Support local!

Minister of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Kerrie Symmonds is urging Barbadians to buy local this festive season.   

He said that the small and micro business sector needs the support more than ever this year given the significant impact COVID-19 has had on livelihoods.

His comments came during the first pop-up Bajan Christmas Marketplace at the Warrens Office Complex, Warrens on Friday.   

“I really want the Barbadian community to recognise the importance of supporting our own at Christmas time. And we can do this – we don’t have to go and buy an expensive foreign piece of leather, whether a bag or whatever else, in order to give a gift, when we have a similar standard, similar quality done right here.  Or even give a loved one a couple treatments at a local spa or hairdresser – there are a number of options out there. But I want us to remember, if we can look after each other at Christmas time, then we help to keep Barbadian people employed,” he said.

The carpark was transformed into a mini marketplace giving 30 vendors the opportunity to showcase a variety of goods, craft, clothing, tasty treats and services. This was the first in a series of marketplaces being hosted by the Department of Commerce, under the Ministry of Energy, Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

“Over the course of the last nine months there has been a jaw dropping amount of hardship and financial insecurity and pain in the small and micro business community. And it is because of our consciousness about that painful past nine months, and the fact these folks are genuinely not experiencing any land of plenty and there has been no turning of the corner for them, that we felt that it was absolutely necessary to mount such a programme,” he explained.

“It brings the small and micro people into a defined space where the Barbadian public can interact with them in a commercial way. And to give those folks an opportunity to make sales, which enable them to keep their businesses afloat, keep their families and employees fed.”

Re-emphasizing government’s stance on vending, Minister Symmonds further expressed “We feel very strongly that we have to get the Barbadian community as a whole to come to understand that vending is not just about this country, or about developing countries, it is something that is legitimized across the industrialize so-called “first world”.

“And therefore, there is really no reason why we too should not be celebrating the legitimate, economic and commercial efforts of Barbadian small and micro business people who, especially in these difficult COVID times, are doing their best to hold their families together,” he stressed.   

Sky Mall, Haggatt Hall, St. Michael, will be the venue for the second marketplace to be held on Saturday, December 5th followed by National Heroes Square, on Friday, December 18th.

The marketplaces, which will also feature some young entrepreneurs of the $20 challenge, are being held in conjunction with the Barbados Manufacturers’ Association; the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry; the Small Business Association; the Barbados Trust Fund Limited; Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme and the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation. (TL)