The Tribune

BAHAMASLocal.com's top executive yesterday likened this nation to "a dinosaur in a space travel age" through the Government's continued reliance on paper-based systems.

Jason McDowall, head of a company now seeking to export the model it has pioneered in the Bahamas, backed recently-announced initiatives by the Minnis administration to lift the Bahamas out of "an antiquated, paper-based" business platform and into the 21st century.

"In an age when the largest retailer in the world is an online business, Amazon, official business in the Bahamas is still being conducted by paper transactions," said Mr McDowall. "That's like choosing to use a rotary dial phone in a smart device era."

His comments came after Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis admitted the Bahamas must step up its game, citing its consistent decline - and current rankings - in the World Bank's 'Ease of Doing Business' benchmarking.

"The Bahamas should be in a leading position as a great place to do business, both for locals and for foreign investors, but over the years we slipped further down the scale of places friendly to business," said Mr McDowall.

He is keeping an especially close eye on regional rankings as he gets closer to launching CaribbeanLocal, expanding the concept that has made BahamasLocal.com the 'Google of the Caribbean'.

"The Bahamas has everything going for it. Geographically we are the closest country to the largest markets, US and Canada. We have an English-speaking population, our currency is on par with the US dollar, we have a highly skilled and professional labour pool," Mr McDowall said.

"Despite all that we are falling behind. Jamaica, Dominican Republic, St Lucia, Cayman are all ranked higher - and moving higher - as we continue to slide. We have to ask ourselves why."

The answer, Mr McDowall said, is "right before our eyes in nearly every government office where there are piles of paper and people moving the paper around. We are a dinosaur in a space travel age".

The cry for reform has intensified in recent months as the 'letter of good standing' backlog at the National Insurance Board (NIB) has increasingly held up Business License renewals, Customs bonds and other matters related to conducting what should be routine business affairs.

The Prime Minister acknowledged the roadblocks shortly after coming to office. "The age of advanced computer algorithms and Smart Technology, waiting weeks or even months for the processing of certain documents or approvals, must be a thing of the past," Dr Minnis said.

"The Business Licence process takes too long and must be shortened. The inertia in the process must be removed." Earlier this month, he revealed initiatives to lessen those roadblocks, including Business License approvals within seven days.

"We live in an electronic world," said Mr McDowall. "Our BahamasLocal.com ad banners are shown over 400 million times per month, our business listings are clicked on more than 1.5 million times per month, and our pages are viewed over four million times per month.

"But at NIB it still takes more than a dozen people, I am told, to handle a single request for a 'letter of good standing' that should be automatic and instantaneous upon online request with a check that the account is up-to-date. "I am thrilled to hear that the Prime Minister and others, including the Ministers of Tourism and Financial Services, Trade and Industry, are on board and understand what our antiquated way of doing business is doing to our international reputation and to local frustration. I offer my technology services to the Government and will be happy to assist in any way I can."

Jason McDowall, BahamasLocal.com's president and chief executive, welcomes initiatives to ease doing business, and says current paper-driven methods make the Bahamas 'a dinosaur' in an age when the biggest retail business in the world, Amazon, is an online entity welcomes initiatives to ease doing business, offers technology assistance and says current methods of piles of paper make The Bahamas a dinosaur in an age when the biggest retail business in the world, Amazon, is an online entity.