With more than four decades of management training under its belt, the Barbados Institute of Management and Productivity (BIMAP) must tap into new partnership opportunities outside the island.
The suggestion has come from Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Maxine McClean, as she delivered the featured address at BIMAP’s 39th graduation ceremony on Saturday night at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
Applauding the 1 452 graduates and BIMAP on their achievements, McClean called on the 45-year-old institution to look to such places as Sub-Saharan Africa to branch out. She said that region in particular was rife with opportunities for training in management development services.
“To illustrate, I have selected a random agency with which such a partnership can be explored. The African Management Services Company (AMSCO) is a Pan-African private sector development agency that provides customised training solutions. It focuses primarily on partnership-driven capacity and service development to assist African SMEs (small and medium/micro enterprises). AMSCO is also the implementing partner for the African training and management services project of the United Nations Development Programme.
“To demonstrate the real potential of doing business with Africa, let me share some additional things. Africa has 60 per cent of the world’s remaining arable land and millions of dedicated farmers who can benefit from the assistance in the area of managing their businesses. This, of course, will ensure the enhancement of commercial agriculture and agro-processing,” she said.
McClean touted the Human Resource Development Strategy of Government, initially rolled out between 2013 and 2016, which she said could be adopted and adapted for any exploration of international business opportunities.
She explained that the overall objective of this strategy was to support the Government’s effort to increase competitiveness, promote sustainable growth and poverty alleviation. Its main objective was to strengthen the country’s human resource capacity, aid in the reduction of unemployment and the increase of productivity in the workplace.
“In essence, I see a situation where BIMAP, partnering with a team of local institutions and consultants, can deliver services which contribute to similar human recourse development strategies, in this case in Sub-Sahara Africa,” she added. (SDB Media)
