THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT that over the last two decades or so, Barbados’ commercial and manufacturing landscape has changed dramatically. And the news that the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) will be divesting itself of some of its inventory of factory space helps to confirm this change.
Long gone are the big manufacturing companies that each employed hundreds on each shift. International brand names such as Intel, Tansitor and Playtex have all virtually disappeared from the minds of Barbadians, as have home-grown brands such as Barbados Children’s Wear, Tiny Tots and Cooper.
We have come a long way since the late 1970s, ’80s and ’90s when at the end of each shift, hundreds of young Barbadian workers literally poured out of industrial estates at the Harbour, Wildey, Grazettes, Newton and Six Roads; when their presence provided sustenance for a large variety of small businesses that offered everything from food to transportation services.
These estates are a shadow of their former selves. The Grazettes Industrial Estate looks so rundown, it could easily find a place in what Americans now refer to as their “rust belt”, while the complex at Newton too often resembles a ghost town.
For the record, we don’t wish to appear to be minimising the important economic role played by businesses that still operate from these locations, especially since a number of them still generate a substantial amount of business. Their contribution is certainly valued, but the reality of today’s industrial estate versus that of the past can’t be denied.
However, it is clear that revival of the Barbados economy and the hopes of many of our citizens have to be tied to a national approach that is far more encouraging of entrepreneurship and facilitating of business start-ups. And outside of Government and banking policies, as a people we need to be far more tolerant of individuals whose business attempts fail.
According to Fortune Magazine, in the United States nine out of every ten start-up businesses fail; while the US Bureau of Labour Statistics states that only 50 per cent of all new businesses survive five years, and only about a third are still existing after ten. Yet in the US, the encouragement and facilitation of entrepreneurship remain strong – failure is not seen as an excuse for not trying again.
The city of Tel Aviv in Israel is recognised worldwide as having created perhaps the best environment for start-up businesses anywhere. The “passport” it offers to persons contemplating a start-up business there states: “The city’s entrepreneurial spirit is the result of its audacious attitude, which encourages experimentation and easily forgives mistakes.”
And that’s what we need to aim for in Barbados. If we are to find meaningful employment for the hoards of school-leavers each year, we cannot hope for a return to the Tansitors and Intels of the past. We have to be prepared to establish the kinds of regimes that encourage home-grown start-ups.
Since the 1960s we have invested billions in our youth through our education system and the results have been astounding. We spend too much to produce so many bright, creative Barbadians to then leave them to a system that stifles their spirit. Our Ministry of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development ought to be reconstituted to give new impetus to a new entrepreneurship path for the country.
In fact, a recognition of the potential of entrepreneurship in a future Barbados might lead a forward-thinking Government to create a Ministry of Small Business that is properly staffed and financed for the role, with all the various facilitation units and finance windows rationalised and housed under a single umbrella.
Fresh thinking in this area could make a major economic difference for Barbados, post recession.