Small Business Week 2023: Facilitating a Transformative Agenda for MSME Growth

Small Business Week 2023 is almost here! From September 24-30, 2023, the Small Business Association of Barbados’ (SBA) signature event will be held, with the support and appreciation of the SBA’s many stakeholders. The events planned will impact the national conversation around the role of the micro, small and medium enterprise sector (MSME), on economic and social development. This year’s theme, Facilitating a Transformative Agenda that is Fit for Purpose, attempts to expose the challenges affecting the sector and identify the solutions best suited for sustainable growth.

Chairman of the SBA Charles Carter set the stage for the conversation to ensue during the month of September, challenging policymakers, business support organisations and practitioners alike to do more than conform to international and other dictates but to pursue revolutionary policies and programmes that can transform the MSME ecosystem. True transformation will facilitate the kind of growth we seek as the world’s economies emerge from the global pandemic and other exogenous shocks.

The focus on digitalisation, which started in last year’s Small Business Week and continued throughout the year, aptly sets the agenda for this year’s conversation. The transformation needed should, therefore, commence with the monetisation of digital platforms in an effort to broaden the scope for small firms to internationalise their product offerings. This is seen as fit for purpose!

To date, little seems to have been done to improve the regulatory regime for businesses to access platforms such as YouTube, Spotify and Google for international trade. Policymakers are encouraged to “not allow it to lay dormant in someone’s drawer but be a part of a major agenda item for the advancement of the business sector”. Make haste to address the digital revolution being proffered as a key modality for doing business in this century.

A few initiatives were highlighted as offering the potential to be transformative. These include the recently launched junior stock exchange, for which the SBA has lobbied for years to be considered as a solution to diversify the financial products available and to unlock the savings of Barbadians. The collateral registry, which seems to be now on the back burner, represents another innovative solution to address the collateralisation needed by MSMEs desirous of accessing credit. Another area is the amendment to the Small Business Development Act, which, if done right, can truly create an enabling environment for the sector. The sad reality is that movement on these issues has not kept pace with the demand for a facilitative business climate emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chairman Carter opined that we are not devoid of agenda items that can prove to be transformational. What appears to be lacking is the testicular fortitude to get the job done. A way must be sought to illustrate and emphasise to those responsible for the execution of these agenda items, how important they are to the overall development of the MSME sector and, by extension, the country. It appears that the big picture is missed by focusing on conformity rather than transformation to facilitate the growth necessary for the country to strive.