Advisor calls for implementation and execution

One Government advisor is calling for the establishment of an innovation fund to help small businesses modernise their operations. In addition, Dr Annalee Babb, Advisor in the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology, said the time has come for Barbados and the rest of the region to do regular job market research to determine growth areas and the training that would be needed.

“As far as I know, Barbados and the Caribbean do not do that, and we really ought to make it a priority not just create a skills retraining association or entity or agency, but to do the research – what kinds of growth areas do we want to see in Barbados and the Caribbean, where are the needs going to be, what kinds of sectors we intend to grow – and start training people for those sectors before the need arises,” she explained.

Babb insisted that while government had a role to play in the digital transformation and innovation within the country, the private sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should take the lead.

In fact, Babb, who is the Chair of the Digital Transformation and Solutions Committee, suggested that Government’s role could be to establish a special innovation fund to assist small businesses with making the necessary investment in innovation.

She disclosed that the committee, which was formed last year following the formation of the Jobs and Investment Council, had submitted a report that included “a dollar figure” that could significantly help with digital transformation.

“I do believe that as we look at reconfiguring this economy that it would be useful for Government, even if it has conversation with entities like the CDB (Caribbean Development Bank) and IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) to set up an innovation fund, with part of it being linked to lower interest loans, but also part of it specialising in grants for small businesses to be able to do that innovation and to move to the next level,” she explained.

“I think it is important. There are some things you can do that are not that expensive but there are some things that are going to take resources. I do believe that is one of the areas that government can work in partnership with some of the regional players,” she said. Babb was addressing a recent Small Business Association (SBA) webinar titled Innovation through Digitalisation – Monetising Innovation in the Digital Space.

Babb, who said she spent some 18 years writing policies and developing strategies for government and companies, said “Barbados has enough policies and strategies, what we need is execution; implementation”.

“If you know for example there is an issue in Barbados to do with poverty or something with children, don’t write a policy about it, go and do something about it,” she said.

In fact, singling out accountants and the financial service sector as an example, Babb said representative organisations should do more to “lobby government for some of the changes that need to be made to kind of reconfigure this economy”.

“There is an entire regulatory environment that needs to be changed in Barbados and the Caribbean and rather than wait on the government to do that change, I think accounting firms and other kinds of financial services firms need to approach government and say ‘this is the regulatory environment that exist now, but here is where cryptocurrency and blockchain and all these things are heading and these are the changes that need to be made,” she suggested.

Pledging to do what she could to help change mindset and the high level of “innovation illiteracy” in Barbados, Babb said private sector companies and NGOs should also seek to form partnerships and take the lead in doing what they could to help bring about innovative change.

At the same time, she suggested that they put some pressure on Government to make its own changes that would better support business development and transformation.

“We need to push and say ‘here is what we want to do. Here is the solution that can be built or that we are building. It is going to cost X or Y. The SBA or whoever else supports it. This is what we need’. And then you push for it and agitate for it. Government needs to change but it cannot change on its own. It needs our help,” she stressed.