As Government moves to enhance Bridgetown, at least one business owner there has been urged to help promote Golden Square and its significance to Barbadians.
The appeal came on Wednesday from Small Business Minister, Dwight Sutherland, as he delivered remarks at the official opening of Philip Forrester’s new IV Play Deli at River Road, St. Michael.
While acknowledging that the deli’s presence in Bridgetown was a welcomed one as Government sought to transform The City, Minister Sutherland said: “It is ironic that IV Play Deli will be opened next door to Golden Square, just in Jordan’s Lane here. And, I would want Mr. Forrester in his marketing to use all of the marketing tools and techniques, as tourists journey to this country [such] that Golden Square be part of his marketing theme because as we seek to build out our tourism product, we still have to recognize our heritage and what is significant to this country.”
He said long before the 1973 Treaty of Chaguaramas that addressed CARICOM integration was signed, Barbados had Clement Payne, of Barbadian parentage, though born in Trinidad, and his actions spoke “to the enfranchisement and empowerment of people in this country”.
Alluding to the Guyana-born Forrester residing in Barbados and affording locals and tourists alike the cuisine of a Guyanese and Trinidadian nature, Mr. Sutherland stressed that the Treaty of Chaguaramas spoke to the deepening of regional and economic integration among Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica.
And, he said of IV Play Deli: “Here we are today living the tenets of true regional integration and the Treaty of Chaguaramas, what it set about to achieve back in 1973.”
He pointed out that the Treaty set out not only to achieve the movement of people, but also the movement of services and to recognize the role that the micro, small and medium enterprise sector has to play in the economic development of Barbados.
The Minister said it also recognized the role of building franchises and forming joint venture relationships because at that time small territories could not compete on a global scale.
Stating that Mr. Forrester was on the cutting edge of franchisement, Mr. Sutherland said the world was our oyster and we could not be limited by our country’s size in providing a service or goods.
And, he added the time had come to utilize all the tenets of the Treaty of Chaguaramas and the Caribbean Single Market and Economy, where businesses like IV Play, either through a franchise or joint venture, could later become like “a KFC, a Wendy’s or a Burger King”.
“Take what you have and continue to build on it. Take what you have and inspire other small businesses in this country…. And inspire other entrepreneurs in this country,” the Minister advised Mr. Forrester and business partner, Lawrence Brewster.