The Prime Minister has suggested the repurposing of the old Haymans sugar factory in St Peter into the Haymans Market could be applied to several assets lying dormant across the country.
She told the official opening of the shopping and entertainment complex on Wednesday: “The passage of time will demand of us, on a limited land space, a rethinking and a repurposing of much of what we do. I say so, conscious that across the country, there are a number of old properties for residential purposes that can also be repurposed in a way that we have not yet given sufficient thought to. We have seen some people open up international business companies on plantation territory without reference to the limitations of the geographical space of Barbados.
“We see now here what is possible, creating a platform for so many small business people, so many entrepreneurs, so many craft people who without the heavy traffic that will pass through here, would just be marginal with respect to their ability to sell. So we thank you, Bernie, for having the vision, you and your boys for having the vision of seeing that this could be a market that would allow many, many, many small people to come together. You know, I am a famous believer in many hands making light work.”
Mottley said there was a need for diversified income streams, pointing to the challenges posed by Barbados’ small scale.
“We are small. I don’t need to remind you of that. One of the problems that we continue to face is that we will never have scale in a particular area easily. Tourism is the closest that we will come to it in all of its many facets. But the reality is that we are going to have to recognise that we can no longer only expect to earn our living from this rock. And when we earn our living from this rock, more likely than not, it is going to be mixed income – a combination of commercial, a combination of residential, a combination of tourism,” she said.
Prime Minister Mottley suggested businesses need to consider exporting national brands and services, as she expressed confidence in the country’s capacity to compete globally.
“Explain to me why a country that has the maturity in the tourism sector that we have of over seven decades is not seeing more export of brands and export of services and export of other attractions that we develop in the same way that we have seen other Caribbean countries master the art of exporting their brands and their products in a meaningful way,” she said. “I believe that this country has that capacity. This country has a distinguished history and a mature history in the tourism and hospitality sector. And the notion that we can only import brands rather than export brands is a matter that greatly disturbs me.”
(RG)
