To our Readers everywhere. As the New Year dawns upon us, it is yet another year in spite of the challenges to be thankful for. On behalf of Eric and Bjorn Tomme, Dr. Basil Springer and I, we are very grateful for the opportunity to share our thoughts with you and look forward to continuing […]
I look forward to a new year of service. My involvement with young people seeking to advance a career in Entrepreneurship will be expanded and my TV Show – Let’s Talk Business on MBC Television, Channels 42 LIME and 52 Karibcable will be continued. My weekly column Harris at Large is gaining popularity and I am heartened by the responses I continue to receive. I will be updating my websites in the New Year and look forward to your participation. I am very happy to contribute my two cents to the process.
As I reflect over the past year there are many things with which I have been involved either substantially or peripherally. They are BIM Ventures; Commonwealth Partnership for Technology Management; Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation; Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism; Barbados Society of Technologists in Agriculture; Errol and Nita Barrow Educational Trust; Rotary Club of Barbados South; Annual Conference on Statistics, Science and Public Policy; ANSA Awards; and Caribbean Institute of Certified Management Consultants.
In order to be effective, I have to adhere to a strict regime of good nutrition, exercise and peace of mind backed up by traditional and complementary medicine practitioners. Fortunately, if not mentally stimulated, my default position is to sleep, albeit soundly for relatively short periods at a time (power napping), so there is no sleep deficit syndrome getting in the way.
There is no better time to think about the poor in our midst. The poor is always with us but there must be a continuous effort to make their lives better. At this time of year, it is a time for caring and sharing. I hear Carols and Christmas songs and I get a good feeling – a state of abundance. Christians everywhere can claim their portion of abundance. Jesus came that his people may have life and have it more abundantly. It is on reflection and looking ahead that you can live your best life now. In closing, I wish above all things that health and prosperity will be yours always! Happy Holidays!
The present electoral system in Guyana allows for a minority party to assume the mantle of government and to administer the affairs of the nation. The party that gets the most seats in parliament forms the government. There is no provision for a COALITION Government in Guyana. Until December 28, 2011 the party with the most votes always received in excess of fifty percent of the ballots and it was easy to cruise along with a parliamentary majority. Unfortunately, the opposition parties had no voice as their contribution was not necessary. The government introduced motions and bills, and generally had their way.
Is it not significant that the message of the advent of Christ the Lord was delivered in the context of shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night? We are all shepherds; don’t we all have our respective flocks? Are or flocks not more exposed by “night” rather than by “day”? I can think of no better example of this concept than the pilot project, BIM Ventures, conducted over the last three years to debug the implementation of the CBET Shepherding Modelâ„¢ in the Barbados environment with the assistance of the Barbados Governme
CMEx is focused on the Caribbean journalist with a cross fertilisation of ideas from journalists and tourism officials from the Americas, Canada, the Caribbean, and Europe whereas CPTM has a wider diversity of expertise, experience, interest and support which encompasses Africa, Australia, the Caribbean, Europe, India and the Indian Ocean, Malaysia, the Mediterranean and North America. As an example of such diversity, I was sitting at a table for lunch on the first day of the CPTM at which the randomly selected representation by country of birth was Barbados, Cyprus, Ghana, Malta, Romania, the Seychelles and the UK; and the next day, a smaller group Barbados, Germany and Nigeria.
We must attract Foreign Direct Investors, this is vital to our economic future. We must get the message out to the world that St. Lucia is a world class destination for doing business. In the meantime, we must get our Ease of Doing Business ranking to an acceptable level. In the interest of getting more for less, the efforts of all ministries and agencies seeking to attract foreign direct investments must be effectively coordinated, seeking joint representation and participation in events that will showcase what St. Lucia has to offer.
Here I am again riding my old hobby horse “Barbados as a Donor Country”. Whereas the traditional donor country model may help the recipient country, results show that the donor country is the net beneficiary of such schemes. This is primarily because the aid is usually tied to the purchase of goods and services from the donor country.
Congratulations are in order for all the victorious candidates in the recently held general elections in Saint Lucia! However, the real victory belongs to the Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP). Hon. Dr. Kenny D. Anthony and his team fought a good fight and the task to lead the country for the next five years is theirs.