The Tribune

• As IDB reveals digital payment ‘gender gap’

• 37% of all companies hit access obstacles

• And less than 50% employing websites

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas has generated a $900m annual economic boost by expanding its Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to cover 20 percent of the country’s coastal environment, studies have estimated.

A just-released Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report on The Bahamas’ efforts to sustainably monetise its ocean resources, or so-called Blue Economy, discloses that coastal safeguards against hurricanes and climate change, as well as the tourism and fisheries industries, will enjoy major gains from the addition of 43 MPAs that was quietly effected by the Minnis administration.

“As part of the implementation of the Marine Protection Plan, which proposed 43 new MPA sites covering around 3.28 hectares, after a period of consultation some 42 MPAs have been approved and gazetted, thus protecting 20 percent of the Bahamian marine space,” the report, which has been seen by Tribune Business, reveals.

“This new network could generate annually $67.6m in tourism expenditure, $23.5m in nursery habitats for spiny lobster, $806m in coastal protection and $5m in avoided greenhouse gas emissions. The implementation of MPAs also has a high potential for nature tourism.”

A paper on the economic value generated by the MPA exposure projected that exposure to hurricane and natural disaster risks would be reduced for almost 40,000 persons due to the 42 additions, which would also increase tourist visitor days by 383,000 annually and fisheries catches by six million pounds.

The Davis administration has signalled its intentions to continue with its predecessor’s Blue Economy focus, having identified this together with the Orange (cultural) and Green (environmental, renewable) segments as critical elements in its drive to diversify Bahamian commerce and generate higher GDP growth rates to pull the country away from a post-COVID slump.

The IDB report suggested that the Blue Economy effort would also help to close what it described as a gender gap in terms of access to finance by female-led businesses. “Globally, women make up most of the workforce in coastal and maritime tourism and fisheries, the main Blue Economy sectors,” the study added.

“Yet they are in the lowest-paid, lowest-status and least-protected jobs. In small island developing states (SIDS), tourism accounts for 30 percent to 80 percent of total exports, with the participation of women as high as 54 percent. But most of this work is in low-skilled, temporary jobs.

“In The Bahamas, women-led firms are often of smaller size, younger and usually operate in low growth, low profit segments. Extreme weather events have a major impact on vulnerable populations, especially women and girls,” the study added.

“It is estimated that 40,232 (51.4 percent) women and girls were affected by Hurricane Dorian, and 70 percent of the persons displaced from Grand Bahama to New Providence were women, although they comprised around 50 percent of the population.”

The IDB’s Innovation, Firm Performance and Gender survey, which received 157 responses from Bahamas-based companies between June and November 2020, said the findings revealed “a potentially binding constraint” for women-led businesses when it came to the ability to receive and send digital payments.

Some 43.25 percent of “female dominated” companies reported struggles in this area, as opposed to just 35 percent of companies headed by their male counterparts, despite 51 percent of women-led companies dedicating marketing resources to a digital media strategy.

“A new potential obstacle that was included in the survey was the access (or lack thereof) to digital payment,” the IDB analysis of the findings said. “While this particular issue is not among the most pressing, there are differences worth noting.

“Thirty-seven percent of Bahamian firms report access to digital payments as an obstacle (major or very severe) for their operation, but this proportion is higher for female-dominated firms (43 percent) and firms who are completely domestic (45 percent). This points to a potentially binding constraint that could deter performance among women-led firms, widening further the economic gender gap observed in the country.

“Furthermore, 45 percent of firms dedicated marketing efforts in the form of development and implementation of digital media. This share is higher (51 percent) among female-dominated firms, which points to a mismatch between digitalisation efforts in marketing and access to digital payments for female-dominated firms. This mismatch is particularly important to address in order to increase the percentage (46 percent) of firms that use e-commerce for their purchases.”

The IDB survey found that while 96 percent and 95 percent of Bahamian companies used mobile phones and e-mails, respectively, in their daily operations, just 61 percent employed social media and less than half - 48 percent - have a website.

“Additionally, the share of firms that have a website is lower (42.7 percent vis a vis 65.7 percent) among young firms (established after 2000) relative to the oldest firms (established between 1929 and 1980),” the report added.

“It is encouraging that older firms have adapted and use basic technological tools to operate, but young firms could see an improvement by adopting the use of websites as well, complementing their higher utilisation of social media.

“Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Bahamian firms face new challenges for their operation or manufacturing. The ‘increased volume of available data from all sources’ represents the phenomenon that will have the most impact in the way with which their businesses operate, followed by the recourse to artificial intelligence and the transferability of digital information to machines.”

To help drive The Bahamas’ focus on the Blue Economy, the IDB report said the Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) or Access Accelerator has provided grant financing support to some 249 start-ups, entrepreneurs and small businesses in areas such as marine fishing, freshwater fishing, ship and boat building and water transport/freight - a move that has benefited 1,666 workers.

“The economic contribution of the Blue Economy in The Bahamas has been estimated as 21.5 percent of the GDP, and up to 50 percent including the indirect impacts,” the IDB report added.

“The Bahamas’ Exclusive Economic Zone covers 260,000 square miles, of which 5 percent is land and 95 percent is sea, representing the largest development space for the country.

“With 95 percent of the country’s territory located in the marine habitat, and a regional average of 70 percent of the country’s population living on the coast, marine resources have the potential to become an important source of economic production, if properly managed and protected.”