President’s Report

Trisha Tannis

It has been an honour serving two consecutive terms as president of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI). this last year truly embodies the importance of flexibility, resilience, and perseverance. to quote, author salvatore r. maddi, “resilience or hardiness is the ability to adapt to new circumstances when life presents the unpredictable.” When I assumed the role in 2019, none of us could have predicted the unparalleled, world-wide impact from the global pandemic which began in december 2019, with the discovery of the world’s first cases of the CoVId-19 virus in China.

As with the rest of the world, 2020 proved to be a very difficult year for Barbados. the discovery of the country’s first two CoVId-19 cases on march 17, 2020 influenced a chain of reactions that severely impacted local businesses and led to much uncertainty. the island experienced historic social and economic devastation, with almost every aspect of our lives upended by the necessary, hard-line measures to manage CoVId-19 and save lives.

the year started well for the Chamber as we hosted early in the year, a very successful business luncheon headlined by the prime minister of Barbados, the Honourable mia mottley and economic Advisor to the Government, dr. Kevin Greenidge. the latter gave an update on the Barbados economic recovery and transformation (Bert) programme; the Government’s Imf driven plan to build the Country’s economy, by decreasing the debt to Gdp ratio and strengthening the balance of payments. At that time, there was optimism at the progress made in achieving many of the aggressive targets set under Bert and the possible resulting opportunities for business. over the course of a month, however, the pandemic significantly reduced many of the gains realised and completely disrupted the country’s economic reform efforts.

the tourism industry, Barbados’ chief economic driver, was one of the early casualties as global travel was extensively curtailed to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus, leading to extensive business losses. to quote from the World Bank’s 2020 economic report on Barbados, “the country experienced significant drops in tourism arrivals, during the first three quarters of 2020 which severely affected tourism, retail, and business activities. With the near full travel closure and quarantine measures, the local economy was estimated to have contracted 17.3% by

the end of the year.” It is estimated that Barbados lost approximately $2 billion in economic activity and the country was forced to increase its debt burden, to cushion the impact of the CoVId-19 pandemic. the reduced economic activity has also led to significant restructuring and downsizing in the private sector.

INTERNAL dEvELOPMENTS

the Chamber was not immune to the economic disruptions and changing business climate, and as such a decision was made to permanently close the longstanding operations of the BCCI’s duty-free facility at the Grantley Adams International Airport. the significantly reduced visitor arrivals to Barbados because of the pandemic, led to a steep fall in overall duty-free sales, which severely impacted the revenue from this Chamber function that had been operating at a loss for some time. this coupled with the proposed liberalization of the duty-free sector planned by Government and the establishment of new protocols for dutyfree sales in Barbados, necessitated the planned shutdown of the duty-free facility to protect the Chamber’s overall financial position.

In 2020, the BCCI conducted an indepth strategic planning exercise, led by professional services firm ernst & young (ey), which engaged all key BCCI stakeholders including the executive Committee, Council, the membership and secretariat staff and considered the current pandemic led business environment. Coming out of this critical process, the BCCI now has a relevant, and transformative strategic plan built on nine key pillars, which will guide the Chamber’s operations from 2021 to 2024. the first phase of the strategic plan focuses on increasing advocacy as well as enhancing operational excellence and innovation. A key component of this stage includes the restructuring of the secretariat to strengthen internal capabilities and competencies in line with the strategic direction. the second phase is centred on improving membership engagement, increasing value-added member services, as well as facilitating more member connections and collaboration. the final phase involves creating a better business ecosystem, with specific attention on membership training, trade and business facilitation along with wide-scale digital transformation.

BCCI PANdEMIC RESPONSE

As Barbados grappled with extended lockdowns, business closures, restricted openings, high unemployment levels and frequently adjusted emergency protocols and directives, much of the Chamber’s efforts in the year centred on helping the membership face and address the unexpected challenges through new strategies and increased representation. In collaboration with the Government and the social partners, countless hours were spent navigating the best course of action to ensure our survival and build a solid path to resilience, and recovery for businesses and Barbados on a whole.

march 2020 was an exceptionally busy month for the Chamber, with many stakeholder consultations, as Barbados prepared for the arrival of CoVId-19. the executive director and I represented the Chamber at the prime minister’s meeting on CoVId-19, national preparedness held at the Hilton Hotel on march 10, 2020. Just four days later, on march 14, representation was made through the Barbados private sector Association (BpsA) to the Government of Barbados, to seek an ease with respect to cash flow problems being experienced by the business community, because of the crisis. A list of measures to assist the business sector, especially the smes, was tabled and discussed with the Hon. dwight sutherland, minister of small Business, entrepreneurship and Commerce (msBeC) at a meeting attended by the BCCI executive director, BpsA president and myself at his office and proposals were subsequently submitted to the prime minister for consideration. Among the measures agreed to by the Government were the payment of all outstanding VAt refunds and personal income tax refunds.

on the morning of march 16, the executive director and I were joined by senior Vice president, Anthony Branker; Vice president, James Clarke; Chair of the BCCI retail and distribution Committee, Andrew Bynoe, Chair of the BCCI Bridgetown revitalisation Committee, eddy Abed; Council members, as well as members of the retailers and distributors sector, at another meeting with the minister of msBeC and other representatives from the department of Commerce to address the issue of panic buying and price gouging. Later that day an open discussion was held with stakeholders from the duty-free sector. At that time, members were given an opportunity to share precautionary measures being taken by their organisations and decided on steps the duty-free sector should take, in response to the sudden disruption to the tourism industry. I also advised attendees that the prime minister was open to receiving proposals from the private sector regarding measures that the Government should consider implementing to best offer support and relief to the duty-free sector.

on march 18th, we met with the ministers of msBeC; finance, economic Affairs and Investment, as well as the economic Advisor to the Barbados Government, the Comptroller of Customs and the retailers and distributors group. this was to discuss the importance of maintaining prices of certain goods during the CoVId health emergency. At this session we agreed on the list of items which would make up the CoVId basket of goods, to assist the most vulnerable in society. distributors and retailers present also agreed to keep prices for the selected goods at the regular costing where possible and noted the offer by Government to assist, where the base cost of the goods made it impossible to retain existing pricing. this forum was followed by another meeting of retailers on march 22 to discuss CoVId-19 and its impact on the business sector, review the BCCI Guidance document on our CoVId-19 response, produced by the BCCI executive director, as well as to develop responsive and proactive strategies. on march 24, the Chamber convened a meeting with the retailers and the then CoVId-19

Communications Czar, richard Carter to discuss procedures and protocols for stage 3 of the national response so that the sector could adequately prepare for a partial or full national shutdown.

In April, during the first islandwide lockdown, the BCCI worked with the Barbados Government and the Barbados private sector organisation (BpsA) to introduce and assess the novel alphabet shopping system, for supermarkets, fish markets, hardware stores and banks as part of the emergency management (CoVId-19) Curfew directives. during this time, ongoing consultations were held with key public sector and private sector stakeholders.

the Chamber fielded frequent queries from the private sector, seeking clarity on essential versus non-essential businesses and workers. As a result, the BCCI issued an advisory notice which highlighted the definition of essential services under the emergency management (CoVId-19) order. the notice also provided the list of nonessential services that were exempted under the emergency order to operate with specified hours, as well as reminded shoppers of the shopping and banking schedule for essential workers.

through my office, representation was also made to the Attorney General on behalf of businesses which led to the introduction of a temporary arrangement for companies to process payroll, statutory obligations and other payables during the period of April 20- 22 2020.

High on my agenda and that of Chamber has been the timely delivery of reliable and useful information and continual advocacy at the highest levels to adequately represent the changing needs of members and lobby for the reductions in various input costs including demurrage fees, utilities, and commercial rent to help bolster businesses.

during the first two quarters, several discussions were held with shipping line agents, Veconinter and the florida ship owners Association, as well as the Barbados port Inc, and the Government of Barbados to negotiate rising demurrage costs for local businesses. As a result, we were able to secure a full waiver of demurrage during the lock-down from the florida ships owners Association, and a demurrage discount programme which gave BCCI members access to discounts of up to 35% on related fees from the global deep sea shipping lines. meetings were also held with the Barbados Light and power in march, following which, the BCCI connected with members to assess businesses’ ability to pay electricity bills during the pandemic and to share contact information for relevant BLpC personnel to efficiently facilitate bill related requests or queries.

Also key, was the introduction of virtual forums by the BCCI secretariat which allowed the membership and the wider private sector to give critical input into proposed covid emergency directives and planned changes to public sector processes.

BuSINESS FACILITATION ANd AdvOCACy

on february 18, 2020, the executive director and myself, hosted

representatives of the Commonwealth parliamentary Association at the BCCI secretariat. the visiting team sought to engage the BCCI on its perspective of trade between the uK and Barbados, as well as ascertain opportunities for trade post-Brexit and discuss existing barriers.

the Chamber also participated in the united nations’ Barbados and the oeCs: dialogue(s) on the private sector contribution to the 2030 Agenda and the sustainable development Goals (sdG) held at the un marine House on march 3. Ahead of the 15th Quadrennial united nations Conference on trade and development (unCtAd), the forum sought to raise awareness and build momentum to engage the private sector in the un’s integrated and coordinated support to the sdGs in Barbados and the eastern Caribbean; establish a coalition/network of committed champions to support sdG implementation; articulate entry points for the alignment of business practice and models with the un Global Compact ten principles and sdGs, as well as to develop a work plan for fostering public-private partnerships in the Caribbean around sdG implementation.

In August, the Chamber facilitated a series of consultations with the Customs and excise department (Ced) to allow the private sector to provide feedback on the draft Customs Bill, which would have a significant impact on business operations. At the sessions, I expressed appreciation on behalf of the BCCI for the increased efficiency of trade facilitation, to be gained, however, concern was also raised about the significant level of sanctions included in the draft Bill and the one-size fits all approach to application of penalties.

through the ministry of energy, small Business and entrepreneurship the BCCI’s executive director and I attended a meeting with the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce (GCCI). the objective of the sessions was to discuss areas of mutual interest for the promotion of trade and investment between Guyana and Barbados and to explore the feasibility of the Georgetown Chamber having a liaison housed in the Barbados Chamber. some of the agreed actions arising from the meeting included identifying sensitive sectors and industries with barriers to trade for each country and the need to prepare a sector analysis with the list of products and services that are available to be traded between Guyana and Barbados. the GCCI also agreed to explore the possibility of tripartite agreement with the suriname Chamber of Commerce. Both Chambers agreed to a proposed trade facilitation expo in 2021 as an adjunct event to capitalize on the unCtAd Conference.

the BpsA’s Annual General meeting was held on october 9th, 2020 and was attended by the BCCI executive director and I. At this meeting, the prime minister of Barbados was invited to engage the private sector on matters relating to the economy and labour in light of the impact of the CoVId-19 pandemic as well as the implications of the eu blacklisting for Barbados.

In the final quarter of 2020, the BCCI was advised of a proposal to introduce a minimum wage for Barbados. At the meeting of the social partnership held on november 24, 2020, I made a submission on behalf of the Chamber advising that relevant factors such as major inputs, protectionist policies, commercial rents, fuel adjustments and current wages needed to be adequately examined prior to the introduction of a proposed price protocol mechanism. the BCCI subsequently collaborated with the Barbados employers Confederation and the Barbados private sector Association (BpsA) to facilitate a BeC led survey on the minimum wage to support discussions with the Barbados Government regarding the introduction of a new minimum wage and related legislation.

dIgITAL TRANSFORMATION

With the closure of physical spaces and limitation of face-to-face interactions, businesses in almost every sector were forced to swiftly reshape and reengineer their operations. Information technology became one of the most vital tools both in the private and public sector with a significant rise in the introduction of creative digital platforms to facilitate business activity. the much-needed, swift expansion of the local digital space further propelled the Chamber’s focus on digital transformation. Like others, the Chamber creatively pivoted and transitioned to online stakeholder meetings, along with digital events to facilitate member networking and knowledge sharing and also to generate some revenue to support the Chamber’s operations. for the first time in the organisation’s history, the 194th edition of the Annual General meeting, which I chaired, was also held virtually in keeping with social distancing requirements due to the CoVId-19 pandemic.

to assess ICt readiness among members, a survey was conducted in the first half of the year, and two quality thought leadership digital events were added to the Chamber’s calendar of activities; an e-commerce webinar which focused on practical Considerations for e-commerce in the new normal, and the november digital conference entitled, executive mindset: evolved thinking for Business Leaders.

As my two-year term as president comes to a close, I want to express my sincerest appreciation to the BCCI’s executive director, misha Lobban-Clarke and research officer, shanice Haynes along with the rest of the secretariat staff for their professionalism and unwavering support, especially given the challenges posed by CoVId-19. Gratitude is also extended to the executive Committee and wider Council for their leadership, advice and support. to the incoming president, executive Committee, Council and standing Committee members, I wish the very best and I leave confident in the fact that the affairs of the BCCI remain in excellent hands. I expect even greater achievements in the near future, as the strategic plan is activated and resounds to the sustainable growth and development of the Barbados Chamber.

Trisha Tannis CPA, CGA, FCA, ACIS President