The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

THE Bahamas must retool its economy and workforce to offer an expanded services menu including software development and retirement homes, the Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation's (BCCEC) chairman suggesting Freeport's industrial focus was 'out of step' with the world's main growth areas.

Telling Tribune Business that the world was now in "the information age", not the industrial age, Winston Rolle said that diversifying the Bahamian services platform to embrace other high margin, high value-added industries was the way forward for this nation's economic development.

Arguing that tourism and financial services, the traditional 'twin pillars' of the Bahamian economy, would not be able to create enough jobs by themselves, notwithstanding the $2.6 billion Baha Mar project, Mr Rolle said this nation needed to follow the lead established by several Caribbean competitors when it came to technology.

He told Tribune Business that by focusing on software development and technology-related industries, not only could the Bahamas attract back home citizens working in these sectors abroad, but it could provide continuous human capital development through the retraining they demanded.

Mr Rolle warned, though, that if this strategy was to succeed, the Bahamas must solve "the huge disconnect" between its education system and where job opportunities lie in today's globalised economy.

The BCCEC chairman recalled to Tribune Business how, through recently reading a Jamaican newspaper, he learned that a major software developer was seeking to establish a presence in the southern Caribbean island. The Jamaican government has focused on expanding the country's presence in information and communications technology (ICT), setting aside land and purpose-built software parks to assist such ventures.

"When you consider our proximity to the US, the language and the technological advances made in the last few years, there's no reason why that could not be done in the Bahamas," Mr Rolle said.

The same applied to retirement homes, given the huge potential market created by the US 'baby boom' generation. "A lot of our islands provide an environment for that sort of thing," the BCCEC chairman added.

"How do we expand tourism, and in a significant way, not looking just at room nights? The US is a significant investor in retirement homes. When you consider the amenities we have with the beaches and such like, it really makes that opportunity into an attractive one. We need to be more creative in looking at ways we can generate new opportunities for the country."

A proliferation of retirement homes in the Out Islands would also help tackle the Bahamas' social problems. "When you consider the availability of land in the Family Island, creating significant employment opportunities there, where people tend to migrate to Nassau looking for jobs, starts to alleviate the congestion in Nassau," he added.

Focusing on information technology (IT), a sector he has considerable experience in, Mr Rolle told Tribune Business: "We have quite a number of Bahamians skilled in that area living abroad, and have not come home, as the opportunities are not here for them.

"These are high-end type jobs, with lots of training and re-training going on, so they are constantly enhancing the skill sets of these folks."

When it came to the Bahamian economy's direction, Mr Rolle added: "It's a matter of focus. We've been happy to focus on tourism and financial services.

"Other Caribbean countries have created Ministries of Technology, not only to see how they can best utilise technology in their work, but also to have a cadre of professionals that attract foreign direct investment in these areas."

And he further explained to Tribune Business: "What we have to realise is that Freeport has always billed itself as an industrial environment, but there are not a lot of opportunities in that area now.

"We're now in the information age. We've always branded ourselves as being a services economy, but our services have been narrowly focused," Mr Rolle told Tribune Business. "We need to expand our services definition, and look at areas where we can provide services.

"It's not only going to provide economic opportunities, but will allow us to grow and develop our people, as this is an environment where people have to be adequately trained. It's not static; it's continuous training."

All this, though, will require a re-tooling of the Bahamian education system, and an improvement in the quality of graduates coming out of the public high school system.

"Part of the challenge is that we have a huge disconnect between what's provided from the education system and where the opportunities are lying," the Chamber chief told this newspaper.

He added that this month, the Department of Statistics, in conjunction with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) was readying to "go a little deeper" with an employment survey that focused on workforce training.

"The plan is to tie it in with Immigration, so we can see where the work permits are coming from," Mr Rolle explained. "We can see then how the country is developing and meeting its workforce needs.

"Hopefully, that will also identify areas where we have an oversupply of skills, and then we can look to re-train those individuals to meet the demands of what the market needs."

Noting the impact of the 72 lay-offs announced last week by the combination of the Freeport Container Port, Grand Bahama Airport Company and Freeport Harbour Company, Mr Rolle said the effects would be "significant" given that the city's economy was already in "a very dire predicament".

The BCCEC chairman said the main shock came from the fact that the three companies, all of which are run and part-owned by Hong Kong-based conglomerate, Hutchison Whampoa, were controlled by someone perceived as having "relatively deep pockets" and thought able to withstand any "bumps in the road".

"That gives you an indication of how serious a matter it is, and we basically need to pay attention to the details and try and turn this thing around," Mr Rolle added.