The concept of entrepreneurship occupies a prominent position in most discussions about the economic development of Barbados. The same can be said of its positioning in most of the world.
There is an Entrepreneurship Forum that has as its vision to make Barbados the Entrepreneurship Capital of the World; my friend Dr Basil Springer’s long-enduring CBET model seeks to reduce the failure rate of fledgling businesses but selecting those “with the DNA of an elephant” and providing hands-on nurturing, the Small Business Association also provides assistance to small businesses regardless of DNA.
The Barbados Coalition of Service Industries is a business support organization whose members are organizations that represent small businesses seeking to export. These represent a sample of initiatives on the ground in Barbados.
Add to these, a Ministry of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, the recent re-configuring of the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation to focus on export preparedness, and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Council’s decision to create greater access for technology training not previously offered.
The marketplace and the Internet have a plethora of training from certificates and diplomas, to graduate degrees focused on entrepreneurship. One MBA programme offers graduates “skills and knowledge to build and run their own dream company and functional disciplines”.
Others offer a menu of basic management and marketing oriented curricula. Many governments and universities are offering incubators and a number of companies and organizations are seeking to encourage “entrepreneurship”; to stimulate innovation and creativity.
I am a life-long entrepreneur and have first-hand familiarity with its vagaries. So when I see all these converging and overlapping elements, it does cause some head-scratching and evokes some questions.
1. What definition of entrepreneurship is our government using to drive these myriad allocations of resources? Most dictionaries cite persons who develop and organize business ventures and assume the risks necessary to make a profit.
2. What business model assumptions are being made with regard to entrepreneurships’ contribution to the economic development of Barbados? From what I have been able to observe, a large segment of “self-employed” persons are simply trying to make ends meet while they wait for employment or to augment wages that don’t meet their requirements.
There is another segment like those who sell food on the road, have salons and barbershops, caterers, put on fetes and a host of other consciously contrived businesses that constitute an “underground” economy; doing business in cash.
The smallest segment belongs to those who have business models, business plans, a vision for growth and a true risk-taking mind-set. The latter category have greatest potential to help drive the economic transformation we are seeking. They are continuously being thwarted and frustrated by government policies or non-policies set and enforced by non-entrepreneurial administrators.
My father started a dry-cleaning business in 1931 that still exists today. The irony though, is when my father reached retirement age, he had earned pensions from three different companies. You see, he had a large family, taught us to work the business and worked at least two full-time jobs.
A black-owned business was rare in our community and the children in our family learned and lived a work ethic and resourcefulness that is passed on to all generations.
I believe we should take a closer look at those characteristics that represent the DNA of a high potential entrepreneur.