Caribbean Business Effectiveness

Over the past 14 months, I have been involved in various areas of business development, from the writing of Business Plans and Grant Request Proposals, to the writing of articles on business development in the Caribbean.

Through my creation of Caribbean Farmers Without Borders, I was fortunate enough to mingle and interact with agribusiness owners and operators right around the Caribbean, from Haiti and the Bahamas to Suriname and Belize. I became acquainted with new products being manufactured by our young entrepreneurs and I learnt new methods of farming from the experts in the field. I had conversations with Government officials, financiers, donors and investors, all in the hopes of creating a Culture of Independence for our Caribbean People.

In my quest for the success of our Small and Medium Business Owners and Operators, I also learn of the continuing challenges that they face especially our business women. The felt marginalized because they are women and have to basically plead with the men in positions of power to get assistance, technical and financial. For me it was a learning experience, one that lead to frustration, when I think of the difficulties that our school leavers will have when their time comes around. I had the tedious task of preparing grant proposals on behalf of our members and waiting month after month for a response, favorable or not. Then at the end of 6 to 9 months, one hears that they did not qualify due to a technicality on the application form or that they were not in business long enough.

Most interestingly, was the fact that many of our farmers are very good at planting and handling production, but not good at business management and I understood that. They had not been allowed the chance of a formal education in keeping records or even knowing how they can create financial security. Their loan managers may have told them, but not followed up with them. So come time to apply for a loan, there was no historical data to prove their income and expense.

I applauded the young women who worked at the office during the day and then went to tend their farms in the afternoon after work right into the night. It was amazing when one of two mentioned their encounter with snakes on their farm.

What touched me though, especially with the advent of the Coronavirus , was the lack of interest and support from Minsters and Permanent Secretaries at the various Government Ministries. They expressed no commitment to the development of farming, had no concern for the growth of the CARICOM FOOD IMPORT BILL which had by 2020 reached a whopping US$9 billion. That is billions of dollars that leaves the Caribbean shores, while we can produce 25% of that amount in the Region if only enough attention was given to the Agriculture sector and if we educated our population to Grow What they Eat and Eat What They Grow. But it proved what I thought was a theory. The majority of our Government Ministers are not creative and work basically for a pay check and to create wealth for themselves. So they build their next around Tourism and Citizenship by Investment (Passport Sales), instead of promoting the development of local enterprise. The majority of the members of my Caribbean Farmers Without Borders have been saying to me that if the had the support , they would have grown more products, enough to increase export and processing. The local food is much healthier than the import, because of the organic components. With agriculture, there can be manufacturing at both mass and individual level, which would the increase job availability.

Through Caribbean Farmers International and my parliamentary position within the State of the African Diaspora, I have begun talks with farmers, donors and investors in the United States and Africa, who are willing to lend their support to their Caribbean counterparts, whether it is through direct investment or technical support. But the challenges do exist. Bilateral Trade Talks have to be held. The high import duties and taxes and the very high shipping rates have to be analyzed and discussed.

One of the biggest issues that was brought to my attention was the high Predial Larceny which exist in the Region. Farmers and producers suffer tremendous loses due to intruders entering their property, day or night. So of course, the farmers and livestock owners have told me why risk their lives to protect their livelihood, when they have no recourse from either the police, government or the judicial system.

As the Founder of Caribbean Farmers International, together with our team of advisers, we decided on two solutions. (A) Conduct Research for the Development of a foolproof Security System for our farmers which will out them at no harm. From the privacy of their homes they can be alerted when any one enters the farm or even flies a drone over their produce. We have been working over the past weeks with two major technology firms, one in Austria and the other in the United States. The idea is to use cyber technology merged with IT systems. They system will detect and show the farmer exactly where the intruder is entering from and their location on the property. The intruder will not be aware, since there will be no alarm sound at the location. That will give the owner the time to get to the premises with law enforcement and catch the intruder. Certainly, if the owners wants to place an alarm alert to drive the intruder away, that will be an option. Our developers have told us that the Security System will ready for launching by the latter part of May 2021

(B) We are discussing with our associates in Ghana to develop a market for Caribbean grown produce. They have asked for the cocoa fruit, coconut oil and tomatoes in bulk. Our issue is transportation from the Caribbean directly to the African coast. Talks are being held to establish a Caribbean / African route which will enable such conveyance.

We are hoping that the OECS and CARICOM will work along with us to get Governments in the Caribbean to realize the importance of Food Safety and Food Security in the Region and work with us to reduce the Food Import Bill, while finding new markets for Caribbean Produce and Products.