While The Bahamas is expected to achieve at least a three percent growth rate this year a vital component of the national economy which has the potential to contribute to even greater growth is continuing to face familiar and significant challenges, according to business executive Marlon Johnson.
Chief among the difficulties confronting small businesses in the country are limited access to capital and the high cost of doing business, the vice president of the Small Business Association of The Bahamas told The Bahama Journal.
“We have a very expensive customs tax regime, very expensive utilities, we constantly spend money training employees, and then there is the high staff turnover, employee theft and the cost of security,” said Mr. Johnson.
Recounting performance among small business operators last year, Mr. Johnson said results were mixed, as some businesses flourished while others “struggled mightily”.
He also called on government to implement measures that would help improve the fate of the small business sector.
Some such strategies, he suggested, would be to streamline government bureaucracy as it affects small businesses; and to provide operators with technical assistance in areas like bookkeeping and accounting, and marketing their products and services.
According to Mr. Johnson, successful introduction of proactive and creative programmes could result in a thriving small business community, the creation of more jobs in the country, more tax revenue for government and more opportunities for Bahamians to become owners of the economy.
The SBA vice president also made a call for government officials and executives of the various utilities providers to conduct a comprehensive review of their operations in order to determine what steps they could take to become more efficient and provide more cost-effective services to consumers.
“We are at a point now where we have to ask the question if BEC is being run as efficiently as it could be,” he said.
“That may be a little more difficult because there are international factors with the price of oil, but the telecommunications sector is a relatively easy one to tackle. Just by bringing in some more competition in the market that could drive down the cost of telecommunications.”
Mr. Johnson noted that a reduction in the cost of utilities would produce benefits not only for small businesses, but also larger organisations including the banking and other sectors, members of the public generally and the overall national economy.
In spite of the persistent challenges, Mr. Johnson said he is optimistic that 2006 will be a better year for the country’s small business sector.
“We believe that there are a lot of business opportunities in The Bahamas,” he said.
“If some of these (investment) projects that have been announced come on stream there are going to be a lot more. Now the challenge when these developments start is going to be to determine what tools and mechanisms these entrepreneurs and small business people will need to make some things happen.”
Following a press conference two weeks ago to announce the easing of restrictions on Bahamians investing abroad, Central Bank Governor Wendy Craigg indicated to The Bahama Journal that the local economy is expected to grow by about 3.5 percent his year.
By: Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
