The Tribune

YOUNG entrepreneurs throughout the archipelago should “get ready” for the many opportunities set to come on stream with the opening of Baha Mar in 2014, Robert Sands said yesterday.

Speaking on the heels of a recently released Economic Impact Assessment by Oxford Economics, Mr Sands said now is the time for artisans and other ambitious people to familiarise themselves with the project.

“This is a call to action,” Mr Sands proclaimed, “for all Bahamians of the opportunities that will accrue commencing the opening in December 2014. And we are extremely proud that we can make as a company our contribution to the future economic well-being of our country.”

While many Bahamians may look at the hospitality industry as a very narrow field of employment limited to guest services and the like, Royann Dean, public relations and communications strategist at Baha Mar, said the opportunities at Baha Mar go far beyond that.

“You will notice that there are entrepreneurs in the booklet, there are manufacturers, surveyors, and engineers. So what this will do for those existing industries is actually raise the level of their service. That raises all those entrepreneurs both existing and future,” she said.

Mr Sands said there will possibly be as many as 1,000 different career opportunities available.

“We think that we are going to attract a discriminating individual. So they are looking for things unique – things that are uniquely Bahamian. They are also looking for branded items that are of a quality, that are one-off. So this whole Baha Mar will inspire the creative juices of a lot of entrepreneurs and create an environment for them to be able to trade their goods, or provide for them through some of the concessions through retail that will be available through the resort.

“We talk about our alliances with the arts – certainly through the D’Aguilar Foundation and the National Art Gallery. Those artistic artisans will have the opportunity to display their goods.

“And what it does is that in many countries when the visitors go back and take these pieces, it will create equity in those artisans’ names and create demand for these pieces to be displayed and exhibited and become part of private collections.

“The whole multiplier effect of such a transformative project goes beyond just the impact that we are talking here today,” he said.