It was heartening to hear prominent businessman Bizzy Williams pointing to at least two of the hindrances to local entrepeneurship last week at the first National Entrepeneurship Summit at the Hilton Barbados.
To have such criticism come from someone so key in the private sector showed that this country has matured in how it sees its mirror image, precisely because Williams’ comments reflected those whose voices have cried in the local business wilderness for years.
Some have cried loudly, like Trevor “Job” Clarke, while others have quietly suffered against the hindrances of “a controlling public sector and jealous bankers”, which Williams specified last Wednesday.The fact that jealousy and envy have long been rooted in local entrepreneurship has been echoed by frustrated Barbadians for more than a generation. Stories are legion about bright, young entrepreneurs taking ideas to a financial institution or potential sponsor, only to see that idea doomed by negative and doubtful language.
What often follows is that the idea is reproduced by someone else with the financial support or requisite capital to turn it into a profit-making entity – leaving yet another talented but frustrated businessman languishing into oblivion or making a success of his ideas outside of these 166 square miles.Williams’ welcome comments were swiftly followed by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart reiterating, at the Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation’s gala dinner, that his Government must create the conditions for the fostering of a culture of entrepreneurship, while ensuring the harmonization of the public and private sectors – all vital organs of the economy.
The comments by both men on the eve of today’s Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals by Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler also represented a ray of hope amid much economic uncertainty; because Barbadians do not know what the new Minister of Finance has up his sleeve, and they similarly do not know what to expect on the global economic horizon.What will Sinckler bring to the table, however, to foster this paradigm of entrepreneurship that has been either suppressed in the past by the envious, hemmed in by a limited academic system or halted in mid-thought by the fear of risk?
While some might not want to be in Sinckler’s shoes today, maybe this is the right time – in the midst of an economic crisis and a seemingly revoloutionary entrepreneurial climate in Barbados – for Sinckler to start shaping the economic future of this country. The obvious call today would be for the Minister of Finance to reduce the mammoth fiscal deficit by cutting Government spending or increasing taxation. The latter, however, has the potential to lower collections of expenditure-based taxes and trigger a rapid decline in consumer and investor confidence.
And while free bus fare for schoolchildren, summer camps and Constituency Councils are inherently great ideas, the recurrent costs had to be felt sooner or later, with the result being now that the current account deficit moved from just over $23 million to a mammoth $200 million in two years.
Unless he increases taxation, how can Sinckler turn around a situation that has seen Barbados literally borrowing to meet monthly bills and obligations, such as the paying of its civil servants?On the other hand, Government has been advised to resist direct taxation and target higher income individuals, businesses and luxury items. But who knows whether that will have a deleterious effect on the same business sector to which Government wants to partner more closely?
The overriding aim, however, has to be this entrepreneurial drive – having small businesses and entrepreneurs piloting Barbados’ economic recovery – which the late Prime Minister David Thompson spoke about at length, but which is still to be implemented. This is Sinckler’s time, therefore, to look at new legislation or to amend existing legislation that would assist in creating a freer environment for business, such as the exporting of certain foods to European Union countries, thereby boosting foreign exchange.
What about the wages freeze recommended by former Central Bank Governor Sir Courtney Blackman who, early last month, urged Sinckler to put a lid on public spending by imposing a freeze on public sector wages, while at the same time tightly managing foreign reserves and eliminating wastage of public funds? This can only be done based on hard decisions, such as Sir Courtney’s suggestion to shut down “useless” public enterprises such as the Pan African Commission.Let’s hope that the minister brings his well known no-nonsense approach to how he manages the economy, coupled with a desire to listen to the entrepreneurs who clearly want to “play ball” without having to be summoned to consultations.
The call by many experts to create an environment for business to flourish may have sounded vague in the not-too-distant past, but the launch of last week’s summit is glaring and timely proof that the business community is ready to partner with Government in this crisis that affects all Barbados.
Since I would prefer to live in my birthplace Barbados, I would hope that Sinckler would have been taking notes from last week’s summit and has come away with something, beyond business jargon, to guide him as he tries to creatively grapple with a hydra-headed monster – three of whose heads are the global recession, the island’s massive public sector deficit, and the narrow politicising of a problem that continues to baffle the brightest minds worldwide.
But first, let us rid ourselves of the jealousy and envy.