EXPORT OR DIE. This is the grim choice which a number of small Barbadian manufacturing companies face, according to Caribbean Export Development Agency spokeswoman Veona Maloney.
She made the comment on Tuesday during a break in an export marketing training programme at Accra Beach Hotel.
Maloney told the DAILY NATION that given the small size of the Barbados market, some businesses could not survive without shipping goods abroad.
“You export or you die,” she said. “As you are aware, Barbados . . . is a very small market and if you want to survive, you do have to export to earn foreign exchange, to benefit from the economies of scale. You can’t survive without exporting.”
Maloney, who is manager, core services, said this was why her agency emphasised training in export marketing for businesses across the Caribbean.
Businesses “should be able to develop export marketing plans, whether they want to export to the Caribbean region or whether they want to export to the international market,” she added.
“They should know exactly all the elements of exporting.”
The programme, which runs for six months, involves 27 participants representing manufacturing concerns in Barbados, Suriname, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica and Grenada.
The project is being funded by Inwent, a German non-profit organisation. (TY)
