The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) yesterday said its Small Business Mentorship Programme aimed to save jobs and improve “the chance of success” for entrepreneurs in a sector that has a 70 per cent ‘failure rate’.

Describing the initiative, which will launch on February 4, as the BCCEC’s “signature event” for 2013, Chester Cooper, its chairman said it would start by pairing around 100 small businesses with experienced, successful businesspersons.

Noting that 70 per cent of the BCCEC’s membership were small businesses, Mr Cooper said the Mentorship Programme was being launched in partnership with the Government, its venture capital fund, the Bahamas Development Bank, Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA), College of the Bahamas (COB) Business School, and the commercial banks.

“Small business is the driver of our economy,” Mr Cooper told Tribune Business.

“With some 20,000 registered domestic companies, it is documented that greater than 75 per cent of them have revenues of $50,000 or less. This is an incredibly important sector, as these businesses aspire to be big businesses.

“Seven out of 10 new businesses fail, the Bahamas Development Bank is running very high delinquencies, and 50 per cent of businesses funded by the Venture Fund are failing. This is overwhelming evidence that, in addition to capital, new businesses need technical support,” he added.

“This is where we come in. Our mission is to improve the chance of success, therefore saving jobs in an already depressed economy, and bringing businesses to a level of strength where they can access traditional source of funding to make them even stronger.”

Mr Cooper said many business persons had volunteered as mentors, with the initiative getting “widespread support”. He added that its importance “cannot be overstated”.

Meanwhile, in his New Year’s message to BCCEC members, Mr Cooper announced that the organisation aimed to launch trade missions to Cuba and Jamaica this year, with India targeted for a similar visit in November 2013.

“We are hoping to take 20 to 25 business persons on all of our missions,” he told Tribune Business.

“With only 300,000 people in the Bahamas and a fairly saturated market in some respects, we must aspire to look outward for opportunities. After 40 years as an independent country our businesses must now assert them selves to take advantage of regional and international opportunity.”

As for this month’s Panama trade mission, Mr Cooper said the Grand Bahama delegation would be led by the minister for the island, Dr Michael Darville. He will be accompanied by his permanent secretary, Melvin Seymour, and Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) president, Ian Rolle.

The BCCEC chairman, together with vice-chairman Robert Myers, will lead the Nassau delegation, which includes executives from banking, insurance, communications and technology, retail and wholesale.

While promoting the Bahamas as ‘open for business’ and seeking to attract new industries and investment, Mr Cooper said the mission also aimed to identify opportunities in Panama, be it joint ventures or new supply sources.

“We will be visiting the Panama Canal, the Colon Free Zone, and Panama Pacifica,” he said. “I remain resolute that many of the industries being advanced in Panama, inclusive of the Free Zone and ‘break bulk shipping’ to supply the Latin American and Panama region, can be done in Freeport.

“Competition in the region is fierce and we cannot be insular in our thinking but, rather, position ourselves to effectively compete. I have said before that Freeport has the capacity to be the global business hub for Latin America and the Caribbean.

“We must be resolute in seizing the opportunities within our grasp with the solid infrastructure, deep water harbour, established shipping routes, technology and the legal framework for an effective and profitable free zone,” Mr Cooper added.

“There can be a myriad of opportunities for small and large business (including logistics services) if we can truly unleash the potential of Freeport. We will need a sensible immigration policy, prompt approvals from Government and bold and creative incentives to bring that boom to Freeport that we have been waiting for, for the last 40 years. It’s a low hanging fruit, quite frankly. I hope that this mission can be the catalyst for many magnificent things to come.”