A project to digitise the documents and processes of the Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office (CAIPO) is expected to further ease doing business in Barbados, according to the minister with responsibility for the entity.
Pointing out that factors such as the ease and time for registering a business were of tremendous importance, Minister of International Business Ronald Toppin declared that the agencies under his purview are one step closer to realizing greater efficiency and effectiveness with the launch of phase one of the CAIPO digital registry.
He said: “For Barbados to become competitive as a jurisdiction of choice in the international business sector and for international and local investments to abound it is critical that a level of efficiency be attained in the corporate registry’s operations.
“For the digital transformation beginning formally today, means that we have reevaluated the things we do every day and the way we do them. We have listened to the concerns and suggestions of our stakeholders.
“We have rethought and re-envisioned what is possible and what is necessary not only for us to have a competitive edge as a jurisdiction but to ensure that our people, the general public of Barbados, have access to the services they require.”
Outlining the benefits of the fully online system, Toppin said: “The benefits to both users and the government include cost efficiencies, increased speed of completing transactions and accessibility to and availability of information. All calculated to improve our global competitive rating.”
He said work has already started on phase two of the CAIPO digital system, which will cover the post-registration process. He gave assurance that there will be continued monitoring and review of how the services are being used in an effort to “constantly improve and evolve” the systems.
Toppin said in addition to the digital system, “information technology-driven business licensing system software” was also being introduced to “re-engineer the licensing processes within the International Business Unit”.
“Together these measures will not only significantly improve the way we do business but will also improve the country’s overall economic performance,” said the minister.
Barbados is ranked 128 among 190 economies in the ease of doing business, according to the latest World Bank annual ratings. Barbados’ ranking has remain unchanged since it improved to 128 in 2019 from 129 in 2018.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley praised the veteran cabinet minister for ramping up the digitisation project in short order
As Government continued to roll out its digitisation programme, she said she wanted public sector workers to leverage the technology and offer the public greater certainty of process.
Declaring that the technology was “as good as the persons who use it and as strong as the legislation and policy allow it to be”, Mottley said: “What I want to see in the civil service and the regulatory agencies is that kind of can-do attitude.
“That is, how do we make things happen, how do we give people a sense of ‘this is what your path should be to secure approval’, rather than a person wondering ‘if I do this are they going to agree, or if I do that are they going to agree?’ That is a loss of time and energy that this economy does not have the luxury of being able to lose.
“Therefore, what we require is a pathway that gives people certainty [and] advice that is transparent to all, but above all else, with a smile in our hearts, the capacity to say ‘together, yes we can.
“Part and parcel of this journey to the parliamentary republic is to be able to create the confidence that we can deconstruct and that we can reconstruct, and that we can guide and regulate our own affairs with respect to being anchored in sound principles that have come from that deconstruction and that understanding of what is it we really want to do.” (MM)
