Barbados’ Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment Senator Chad Blackman is confident that with the right mindset by citizens and actions by government, there is no reason why the island cannot be viewed in the same league as business powerhouses like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Singapore.
Senator Blackman made the observation as he delivered the keynote address on Day One of BIBA, the Association of Global Business’ Global Business Week Conference 2024 (GBWC) at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Barbados.
The hybrid conference, which also attracted scores of online participants, featured a lineup of experts and thought leaders on a range of exciting topics under the theme Innovation for a Sustainable Future.
In his feature address on October 24, Senator Blackman noted: “If our sector collectively is to go where it needs to go, there has to be a whole country approach to how we do business in Barbados, not just local business, but the international business sector. Using Singapore, using UAE, using the Norwegian approach, those countries have taken ordinary citizens as partners in the wider ecosystem.
“In Singapore, one of the things that struck me was that . . . the business community constantly has dialogue with the public on where the business sector is going, where it needs to grow, and the role that the average man has,” he said.
The Minister added: “The question then becomes, how can we in Barbados, particularly as a jurisdiction, as a country, not just as business, but the entire ecosystem that is Barbados, how can we ensure that everything that we do is in that mode? We are competing not just regionally . . . we’re competing amongst countries who have a quest for innovation, who have a quest for new things, who have a quest for understanding how the world works in new ways and adapting those realities to their models. Therefore, innovation has to be the bread and butter of Barbados.” (BIBA)