‘Retrofit for green energy’ to boost small business

Small businesses are being encouraged to retrofit their operations for renewable energy, as the nation’s small business leader urged providers to help facilitate the process.

The president of the Small Business Association, Wayne Willock, made a series of recommendations to boost the sustainability of small businesses in a changing 21st-century environment at the end of a “successful” Small Business Week of activities which included a youth forum and special conference.

In a brief interview, Willock told Barbados TODAY: “Businesses need to be thinking about the fact that oil prices will be going up in the near future.

“They should be looking at alternative ways of doing things that will not let the oil price impact their business as much.

“Electricity may go up, gasoline and fuels will increase and businesses which depend on those things need to put things in place even if it means looking at renewable energy.

“There are a lot of savings in renewable energy and the more businesses which have onboard we will have less strain on the economy.”

The SBA president also called on businesses which facilitate renewable energy solutions to work more closely with small businesses.

He said: “I believe there’s enough information on it that people would take it onboard.

“But the providers need to find ways of getting packages for small businesses that will allow budgeting for that alternative.”

Willock also encouraged small businesses to focus on digital and technological solutions to better facilitate commercial transactions and business interactions with Government.

He also recommended succession planning to ensure small businesses do not collapse on the death of owners as well as health insurance plans to reduce the financial cost of illness, particularly in old age. He also promoted the recently-launched health insurance initiative organised by the SBA, in collaboration with insurance giant Sagicor and the non-profit music licensing body, the Copyright Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (COSCAP).

kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb