The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A Grand Bahama businessman said yesterday water quality and electricity services need improving if the island is to attract further investment.

Alan Bassett, the newly-launched Bahamas Distilling Company’s chairman and chief executive, told the Grand Bahama Business Outlook conference that of the challenges he has encountered: “One of them would be power and water. I think that the water quality has absolutely improved in the last year since we’ve been coming to The Bahamas and working on this, but there’s still some room for improvement.

“I feel like the cost of electricity is a challenge for businesses moving forward and, in Grand Bahama and in Freeport, I think that’s something that our leadership really needs to pay close attention to.”

Acknowledging that electricity is a “fairly big part” of any business, especially manufacturing, Mr Bassett said: “For the cost of power, I’m not really sure what the solutions to that are. I think that solar power is one area where advancements and technology are improving such that it’s probably a good, viable option for businesses on Freeport or in Grand Bahama.

“Moving forward, I think it would be a really good idea for local authorities there to look at that and see how they can incentivise that...... perhaps some way of subsidising that. I know here in the US there are different options for financing those with government-backed low interest loans, and making it sensible and viable for businesses to look at solar power as a long-term strategy. I think that that could really be in Grand Bahama’s interest to pursue those sorts of avenues.”

Mr Bassett continued: “People often talk about Grand Bahama as if there’s a challenge with labour. My own view is that that isn’t a challenge. I think that our goal in the distillery is to hire people at the ground level. We’re going to be doing five to 10 hires here in the next couple of weeks, and we’re looking to engage people at ground level rather than bringing in marketing specialists.”

While there may not be sufficient Bahamian distillers available, he added: “If we could engage people on the ground level, and promote and grow those people into those roles, I think that if we bring in 10 people and identify their skills and aptitudes and talents, and really focus on what they’re good at and grow and promote those people, in those areas and strengths, I think that’s the way any business anywhere would like to grow.

“There seems to be a lot of things in the pipeline, a lot of possibilities. So I’m anticipating with excitement the redevelopment of the airport and the [Grand] Lucayan, and I think that those are going to be two key things for us moving forward. Our goal as a distillery is to become a destination distillery.”