The continual training of entrepreneurs is important for the growth and sustainability of their businesses, but many of them are still not taking full advantage of available training opportunities.
According to Natasha Subero, business development officer in company programmes at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, many business owners argue that they would lose business when they leave their operations to undertake training.
She advised however, that training should be looked at for its long-term benefits.
“Entrepreneurs tend to be people who are very deeply involved in their businesses and they find it very hard to pull themselves away from their businesses to do personal development work or business development work. So getting them to take time away from their business to self-develop is a challenge,” she said.
Subero said that, as a result, facilitators had to find innovative ways to help entrepreneurs see the value in developing their skills and seeing training as “a capital investment”.
She said: “We have to help entrepreneurs see that it is not about losing sales today, but what you are doing is ensuring that your business can survive longer and be more profitable into the future. So there is a trade-off.
“Training helps you reduce the cost of your operations in terms of you making less mistakes or you lose less customers when you have training in customer service or marketing, for example. It will help you to keep your customers and gain new ones,” added Subero.
The Arthur Lok Jack official noted that there were many government-sponsored training initiatives available throughout the region.
She was quick to point out, however, that when compared with those in Trinidad, Barbadian entrepreneurs “seemed to be more open” to undertaking training.
Corey Knight, relationship manager of corporate and commercial credit at Republic Bank (Barbados) Limited said he was satisfied with the level of response from entrepreneurs to upgrade their business skills.
Subero and Knight were speaking to BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY during the closing day of a five-week training programme put on by Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business and Republic Bank at the Island Inn Hotel recently.
The programme, which is in its second year, saw 18 people from a range of sectors taking part compared with 25 when it was first introduced. (MM)
