Neal & Massy Holdings Limited, owner of local conglomerate Barbados Shipping & Trading, closed its Warrens Motors operation, is in the process of exiting from the tourism sector via is disposal of Almond Beach Resorts properties, and is restructuring its Dacosta Mannings retail business, including the closure of its Fontabelle, St. Michael branch.

But even amid continued economic challenges here and N&M’s own on-going challenges in this market, Jamaica Money Market Brokers, the Caribbean’s largest investment brokerage house, is advising the Trinidad company to invest in new areas of activity in Barbados, which it believed had potential.

“Opportunities exist within the alternative energy sector, which currently accounts for 25 per cent of total consumption needs. Other areas (Neal & Massy) could exploit are the information and technology and communications sectors,” JMMB recommended in a recent analysis on the regional corporate giant.

The regional brokerage firm also based its advice on what it referred to as a reported economic improvement for the island.

“The Barbados economy is expected to grow by 0.7 per cent this year. This forecast is based on the most recent IMF estimate of average growth of 1.7 per cent for Barbados’ major trading partners (that is, the US, UK and Canada), along with improvement of approximately 1.2 per cent in consumer expenditure. In addition, private capital inflows of BBD$600 million are anticipated to enhance activity in tourism and construction sectors,” the analysis noted.

“Barbados ranked 44th in the 2013 Global Competitiveness Index, on the strength of its well-functioning institutions, good infrastructure, high quality education system, high use of information and communication technologies and a fairly sophisticated business community.”

Speaking recently here at the launch of a partnership involving Dacosta Mannings and sister company Super Centre, N&M’s Chairman of Retail, Thomas Pantin, said his company intended to invest more than $70 million in Barbados over the next three years.

This, he explained, was part of an objective to help stimulate economic activity here, create jobs in the construction phase of the effort and increase employment within N&M’s operations here.

“One of the ways in which we will be meeting these objectives is by creating a single retail offer, and by integrating the businesses of Dacosta Mannings and Super Centre,” Pantin said. (SC)

David Denny

Local Pan-Africanists will join with people of like mind from across the world to celebrate African Liberation Day on May 25.

However, this year’s celebration will be dedicated to the late Pan-Africanist and social activist, Glenroy Straughn. One of the organisers of the event, David Denny, told members of the Press that a number of organisations had come together to celebrate the day.

Among the organisations participating in the event will be the Pan-African Movement of Barbados, the Israel Lovell Foundation, the Cuba/Barbados Friendship Association, African Reparation Incorporated, the Clement Payne Movement, the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration and the July 26 Movement.

He pointed out that the groups had received some measure of support from the Commission for Pan-African Affairs to organise an NGO activity for the celebration of the day. Denny explained that a Pan-African Youth Rally will be held on May 24, at Pelican Village where the Pinelands Creative Workshop will be presented with the Glenroy Straughn Community Development Award, and then on May 25, there will be a Pan-African Youth Conference which will give some recognition to Straughn.

He disclosed that at the end of both activities the Pan-Africanists would organise a march from Pelican Village to the Spirit Bond where a report on the deliberations will be presented to Prime Minister Freundel Stuart.

Onkphra Wells

Meanwhile, Onkphra Wells noted that African Liberation Day had been celebrated for some time, therefore all Pan-Africanists should look at its relevance.

“We will be looking at the history of African Liberation Day and its relevance, a report on reparations, the African Union and their programme for the peoples of African descent within the Diaspora. We will also be looking at a Pan-African calendar for Barbados,” Wells said.

Wells explained that the celebrations will take place at Pelican Village because the location had become a ghost town. He said he hoped to stage a programme every two weeks and then one every week when the Crop-Over activities were in full swing.

Wells, one of the craftsmen operating from Pelican Village, said he hoped to stage an event called Last Lap at Pelican Village so that craftsmen could generate some sales to tourists returning home. This will include an entertainment package that will feature performers as Lion Soul with Nicole Peach Pilgrim; Rhesa Garnes and Lisa Griffith, along with some of the young entertainers from the Richard Stoute Teen Talent contest, Haynesville Youth Group, the Israel Lovell Foundation, Charles Odell, Victor Tula Lewis and Adrian Greene. (NC)

Director of Pine Hill Dairy and Chief Executive Officer of parent company, Banks Holdings Limited, Richard Cozier

The island’s sole milk processing plant has put a plan to the Barbados Government that it believes would boost the company’s ability to expand exports to a wider Caribbean market.

Director of Pine Hill Dairy and Chief Executive Officer of parent company, Banks Holdings Limited, Richard Cozier, said this afternoon the PHD’s proposal was seeking industry- wide support from the Government, which would allow it to make inroads into the highly-competitive Trinidad and Tobago market, for example.

Cozier noted that earlier issues with exporting to Trinidad had to do with labelling of milk and juice.

“Those are largely resolved in so far as we sought, and got a period of transition to make our labelling compliant. That process is underway,” he observed. “The new products that came out like the two per cent lactose free milk will have the new requirements to be compliant with Trinidad incorporated in them; and over the next couple of months, you will see further roll outs as new packaging comes into being.”

He reasoned that the ability to make inroads into the Trinidad market was largely going to be the PHD’s ability to get a price that the market there, is receptive to.

“That is a very, very cost-sensitive market. They don’t have the duty structures and the cost of operating that we have here; and they have other … incentives there that we can’t participate in. Their cost of energy is very low, their cost of labour is comparatively low and so it’s always going to be a challenge as to how big an impact we will make there,” asserted the chief executive officer.

“We have a plan before Government for consideration that would allow us to be able to be an active player, not just in Trinidad, but in Jamaica, Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean in a meaningful way. It (the plan) really deals with industry wide support, … The farm gate price in Barbados, is perhaps the highest in the world, $2.60 per kilogramme. And that’s not an indictment on the farmers; it really is a reflection that they do not participation in any subsidy or financial incentives directly.”

He suggested that, without subsidies, the prices of many things consumers and producers took for granted, would have to be significantly higher, “if you pay the full economic price for it; and that’s the foundation of the proposal we have before Government… Put us on the similar footing as those in the bigger countries who we import from”.

The subsidies were also useful for food security, Cozier added.

“When you look at local production of milk, farm gate milk, it is probably the one element in our food chain, that all the money stays here. There is very little imported input to deliver fresh milk to the consumer,” he pointed out.

Cozier also said he was pleased to report that the BHL had been able to hold onto jobs during the past year, in light of the economic down turn.

“Our brands usually fall into the category that are described as recession-resistant. When there is a recession, people would still drink. People would go out and celebrate or commiserate.” Cozier announced, too, that the new Banks Brewery plant had made a substantial difference, in that the cost of operations had significantly dropped.

“At the old facility with the old technology used there, we took about 16 litres of water to make one litre of beer. Currently we are at about eight litres of water to one litre of beer, and we’re still not happy there, we want to go down to six,” declared the CEO. (EJ)

Hally Haynes

Misleading and does not reflect recent developments – that’s how the local credit union movement has responded to a recent news story claiming they had been ordered to pull investments from certain financial institutions.

In a statement issued this evening by President of the Barbados Co-operative & Credit Union League Limited, Hally Haynes, the movement said it had received no such directive from the Financial Services Commission.

“The story which appeared in the print media captioned Banks Only – Credit Unions Must Pull Investments is misleading and does not reflect recent developments.

“Further, the Barbados Co-operative & Credit Union League Ltd., the apex body for credit unions and co-operatives in Barbados, totally rejects the notion of any ongoing row between the FSC and credit unions on this or any other issue. The pertinent facts surrounding the issue are as summarised below,” they said.

‘Constructive dialogue’

It added: “The league, as the representative body for credit unions, is engaged in a process of constructive dialogue with the FSC on behalf of all its credit union affiliates, on a broad range of issues pertaining to the regulation and supervision of credit unions in Barbados. The parties have committed to meeting on a quarterly basis, and met as recently as April 10, 2013.

“In relation to the subject of investments, the FSC directed credit unions to report on their portfolio of investments as at April 15, 2013. As the regulator, the FSC is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that credit unions are fully compliant with all of the statutory provisions, regulations and any guidelines issued.

“However, it is noted that some provisions in the current legislation governing investments, in their strictest literal interpretation may be restrictive, given the changing financial landscape. Against this background, the FSC and the league have agreed to work together to address any anomalies that exist in the current legislation.

“This process may involve changes to the legislation to create a more enabling environment for credit unions to support their growth and further development.

“The league is fully supportive of the important role played by the regulator in ensuring stability within the sector. It therefore intends to continue the process of constructive dialogue with the FSC to ensure that the interests of its membership are adequately represented.”

Damien Catlyn (left) receives award from BHL CEO Richard Cozier.

A young man who has been with Pine Hill Dairy for just over two years, has won the prestigious CEO Award of Excellence as the most outstanding employee across the entire Banks Holdings Group of Companies.

Thirty two year old Damien Catlyn, who is the grouping’s Health, Safety, Environmental and Energy Officer, not only received that award this afternoon during the 10th anniversary of the CEO’s Award of Excellence at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, but also Employee of the Year at Pine Hill Dairy.

Catlyn was favoured by the CEO over his four rivals from the other BHL subsidiaries, who were themselves, Employees of the Year at their own work places.

BHL Chief Executive Officer, Richard Cozier, said he finally decided on Catlyn because he was able to change an entire culture of people doing things in a particular way, in the short time he was at the dairy and the fact that his mandate involved an environmental issue.

Cozier noted that in spite of the current tough economic times, the investment in the awards, was the group’s way of giving back to all its workers for their beyond-the-call-of-duty inputs and to get to talk to staff in one location. The other nominees for the CEO Award of Excellence were techinician with B&B Distribution Limited, Errol Lowe; forklift operator at Banks (Barbados) Breweries Limited, Fernon Scantlebury; Group Credit Controller with the BHL Corporate Division, Patricia Sylvester, and inventory clerk at The Barbados Bottling Company Limited, Duane Cambell.

The new group top employee explained that the secret to his success in being an agent of change, was his “bottom up” approach to health and safety on the job.

But while giving the entity, which also serves other islands in the Eastern Caribbean, the highest possible rating coveted by UNDP postings across the globe, the organisation’s Office of Audit and Investigations is advising the Barbados country office to take some “important” steps to ensure it “is not exposed to significant risks”.

It also cautioned that failure to take action on recommendations, principally those related to strengthening cost recovery, fully implementing a more harmonised approach to cash transfers, enhancing project review and approval, and using purchase orders more appropriately, “could result in negative consequences for UNDP”.

In a March 26, 2013 report following the November 12 to 23, 2012 audit of the UNDP Barbados and the OECS office, specifically the $19.8 million spent between January 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012, Director of the UNDP’s Office of Audit and Investigations Helge S. Osttveiten, said the findings represented general good news for UNDP Barbados.

“OAI assessed the office as satisfactory, which means that ‘internal controls, governance and risk management processes were adequately established and functioning well. No issues were identified that would significantly affect the achievement of the objectives of the audited entity’,” the official stated.

The office here received the highest possible ratings generally under the categories of governance and strategic management, UN system coordination, programme activities, and operations.

Within these broad areas, however, there were partially satisfactory rankings in the areas of financial sustainability, harmonised approach to cash transfers, procurement, which under the ratings system used meant that “internal controls, governance and risk management processes were generally established and functioning, but needed improvement”, in addition to the fact that “one or several issues were identified that may negatively affect the achievement of the objectives of the audited entity”.

Recommendations

Osttveiten said there were seven related recommendations and that “the Resident Representative accepted all the recommendations and is in the process of implementing them”.

Auditors advised UNDP Barbados to: strengthen its cost recovery, fully implement the Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfers modality, ensure that projects are only started once all applicable criteria have been met, improve its monitoring of cash advances to nationally implemented projects and ensure timely liquidation of long outstanding balances.

Other recommendations were for UNDP here to “ensure that purchase orders are raised for all applicable procurement activities in compliance with the UNDP Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures and for the full amount of the contractual obligation when contracts are signed”, “ensure compliance with the policies and procedure governing the individual contractor modality”, and “ensure proper, complete and timely recording of assets in Atlas by requesting assistance from Global Shared Service Centre to update assets previously acquired but not yet recorded or disposed of but not yet removed”. (SC)

Christopher Myles

While Pan-Africanists in Barbados prepare to celebrate African Liberation Day 2013, small businessmen located in Pelican Village, the City, say they are yet to experience economic enfranchisement in their country of birth.

And several of them told a team from Barbados TODAY that they did not anticipate any improvement in business during the upcoming Crop-Over activities.

President of the Barbados Arts Council Galary, Denzille Mann, explained: “Business in art is very difficult to predict these days because numbers do not necessarily translate into business. At present business is very, very slow. We have to be as creative as possible to have people come to the gallery and respond to the material that is there.

“For the most part the visitor component accounts for between 95 per cent of the sales, and the other five go to the established buying element of Barbados and that includes a corporate element too. Prior to the recession, the corporate element was growing but since the recession that plummeted too. Everything now is in the doldrums.”

Manager of Sylvester’s Restaurant, Christopher Myles, lamented the fact that business was “very, very slow” at this time.

Barnaby Kelham (left) and Prime Minister Freundel Stuart.

More than a week after Barbados TODAY broke the story, the Prime Minister’s Office has confirmed that the multi-million dollar Beachlands tourism project on the West Coast is going ahead.

In a statement issued through the Government Information Service, it reported that Prime Minister Freundel Stuart received this assurance from representatives of the company undertaking the investment, and he expressed his pleasure that the projected works will be started before year-end.

Stuart held talks recently with the Chief Executive Officer of UK & European Investments, Barnaby Kelham, at Government Headquarters, where he was updated about the Beachlands project.

The Prime Minister said he was “following very closely what was happening at Beachlands Development” at Sunset Crest.

“We are pleased that you are going ahead with the project and we stand ready to facilitate in any way possible,” he assured the group.

Describing the plot as “probably the best piece of developable land left on the West Coast of Barbados”, Kelham stressed the keenness of the company to work actively on the further development and finalisation of the project.

During the meeting that took place at the Dover Beach Hotel, Christ Church, the minister reiterated Panama’s importance as a strategic partner for Barbados, given its position as a gateway for commerce, a major hub for international air and sea transportation, and the home of many Barbadians.

McClean disclosed that plans were being made for the upcoming 100th anniversary celebrations of the opening of the Panama Canal as part of the overall efforts to enhance Barbados/Panama bilateral relations.

The minister also informed the group that members of the Christian Mission Church in Panama had also informed her about their plans to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the church and the involvement of Barbadians in the event.

“The Panama migration story is one that we cannot allow Panamanians to forget,” she said.

She also fielded questions from the group ranging from airlift, the health care system in Barbados and facilities for the elderly.

Regarding talks on airlift, the foreign minister gave an undertaking that further discussions would be held on establishing a direct flight by Copa Airlines.

“I believe that there is a lot of traffic that will come from both ways,” McClean added.

Kenneth King

Entrepreneurship and mentorship have been paired in a programme being spearheaded by the St. James South Constituency Council in hopes of driving residents to begin thinking about starting their own businesses.

Chairman of the Council, Keith King, noted that there was a lot of potential in the constituency, but often those wanting to start businesses did not know where to go or have the necessary assistance readily available.

“[W]e are here today to launch our Community Entrepreneurship and Mentorship Programme. Developing the spirit of entrepreneurship is one of the key tenets of the constituency council … and so this council has appointed an entrepreneurship committee headed by [Richard] Kennedy, to be able to help build on these tenets.

“The key activities of the committee will be to create a database of the entrepreneurs and businesses in our constituency to promote the businesses…, to develop the technical skills of the entrepreneurs in this environment and to mentor existing and new entrepreneurs.

“We have identified that there is a tremendous amount of potential among our people, but in many instances they do not know where to go next; they have much talent, but at the same time how to turn this talent into a money earning opportunity?” King said was the question young business owners were asking themselves.

There were several businesses, where the challenge was being able to move beyond the start up, King stated, adding that lack of ideas, economics, lack of leadership or even business acumen were among the issues. Therefore, these and other issues were being targeted by the council.

“This programme is intended to touch all aspects of business development. It is not only about entrepreneurship, it is also about mentorship, because we need to guide our people, just don’t let them go, but mould them, walk with them,” he noted.

A six-member committee had been established to do just that, and would also form a database of resources and businesses in the constituency towards helping the residents, he added.

Head of the committee, Richard Kennedy remarked that there were a number of people in the constituency that wanted to give back, and with the country’s strong focus now on producing entrepreneurs, it was the perfect mesh for that desire to contribute while creating the businesses necessary to drive a new economy.

The committee encouraged constituents to get involved by contacting the council at stjamessouth@councils.gov.bb or calling the office at 421-8427. (LB)