Thoughts on Caribbean Businesses

Whenever things in the economy get tight one of the first things politicians in developing countries do is turn their direction towards entrepreneurship. In many cases, it's hard to tell if this is genuine and the interests are for real.

Job gimmickry often comes to mind for a number of reasons. The key one being that this is a way of justifying job creation through lip service. My thinking goes this way for some of the various reasons I'll now highlight below.

• The processes entrepreneurs face is becoming increasingly bureaucratic since the government wants tax clearance certificates issued at every turn. The attempts at collecting taxes are becoming a nickel and dime process without a holistic approach that can make the entire process more simple. 
• Too many companies in Barbados and perhaps the Caribbean are not structured for growth. The general approach is to incorporate without the incorporation documents supporting the raising of capital via shares instead of debt financing. Consequently, too many businesses are limited by the opinions of the lending officers within banking institutions who may have never run a business and have no appreciation for what is required in the running of one. Most banks then represent their interests with a cookie cutter approach rather than truly examining the business on its own merit. 
• The accountants along with business advisory services and attorneys need to interact more in the advice that they provide companies so that their advice is more inclusive to the strategy that the business wishes to employ that would best serve its sustainability and survival. 
• The leaders of the business are ignorant of areas outside of their immediate scope of work since they do not read enough developmentally. Sure they know the technical information yet that often is not enough to grow to the levels of success that such an educated grouping of leaders should be meeting and exceeding. Hence the performance of Caribbean businesses remains constant for the most part with very little mobility in either direction. Once they are profitable, the incentive to stretch further seems to be non-existent as leaders setting into contentment with their levels of performance. They function completely oblivious to the competition from other world markets. 

This is by no means finished but serves the basis of getting the reader to think that perhaps more needs to be done. We need to get on purpose with business development, not only within our existing markets but seeking to expand into other markets and create opportunities future development. 

We need to develop our own unique model for conducting business and take it global thereby helping them to understand what it means to be doing business within our standards. Perhaps we should redefine what it means to be doing business@islandtime, and help them understand that we do business as a people the world over. 

The personal side of the entrepreneurship lifestyle

As an entrepreneur, everyone expects that you'll always be the strong one - striving for success, achieving set budgets, having a surplus of profits that contribute to a really great lifestyle.

You get letters from various people who want you to contribute to their causes, customers / clients who believe that you have enough money so they will pay you in the next batch. The governments of the day who burden you with staggering taxes, prohibiting you from properly paying themselves, but contributing to their planned schemes and projects where the money's wasted and nothing seems to be accomplished. They don't see the hustle, the sleepless nights, the inability to afford the basics; the fact that your personal quality of life is nowhere near where they or yourself expected.

When I get to see the inner information pertaining to entrepreneurs, the pictures are not pretty. In many cases, they try to conceal the true situation even from their families and loved ones. So who knows the entrepreneur?  It often comprises of themselves and their banker.

Entrepreneurs often face these situations:

• No salary / wage
• No benefits 
• No vacations 
• No specialty team of advisors 
• No group huddle of others in similar relationships to discuss how to deal with the challenges
• No reserve funds 
• No proper organizational structure 

Additionally, technical assistance that's available often has a lot of requirements to be fulfilled to qualify for the assistance. Another area requiring lots of information before assistance is grants. 

Will they ever be a system that allows the entrepreneurs to do what they do best - work, while the other activities get completed by professionals in the requisite fields? 

The next time someone offers you the opportunity to be an entrepreneur, think long and hard. The investment of time and resources can be enormous, and not obvious at first neither. 

Despite the drawbacks, there can be benefits such as:

• Control of your time if you're organized. 
• Networking opportunities, where you can work with the more desirous of your contacts. 
• Projects developed can be better controlled by you using the timeframes as you allocate based on your scheduling. 
• Serving multiple markets reduces and removes the element of boredom as there's always something to learn.
• On going education, where you learn elements of the business that you would be never exposed to if you worked in a job. 
• If you get to make money, you get first pick at spending, then the government gets theirs. Way different than when you're an employee. [NB. Employees are taxed heavier than corporations in some jurisdictions] 

Entrepreneurship is not all that it's cracked up to be, unless it is done well. You have to be prepared to make some investment of time / money / other resources along the way. If you're good at it, the personal side of the entrepreneurship lifestyle may be worth it for you. 

Youth and Experience in Business

I grew up in an era, that when you were applying for a job and you had experience, the employer would day they are looking for someone with more qualifications. If you had the qualifications, they would feedback that they were looking for someone with more experience. Having chosen a course of study that was laced with practicality within the program and reinforced with multiple internships, when I then went for a job and the employer was cornered unable to use the previous excuses; it was then that they would say to me that I was too young.

This is the dilemma that many youth face today. It is also faced by those who may need to make career adjustments later in life. The banter back and forth by employers makes one just wonder; why they don't start their own business - be their own boss.

Young people come up with brilliant ideas and business concepts which they want to use to transform the world. Those who are older are risk averse wanting to play it safe despite their experience and their capabilities to really make it big. They are often timid; unless someone's bank rolling them with large sums of funds, they tend to err on the side of caution.

There was more than once a young person with well thought out business plans and proven research that are told they are too young to realize this. It was thought that they lacked the discipline. Alternately, those older are questions as to why they waited until so late before making this move. So what's the real deal with the youth and experience? How come they are programs geared at developing the youth for business and those catering for those older are generally about how to secure their jobs?

There are some things that are needed for getting into business regardless of your age or your experience. They are as follows:

• Organization - the business has to be well thought out complete with plans that are written in a sequential manner that address all the elements internally and externally that will impact the business. 
• Management - the management must be sound. Even if they lack the experience in the field, they must demonstrate that they know how to find any expertise that's needed to enable the business to function effectively and efficiently. 
• Operations - must be well laid out and it must be shown that they will be managed adequately from all points within the sourcing, supply, processing and final delivery of a finished product / service.  
• Finance - identifying where you'll get the money and how you'll use it in the business' development is key regardless of if you're getting funding from a bank, private investment avenues or other financial assistance
• Marketing - getting and staying in the market is key. The strategies that you employ will be key. Getting your product / service into the market. Deciding which markets to enter. How you will establish and maintain the presence of the brand. The pricing strategies employed and many other factors will all be considered under marketing. 
• Mentorship and business advice - where guidance is provided to these young businesses in a structured manner. It isn't necessary for them to repeat mistakes that can be harmful to the businesses as there will be plenty of opportunity to make new unthought of mistakes within the dynamic business environments that are present and going towards the future. 
• Cashflow -  many are unaware that their businesses can be profitable and they can still close. Cashflow is necessary to understand the ebbs and flows of business and the impact of your decisions / actions upon the business. 

This information that was provided outlines what is needed at the basic level. Additional information can be provided through making contact with us via our website. You can fill out a survey which tells us about yourself. Navigating the youth and experience jostle used against many can be challenging today to say the least. Once you understand how it works, make it work for you and your business.