Business leaders are being encouraged to give the newly established Business Barbados time to deliver results, as it moves to address one of the island’s most persistent challenges – inefficient business facilitation.
The call for patience came from Marlon Yarde, president of BIBA, the Association for Global Business, as he welcomed attendees at BIBA’s Business Facilitation & Policy Breakfast Panel Discussion last week at the Radisson Aquatica Resort. The session was moderated by BIBA’s executive director, Carmel Haynes.
Yarde addressed participants before a panel that included Connie Smith, chairperson of Business Barbados; Tamiesha Rochester, registrar and officer-in-charge, Business Barbados; Mark Hill, chief executive officer (CEO) of Export Barbados; and Kaye Greenidge, CEO of Invest Barbados.
BIBA represents over 140 companies engaged in global business from Barbados and abroad and has long advocated for improved ease of doing business on the island. Its president urged the business community to give the new agency a fair opportunity to prove its value.
Operational since April 1, Business Barbados is an amalgamation of several government agencies, with a mandate to streamline and modernise business processes on the island.
Broader effort
Key goals include reducing incorporation times, improving intellectual property management, and delivering comprehensive business support services.
The initiative is part of government’s broader effort to reform a historically cumbersome corporate registration system and foster a more businessfriendly climate for both local entrepreneurs and international investors.
Yarde emphasised that transforming a statutory corporation is no small feat.
“While we are not expecting immediate miracles, we extend grace to the new leadership as they build the institutional
strength needed to meet the lofty expectations set. After all, turning around a statutory corporation is not as simple as rebooting your wi-fi router,” he told public and private sector representatives in attendance.
Yarde noted that Business Barbados was expected to be an autonomous, self-financing entity, with full control over its operations, revenue, and budget.
A key structural reform is the separation of regulatory and corporate registry functions, which should allow the agency to focus more effectively on business establishment and legal compliance.
Registrar Rochester shared during the panel discussion that the agency was actively recruiting for critical roles, streamlining over 450 procedures, and placing a strong emphasis on customer experience.
Business Barbados is also preparing to relocate by year-end into a new office space purpose-built to fulfil its expanded mandate.
Smith reminded attendees that business facilitation was a shared national responsibility.
“This isn’t just about government. Business facilitation requires crosssectoral collaboration if we are serious about strengthening brand Barbados,” she said.
Hill expressed optimism that the new agency would enhance efficiency across the business landscape, while Greenidge said the formation of Business Barbados would lend greater credibility to the country’s positioning at international trade events as a prime destination for corporate domiciling. (PR/SC)
