OAS Launches Small Business Development Center Network in Barbados

The Organization of American States (OAS) and the Government of Barbados have announced the launch of the Small Business Development Center Network (SBDC) on the Caribbean island as part of the CARICOM Small Business Development Centers project, which is being conducted in five countries of the Caribbean Community.

During the launch of the initiative on Friday in Bridgetown, the Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development of Barbados, Donville Inniss, said he was confident the SBDC will be successful in promoting this sector of the industry in his country. “It is my strong view that history will reflect kindly on today’s activities, since given time the Barbados SBDC model network will prove to be that catalyst credited with transforming the micro, small and medium enterprises sector of Barbados,” said Minister Inniss.

Minister Inniss lauded not only the flexibility of the model to adapt to the Barbados economic context, but also to combat one of the “primary challenges retarding the efficiency of our business infrastructure,” that is “that we have operated within our respective silos like distant cousins, and have done so at times to the detriment of the sector.” As such, he praised the inter–ministerial effort and partnership with the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (YES) and the Barbados Industrial Development Corporation (BIDC) and pointed out that “Barbados cannot afford the duplication of efforts that has proven counterproductive.”

For his part, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth of Barbados, Stephen Lashley, also endorsed the model, pointing out that “There is a global movement to better support business, especially youth and women-led micro, small and medium enterprises, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth fully endorses the SBDC movement as an agent of change which is dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship.” Minister Lashley went further to highlight that the model has the potential “to be transformative at all levels of society” through the enhancement of the legislative, regulatory and business support framework; and fostering greater inter-agency collaboration and operational efficiencies, all with a view to making the economy of Barbados more competitive and robust.

Meanwhile, the United States Ambassador to Barbados and to the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Larry Palmer, underscored the importance of the MSME sector, highlighting that “countries that encourage and support the emergence of a cadre of indigenous entrepreneurs always rank higher on the scale of development and quality of life.” “Essentially it is the MSMEs that generate most of the innovation and production while generating the lion´s share of jobs that have helped to dispel the grasp of poverty and launched people into the middle class. MSMEs are therefore crucial to economic growth in Barbados and the Caribbean region, the United States and the world,” he added.

The initiative is funded by the Permanent Mission of the United States to the OAS in partnership with the University of Texas at San Antonio and the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export). In Barbados, the SBDC project is led by the Unit for Development of Small Business of the Ministry of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development and aims to promote growth, innovation and productivity in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector.

The SBDC-CARICOM Project is based on 35 years of experience of the Small Business Development Centers in the United States and the adaptation of the model to other countries in the region such as Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Chile. The SBDC model combines the resources of institutions of higher learning with the public and private sectors to help small businesses, contributing to the sustainability of the program and promoting synergies and the efficient use of resources.

The OAS CARICOM SBDC Project has now seen the successful transfer and adaptation of the model in all five of its pilot countries during its first phase, with Belize being the first to launch its SBDC in 2012, followed by Saint Lucia in 2014, and Jamaica, Dominica and Barbados in 2015.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at http://www.oas.org.