The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas is still suffering from “huge voids” in human capital development, a key tourism executive said yesterday, noting that succession planning and leadership development were key to reducing the impact of managerial level changes in the workforce expected to be created by major projects such as Baha Mar.

Speaking at a Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) led forum, ‘Corporate Strategies for Leadership and Talent Development’, its president, Stuart Bowe, said: “Our seminar was about creating awareness. We are very interested, and very concerned, in ensuring that the Bahamas brand is what we want to put out there to the world.

“We’re taking this from an outside perspective to ensure that all the practices and the infrastructure needed to create leaders and leadership positions that are sustainable in the future are put in place.”

Mr Bowe added: “There is still a lot of talent out there. What we want to do is ensure that it is properly directed to the needs of the business community in the areas of critical thinking skills, project management and human development, which we found was an area where we had a huge void. It’s very important that our human capital development is part of the annual evaluation of companies.

“There are many projects beyond just Baha Mar that are coming on stream. There are projects in Bimini, Andros, San Salvador, in the Abacos, here in Nassau and many of the industries. What we are doing is a part of a national plan. This is just a start.”

Mr Bowe said it was important that the Bahamas also solidifies its brand from a leadership standpoint.

“Brand is everything,” he added. “In the last 15 years we have seen a lot of sun, sand and sea destinations join the tourism market. What we are looking to do, from a brand standpoint, is along with having sun, sand sea and the beautiful resorts, we want to ensure that we can show the world that we have deep leadership and commitment to leadership from a national level.”

Participating stakeholders joining the BHTA in the initiative included the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC), the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Labour, the National Congress of Trade Unions, the Inter-American Development Bank, the College of the Bahamas, the National Training Agency, Atlantis, Baha Mar, CFAL and RBC FINCO.