The case is being made once again for the dismantling of the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation [BAIC] and the incorporation of the organizationﾴs entrepreneurial expertise into the Bahamas Development Bank [BDB].
The Vice President of the Small Business Association Marlon Johnson made the suggestion.
“I donﾴt know why our governments in succession havenﾴt looked at the issue and dismantled BAIC and bring over some of that expertise to the BDB and create a small business administration that would look at both institutional strengthening for small businesses and provide credit and support to small businesses,” he said.
Mr. Johnson also called for the total restructuring of the Bank which has long been criticized over the reported inordinate amount of time that it takes to process requests for funding from aspiring small business persons.
“The Development Bank has been a bitter disappointment to the government for Bahamian [and] entrepreneurs and I think for even the staff of the Development Bank since they would like to see the institution do a lot more,” Mr. Johnson said.
“We believe the Development Bank could do more and should be doing more and it needs to be totally restructured and reshaped and the government missed an opportune time to make that happen.”
The Association has expressed concerns repeatedly about the bureaucracy and inefficiencies that are encountered by individuals who are trying to start up small businesses. The issue of financing was addressed with the governmentﾴs venture capital fund that was initiated last year.
Two million dollars had been set aside for that initiative.
The Association has also suggested the creation of a “one stop shop” for Bahamian investors as a means of centralizing all business oriented operations, streamlining the customs clearing procedure, and improving and expanding the duty exemption and reduction regime.
In response, the government appointed a task force to compile a report on the difficulties of small and medium sized businesspersons.
The Chairman of that committee, Michael Halkitis, who is also the Chairman of BAIC, said the report will soon be submitted to Cabinet.
Some of the issues identified relate to red tape and inefficient service levels at certain government and quasi-government organizations.
Responding to Mr. Johnsonﾴs call to merge the operations of the BDB and BAIC, Mr. Halkitis also indicated that the operations of corporations that were related to helping small business persons had already been merged with the BDB several months ago.
BAICﾴs Business Services Division is now at the BDB in what was viewed as a strategic move.
In a public explanation, officials of BAIC and the BDB said the move was designed to achieve a number of goals inclusive of improving efficiency of project preparation and analysis leading to more expeditious loans to Bahamians for small and medium sized industrial, agricultural and commercial businesses.
It was also approved to expand the Bankﾴs capacity to monitor existing accounts, detect and remedy problems earlier with approved projects and enhance its capability of devising new products to help citizens who want to start up small businesses.
Mr. Halkitis, who is also the parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Finance, did acknowledge the complaints about the BDBﾴs inefficiencies.
“We have complaints from persons who would have approached BDB about speed and areas they would have looked at and those are things that we are trying to address, bearing in mind that we work in certain constraints having to do with how much funds we have available,” he said.
Mr. Halkitis explained that BAICﾴs remaining duties relate to the administration of certain properties and the promotion of Bahamian made products.
Mr. Johnson maintained that the current circumstances do not warrant the existence of both entities.
“I donﾴt think at this juncture of our development where we need to have BAIC and the Bahamas Development Bank. BAIC has been political trouble for successive governments and why they would want to have more of the same I have no idea,” he said.
Tameka Lundy, The Bahama Journal
