More must be done to help small businesses

President of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), Verla De Peiza, believes that there needs to be some economic diversification, but with the opportunity of enfranchisement for small businesses to build out the economy.

De Peiza delivered this sentiment during The Sunday Roast of the DLP, titled Estimates 2021-2022: DLP Responds. She made the argument that diversification of an economy is an exercise that is best undertaken when the economy is booming, and noted that there had not been a boom for a long time. She also acknowledged that in the last three years of the DLP administration in 2015, 2016 and 2017, there was growth but it was negligible.

De Peiza explained that since January 2020, the DLP had framed a programme which was designed to enfranchise Barbadians. However, she stated that what is happening is that our people are remaining in a cycle, from generation to generation, of serving other people.

“The recognition is that the majority of revenue generation in the private sector goes towards a small per cent of our people. What that does is it makes the rest of us servants of them,” said De Peiza. “There has been some slide in the last two years where we keep seeing the same players come to the front and the same people are getting the opportunities.”

She stated that the goal should be enfranchisement of the small businesses with the expectation that a small business will eventually become a medium-sized business and then hopefully face the island and region as a larger business if it is given the space to grow.

The president explained that small business was a general term, but in this case could include the synergy of agriculture becoming a major part of feeding the country and the impact of agricultural by-products, which would help build out the economy.

“One of the last things we did in late 2017 into 2018 was the Cultural Industries Development Act, which was designed to create more economic space in a different direction from what we were accustomed doing. When we speak about the cultural industry, we are not speaking about singing and calypso and what happens at Crop Over, but we are talking about the agricultural side products and the development of manufacturing coming out of that. We are looking at giving as many options for entrepreneurship, but then having that spanned in as many directions as possible,” she said.

The DLP leader also highlighted that the development of alternative energy, technology and technological advances could create space in the economy for small businesses. She noted that such a move would be excellent for entrepreneurship, but said that what was required was not just a few people taking up the opportunity, but a blanket change in the frame of minds of people to step into the various sectors.

“That is the direction that the Democratic Labour Party would like to move Barbados into and we are not satisfied that we are seeing that coming out with the present administration. You can test the seriousness by where the money is put,” she said.

De Peiza referenced the Estimate put forward last week for cultural initiatives as $260,000 and called it “chicken feed” for the span of a full year. The leader also lamented the lack of respect which agriculture has been given in recent times, citing it as being the one sector and portfolio that still showed growth, notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic. She said that the $300 million thrown at the Tourism sector compared to the small amount given to agriculture and small business showed that the current Government was in a holding pattern, waiting for the pandemic to pass to return to things as usual. (AS)