Thompson: Small businesses need strategy, not just survival

T oo many small businesses in Barbados are being created out of necessity rather than strategy, University of the West Indies Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Canute Thompson has declared, as he called for young entrepreneurs to build networks and grow their enterprises. His comments came during the presentation of a US$5 000 ($10 000) cheque from the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC), Export Barbados, to support the UWI International Undergraduate Students’ Leadership Conference and Entrepreneurship Exhibition, which takes place in Jamaica from September 23 to 25. Professor Thompson highlighted the value of Export Barbados to the region’s business landscape, noting that more than seven of out ten Caribbean businesses are Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

He said: “The data show that about 70 to 85 percent of the businesses which operate in the Caribbean fall in this category, and I’m suggesting therefore that as we seek to create a space for bold, innovative, and creative students to begin to develop their entrepreneurial skills and to undertake entrepreneurial ventures. “We anticipate that most of them, eight out of 10 of them, possibly, will be entering the micro, small, and the medium-sized space, and certainly those who would be operating out of Barbados would no doubt be benefiting from the support, the further support of the BIDC, and within the context of our Caribbean community, and the the and mindful of the philosophy of the government of Barbados to support development regionally. ” He underscored the importance of the collaboration between the BIDC and UWI to the success of the leadership conference. “There is a shared DNA between what Export Barbados is seeking to do in its primary mission, and what we’re seeking to do through…