#BTColumn – Thinking like a start-up

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Donna Every

I’m delighted to have been chosen to participate in Caribbean Export’s training program Pack Your Talent, which is designed to help professionals and businesses across the region to export their services and then help other businesses do the same.

I’ve only had two sessions so far, but one of the things that was impressed upon me was when the programme’s presenter, Taiana Mora of NEX Consulting, said that COVID-19 has made us all start-ups. That is true for many, if not all, businesses.

Some have been forced to redesign the physical layout of their business to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols, and other businesses are being forced to rethink their business model when it comes to delivery of their product or service.

Even countries are having to take another look at how they will earn revenue going forward, particularly those, like Barbados, who rely on travel and tourism. The Welcome Stamp visa is one such initiative that we have introduced to use “what we have in our house” to earn revenue.

Congratulations to the person who came up with the initiative! In this case, we are promoting a relatively COVID-free island with good weather (not based on this week’s), good infrastructure, good health care and most important for those working remotely, reliable Wi Fi.

Barbados is small, but we have a lot going for us that we sometimes take for granted. For example, last week I was on a virtual Dine Around as part of the International Women’s Forum’s first virtual conference and our hostess in New York lost internet connection towards the end of the meeting while mine worked perfectly for the whole time.

It gave me the opportunity to invite her to apply for the Welcome Stamp visa and work from Barbados.

We are still putting a heavy emphasis on short stay visitors, but I wonder if the risks outweigh the benefits.

If someone books a holiday for a week and arrives with a negative test, under the present protocols they have to take another test three days after they arrive before they are allowed to go out.

From reading BAMP’s Statement on the Travel Protocols that came into effect on October 1, they recommend a test 5-7 days after arrival, which would be 8-10 days after the first test.

Needless to say, if the BAMP’s recommendations were followed by the government, short stay visitors would have no desire to visit Barbados. As it is, some have found even three days too long to wait and have escaped from isolation to get at least get a few more days of holiday. However, that selfishly puts our population at risk.

I know that the hoteliers in Barbados employ many people and have a lot at stake, so their interest is to get the short stay visitors again.

However, I wonder if there are some hotels which can adapt their business model to go after some of the Welcome Stamp market. Instead of charging a nightly rate, they can convert to a monthly rental (albeit less but less is better than nothing) and turn their rooms into long-stay accommodation if they have the kitchen facilities to do that.

I can think of some larger hotels that can already do that without having to make any infrastructural changes. They would not need to provide a daily cleaning service or do laundry as for short stay visitors, and the housekeeping could be outsourced to their current staff who could offer their services to multiple guests and use the hotel’s facilities to do laundry. Obviously more thought would need to go into this, but we all need to think like start-ups and try new ways of doing business.

I heard the Prime Minister say that she would like to see about 10, 000 Welcome Stamp visas issued. That would bring in a nice up-front sum of foreign exchange for the visa itself, and then the benefit to the country of rental income, restaurants being patronized, gyms and tennis clubs, etc., being attended for a year would be a welcome boost to the economy with fewer of the risks associated with the short stay visitors. I wonder what the monthly spend of those long-stay visitors would be?

All of us need to take a fresh look at our businesses to see how we can innovate to continue to operate and even grow in this new environment. Thankfully, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

For example, as a tourism destination, we can begin to offer virtual tours and charge for them. Granted, there are several virtual tours that you can attend for free on the Internet, so we would need to find ways to add value to our tours.

We have a rich heritage and many of our heritage sites are well preserved. In order to earn revenue, videos of these sites can be created (providing income for local talent) and uploaded so that visitors who cannot or don’t want to risk flying yet can still experience some of our offerings and if they partner with other businesses, they can offer incentives for when they next come to Barbados.

Even people who may never come to Barbados because of the distance or the cost may be interested in taking a virtual tour.

I’ve talked about genealogy tourism before and this is a great opportunity for some of our genealogists to come together to create a site where they can offer their services to people in the Diaspora and those who have historical connections to Barbados.

When travel opens up again (hopefully, next year) those who have benefitted from the service and had their family trees prepared can come to Barbados and visit some of the sites and trace family members who they can connect with, perhaps for the first time.

The importance of thinking like a start-up is not just because of COVID-19, but this is something that we all need to do constantly in order to grow and expand our businesses and remain relevant.

So what do you already have in your house or business? And how can you use it to earn revenue in this new environment?

Donna Every is an author, trainer, and international speaker. The mission of her business, Arise Consulting Inc., is to help clients to grow by rethinking, refocusing and reinventing their businesses.Visit her website at www.donnaevery.com or email her at donna@donnaevery.com.