Small Business Week 2023 is almost here! From September 24-30, 2023, the Small Business Association of Barbados’ (SBA) signature event will be held, with the support and appreciation of the SBA’s many stakeholders. The events planned will impact the national conversation around the role of the micro, small and medium enterprise sector (MSME), on economic and social development. This year’s theme, Facilitating a Transformative Agenda that is Fit for Purpose, attempts to expose the challenges affecting the sector and identify the solutions best suited for sustainable growth.
Chairman of the SBA Charles Carter set the stage for the conversation to ensue during the month of September, challenging policymakers, business support organisations and practitioners alike to do more than conform to international and other dictates but to pursue revolutionary policies and programmes that can transform the MSME ecosystem. True transformation will facilitate the kind of growth we seek as the world’s economies emerge from the global pandemic and other exogenous shocks.
The focus on digitalisation, which started in last year’s Small Business Week and continued throughout the year, aptly sets the agenda for this year’s conversation. The transformation needed should, therefore, commence with the monetisation of digital platforms in an effort to broaden the scope for small firms to internationalise their product offerings. This is seen as fit for purpose!
To date, little seems to have been done to improve the regulatory regime for businesses to access platforms such as YouTube, Spotify and Google for international trade. Policymakers are encouraged to “not allow it to lay dormant in someone’s drawer but be a part of a major agenda item for the advancement of the business sector”. Make haste to address the digital revolution being proffered as a key modality for doing business in this century.
A few initiatives were highlighted as offering the potential to be transformative. These include the recently launched junior stock exchange, for which the SBA has lobbied for years to be considered as a solution to diversify the financial products available and to unlock the savings of Barbadians. The collateral registry, which seems to be now on the back burner, represents another innovative solution to address the collateralisation needed by MSMEs desirous of accessing credit. Another area is the amendment to the Small Business Development Act, which, if done right, can truly create an enabling environment for the sector. The sad reality is that movement on these issues has not kept pace with the demand for a facilitative business climate emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chairman Carter opined that we are not devoid of agenda items that can prove to be transformational. What appears to be lacking is the testicular fortitude to get the job done. A way must be sought to illustrate and emphasise to those responsible for the execution of these agenda items, how important they are to the overall development of the MSME sector and, by extension, the country. It appears that the big picture is missed by focusing on conformity rather than transformation to facilitate the growth necessary for the country to strive.
An example shared to support Mr Carter’s hypothesis is the creation of more diverse opportunities to generate wealth among citizens, as a vital pillar in our national development. The revision made to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) appears to be one such opportunity. The changes announced for self-employed individuals, though welcomed and important, only offered easier compliance and nothing transformative. The recent disasters, including the ashfall, hurricanes, etc., should have sparked more creative solutions for the NIS that focus on investment to ensure business continuity and wealth transfer. While pension is important, preparing for other natural disasters and exogenous shocks was proffered as an area the scheme could have explored to facilitate business resilience and other safeguards in the aftermath of such challenges.
As we look to celebrate the MSME sector, it is sad to report that several of the perennial issues of the past still abound – access to affordable financing, the rising cost of doing business, and difficulties surrounding e-commerce. These are all items that if adequately addressed, with ‘fit for purpose’ solutions, can have a transformative impact.
To transform, we must change the way we think, the way we act and the way we do things. It has been recited time and time again that we cannot do the same things over and over and expect a different result – this is defined as madness.
As we prepare for another Small Business Week, a truly transformative agenda for development is needed. No more lip service to the sector hailed by many as the engine of growth for the economy, but a set of policies and programmes that will enable small firms to pivot and the country, by extension, to be placed on a path to sustainable growth. In the words of Scott Belsky, co-founder of Behance, the world’s largest creative network for showcasing and discovering creative work, “It’s not about ideas, it’s about making ideas happen.”
The Small Business Association of Barbados (SBA) is the island’s non-profit representative body for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Connect with the SBA: https://www.sba.bb/sba/
