumstances, and delivered in ways they could absorb and easily translate into their everyday business.
In addition, she said, they needed ongoing hand-holding support. She posited the view that the dynamics of the global business environment and its susceptibility to various nuances of change necessitated that the participants be kept abreast of what was happening within the global market space.
Ms. Husbands told the business support officials they needed to be proactive and intentional about the quality of service they delivered to clients.
“Within this Ministry, one of the things we wish…to do is to set ourselves some standards of service, and to continue to stretch those standards, until we’re able to deliver global excellence in our personal service to our MSME sector. It is by experiencing it that they recognise what they themselves must do in the delivery of service to their customers, and therefore help us to build a world-class Barbados,” she stated.
In highlighting the importance of the training for the business support officials, Minister Husbands said it would help their clients to stay ahead of their competition, which is global and fierce.
Chief Business Development Advisor in the Ministry of Energy and Business, Anderson Cumberbatch, said today’s training was intended to upskill the officers so they could better position their clients to leverage the many opportunities that would emerge in the local and international market space.
Mr. Cumberbatch told the participants: “This business plan development training will also strengthen your ability to structure and build the entrepreneurial vision of your clients, by helping them to define their business mission and future development, among other things.…
“So within the Ministry, … our mission is to improve the sector, and to get the sector to contribute greater to Barbados’ economic development.”
The training will be conducted over five consecutive Wednesdays.