Great effort is being placed on improving the lot of small and micro businesses in Barbados.
Minister of Energy and Business Development, Kerrie Symmonds, shared this today, as he addressed the opening of his Ministry’s Business Fair and Expo, on the grounds of the Warrens Office Complex, Warrens, St. Michael.
Mr. Symmonds told his audience, including the exhibitors: “The time has come when a tremendous amount of effort and focus will now be placed on improving the lot of the small and micro businesses in Barbados. And this is but the first step in what will be a developmental journey, with a view to moving every small business…to the level of medium size and every micro-size business to the level of being small.
“We want all businesses, whether you’re in services, supplies or…producing goods, …to think in terms of how you can move from 166 square miles as your marketplace, to think…of how you can move to the Caribbean being your marketplace, and by extension, United States of America…, and aim to go higher and further.”
In highlighting National Hero, The Right Excellent Robyn Rihanna Fenty’s entrepreneurial accomplishments, the Minister gave the assurance that he, and colleague Minister of State in Business Development, Sandra Husbands, would continue to find ways of putting the policies in place to unleash the unmeasurable talents of the people of Barbados.
He later told the media that today’s expo was the “first instalment” in what would be the biggest effort at business services development in Barbados.
He stated that it was a concentrated effort to educate the business community, so as to assist them in avoiding the pitfalls of doing business in this environment. He again repeated that the fair and expo would be staged on a quarterly basis.
Mr. Symmonds continued: “Eighty per cent of the activity economically in this country is small and micro businesses. So, therefore, we have to start to think creatively about how we can reach out to these folks and help them.
“I am the first to accept that part of that journey is financial assistance, but it goes above and beyond seed capital or working capital. It also goes into helping people navigate the pitfalls and difficulties and understand how to overcome the challenges, and meet the regulatory requirements that we have in the business community.”
The Minister stressed that it was necessary to educate business people and give them the opportunity to learn how to stay afloat and alive in this difficult environment.