The contribution that the small business sector makes to the economy of Barbados may often be underestimated, but is significant enough to warrant continued investment and training in the sector.
That was the firm assessment made by Anthony Sobers, senior programme officer at The Productivity Council, speaking at the headquarters of the Barbados Small Business Association’s (BSBA) recently launched Customer Service Training Programme. This began six weeks of small business training courses which will be facilitated by The Productivity Council.
“Small business for a number of years has been a major income earner and perhaps sometimes it is even underestimated in terms of its contribution to our national economy.”
“It has been known for generating tremendous revenue and circulating a lot of cash, which is very important for economies. We speak these days, given the downturn, of the need for continuous consumer spending because that is important for continued growth in the economy and very often small business facilitates this,” Sobers said.
He added that by spending a greater percentage of money they took in and saving less, small businesses were actually good for the stimulating the economy.
“So in a sense, what may be good for small business, may be good for the economy in terms of moving cash around,” Sobers said, adding that as the small business grew, it would likely earn more income, retain more cash and employ a greater number of people.
The economist said it was with this type of development in mind that The Productivity Council’s customer service training programme has been designed.
“This programme not only speaks to customer service, but it speaks to how we can use customer service as a tool to compete in a wider environment, how we can use it as a business tool to maintain our businesses and to capture additional buisness.
“The question in our minds when we look at this programme is, how can we take small business to the next level? How can we get small businesses to maintain a customer base and also generate additinal customers to expand and grow the industry?”
The customer service course was the first in a series of sessions being delivered to members of the BSBA as part of a capacity-building exercise, which will also see members participating in courses including strategic planning, process mapping and supervisory management among other areas.
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