St. Lucia Simply Beautiful

When this global trend is set then the foundation of entrepreneurship, the youth, economic empowerment and recognition, as exemplified by the following events, will have been nurtured to bring peace to us all. The 38th annual Sir Winston Scott Memorial Lecture by Dr. Victor Gooding at the Frank Collymore Hall, Central Bank of Barbados on Monday, November 25 at 8.00 p.m. on the topic “View from 45 years North – A Barbadian Living in Canada” will explore entrepreneurship.

The President of the Chamber, Mr. Gerard Bergasse in his address maintained focus on the Chambers’ “Making it Easier to Do Business in St. Lucia” agenda and challenged the Prime Minister, in absentia, to take responsibility for having “one” reform implemented within the next year. Since 2007, St. Lucia has descended from number 27 in the World to number 64, in the 2014, report.

Tourism is the major industry in the Caribbean. The diversity of the tourism product is one of the strategies for change which will enhance the rate of growth of tourism, indeed it will beautify the industry. Community Tourism is one such intervention. Please note that Mandeville in Jamaica will officially become the first Peace Town for Community Tourism in the Caribbean on November 19, 2013 at 10 a.m., when Louis D’Amore, President, International Council of Tourism Partners, USA will preside during the official ceremony. The IIPT Caribbean Community-based Tourism Study Tour and Conference will be staged November 18-23, 2013 at the Mandeville Hotel in Manchester, Jamaica.

Shepherding has recently been introduced in Trinidad and in the just concluded Bank on Me TV Reality show in Barbados. Based on the qualitative feedback from the shepherds that were assigned to each enterprise and the enterprises themselves, indications are that the hypothesis that “shepherding reduces the risk of business failure” will be upheld. I repeat, the major constraint arising from these three initiatives is the continuing difficulty to access quick response investment capital for the enterprises.

With that foundation of spirituality, may our political leaders exercise their powers to create innovative solutions. One innovative solution, in the spirit of smart partnership, is for the political leaders to formally surround themselves with the best brains available within their budget to develop these creative solutions sector by sector and then take step-by-step action to make it happen.

My recent experiences in Barbados and Trinidad have shown that there is no shortage of entrepreneurs with brilliant ideas but they must be nurtured in an environment of benevolent investment capital and shepherding to augment the rate of business success and protect the financial investment. The current “Bank on ME” reality TV show, quite apart from its entertainment value, has further shown the number of entrepreneurs out there who are in need of help, the value of shepherding in the improvement of the businesses in a few short weeks, and the need for a source of funding with is other than traditional loan financing.