How can Barbados best develop and diversify its economy?

Hon. Donville Inniss: There are three main areas that Barbados should be concentrating on are tourism, international business and financial services. The services sector on the whole.

Barbados has made major inroads into developing the tourism sector as a means of diversifying the economy, it is currently 12% of our GDP. The International Business and Financial Services sector is not talked about very often, but this accounts for around 10% of our GDP and is a very resilient and strong sector.

Will the financial services continue to introduce new products to continue to diversify?

It is constantly introducing new products as these are the main driver for the sector. It is a very competitive world, and other countries may be offer products similar to ours, so we are constantly looking to see how to make doing business in Barbados easier for people. We offer a high quality worker to service the industry with a high quality of life, political stability and personal security. We have a strong health care system and great education. These factors all combine to make the Barbados brand, and by extension the Barbados product.

Is Barbados looking to expand further afield?

The world is our oyster. We are aggressive and looking into Latin America, and I am currently leading a mission into Colombia and Mexico. In the last two years, we have seen a large increase in business from Mexico. With ties in Asia too, Barbados is going to be a hub for international financial services.

How feasible is the 10% increase on exports, set out by the ministry, by the end of this year?

I am a very hard task master. If you do not give your staff goals, then people just look at work as business as usual inflatable football soccer dart board. I like to look at it like this: this is where we are at and this is where we want to get to. Then we outline what it takes to get there and how to get the job done.

There has also been the need for us to change our outlook and be more outward looking. In this instance, we look to our manufacturing sector, now this was primarily for the domestic market, so we have switched the focus and are now concentrating on export. We have the Barbados Investment Development Corporation (BIDC), which selects specific products to make them export ready and then we introduce them to the export market. The BIDC provides financial assistance and the wavering duties to make it cost efficient for businesses to invest in new technology and additional machinery to make their products export ready.

What is your vision for Barbados?

I am very excited for the independence. I was born on January 1st 1966, therefore I have grown with the country. We should now be focussing on the future, while also recognising the solid foundations that BB has been built on over these 50 years, and understanding the principles that we do not wish to let go.

Barbados must become the international wealth management centre of choice in the Western Hemisphere. We do not want to just talk about international business, but also about managing wealth that comes from businesses of substance that operate here.