Carib Scope

标签： Barbados

巴巴多斯

  • Govt eyes aggregator for creators’ online earnings

    Govt eyes aggregator for creators’ online earnings

    Barbados is advancing a groundbreaking policy intervention to address a longstanding barrier to creative income: geo-blocking, the common digital practice that locks content creators out of monetization tools and revenue streams based on their geographic location. Culture Minister Senator Shane Archer has revealed the government is finalizing a proposal to establish a homegrown third-party revenue aggregator, designed to collect owed earnings on behalf of local creative professionals locked out by major international digital platforms.

    Geo-blocking is not a unique challenge for small island nations, Archer emphasized. While major global economies also grapple with the restrictive practice, it has disproportionately hurt emerging creative sectors in Barbados and the broader Caribbean, cutting off talented creators from global audience revenue. The government has continued diplomatic and industry advocacy pushing major platforms to eliminate arbitrary geographic restrictions on monetization, but policymakers are proactively pursuing alternative solutions to deliver immediate relief for local creators.

    The aggregator initiative is being developed by the Division of Culture and is scheduled to be presented to the Barbadian Cabinet for review in the near future. The plan responds to widespread concerns raised by the Barbados Coalition of Service Industries (BCSI), a leading industry group that flagged systemic barriers preventing Barbadian creators from earning income from content hosted on global platforms including Google, Facebook and TikTok. Back in 2025, BCSI Executive Director Michelle Smith-Mayers announced the formation of a specialized working group to investigate and address the issue, creating momentum for government action.

    Archer noted that third-party revenue collection services already exist for creators affected by geo-blocking, but most of these existing options carry prohibitive costs that put them out of reach for most independent Barbadian creatives. To solve this gap, the government’s proposal centers on launching a locally owned aggregator that would offer significantly more affordable, competitive rates for local content creators, enabling them to access revenue they are currently owed from global viewership of their work. The initiative marks a rare targeted government intervention to level the playing field for small independent creators in an increasingly globalized digital creative economy.

  • Residents question water outages, tanker response

    Residents question water outages, tanker response

    Across three rural districts of Barbados, thousands of residents have spent up to a full week grappling with no running water, as critical infrastructure upgrades and unexpected technical failures shut down local water supplies – and left many questioning the delayed response and long-term planning of the island’s water authority. The outages, which hit communities in St George, St John, and St Philip starting last week, stemmed from two overlapping issues: a required pump replacement at the Bowmanston Pumping Station and an unplanned electrical fault at the separate St John Pumping Station. But for many families already dealing with chronically low water pressure, the extended outage and slow arrival of emergency water tankers have amplified long-simmering frustrations over misaligned water distribution infrastructure.

    Barbados TODAY sent reporters to central and southeastern parts of the island earlier this week to document the ongoing crisis, speaking with dozens of residents who detailed daily disruptions to work, family care, and basic household needs. In the small St George community of Sweet Vale, long-time resident Adrian Brewster told reporters his neighborhood had been without consistent water for four full days, with one neighbor on higher ground facing persistent outages for as long as two months. Brewster explained that low water pressure prevents any meaningful flow to homes positioned uphill, forcing those households to trek down to the community’s public standpipe to collect every drop of water they need. For his uphill neighbor, who keeps livestock to support his family, the situation is particularly dire: only in the earliest hours of the morning, around 3 a.m. when most of the community is asleep, does pressure climb high enough to allow him to fill containers and bathe alongside his family. If he waits even until 5 a.m., the water stops flowing entirely.

    Brewster noted that a single emergency water tanker visited the area two days after his pipes ran dry, and no additional trucks have been seen since. He lives adjacent to the public standpipe, which has only operated intermittently through the outage, running for just a few hours at a time before cutting out completely. “I’ve timed it – sometimes you’ll have water for three hours, other times nothing at all,” he told reporters, laughing bitterly at the unreliable service. While water did trickle back into his home late Sunday, the pressure remains far too low for normal use. “It runs, but it runs so slow. Just yesterday it didn’t come on at all until around 6 in the evening,” he said.

    After decades of reliable service in the area, Brewster said these persistent water problems only started recently, following government-led pipe replacement work in the region. He added that what confuses him most is the area’s assignment to the Bowmanston water system, when Sweet Vale sits much closer to the Golden Ridge Pumping Station. “I can’t understand why our water has to come all the way from Bowmanston when Golden Ridge is right here,” he said. The Golden Ridge reservoir actually draws its water from the same Bowmanston aquifer, but local residents argue connecting local homes directly to Golden Ridge would resolve many of their pressure issues.

    Not all residents in the area have been equally affected: one Sweet Vale resident who installed a private water tank years ago to adapt to inconsistent supply told reporters she did not face a full outage, but she recalled past outages when emergency trucks never arrived, forcing her to call friends for water to care for her elderly household member. She also echoed Brewster’s confusion over the fragmented distribution system, noting that different sections of the small Sweet Vale community are split between the Bowmanston and Golden Ridge systems for no clear reason.

    In Bayley Alley, a community that only just received its first official piped water connections after years of relying on shared community water tanks serving roughly 50 households, residents spent four days without running water. Resident Jeremy told reporters that while the community sits lower on the hill, allowing them to retain a small amount of water, pressure remained extremely low through the outage, even after a single tanker visit.

    Similar stories of extended outages and rare emergency assistance came from St John’s Sherbourne community, where the Shorey family told reporters they had been without water since the previous Thursday, with only a single water tanker arriving at midday the previous day – the only emergency support they had seen since the outage began. Like many other residents affected, the Shoreys already had a private water tank on their property to store water amid increasingly frequent outages in recent years. In Four Roads, one resident reported going almost a full week without water, and never seeing an emergency tanker at all.

    Multiple residents confirmed that the outage was caused by two technical issues: an electrical fault at the St John Pumping Station and a faulty pump that required replacement at Bowmanston. The Barbados Water Authority (BWA) released its first official statement on the outage at 5:46 p.m. on Monday, confirming that the St John Pumping Station had been brought back online after crews discovered and repaired a leaking joint on the facility’s main pipe. Reporters also confirmed that a full pump replacement was required to restore full service to the affected districts. In a follow-up update released Wednesday, the BWA announced that all technical issues affecting the St John facility had been fully resolved. The authority noted that water service would return to normal gradually as the distribution system repressurizes, with customers in the affected areas of St George, St John, and St Philip seeing a progressive restoration of supply over the coming days. The BWA also issued an apology for the widespread disruption and thanked affected customers for their patience and understanding through the outage.

  • Platform for creative sector work ‘coming’

    Platform for creative sector work ‘coming’

    Barbados is moving forward with a targeted government initiative to transform its creative sector into a sustainable, year-round economic driver, with plans to launch a dedicated digital platform connecting local creative practitioners with paid gig opportunities, Culture Minister Senator Shane Archer has announced.

    The project, which has been in development following extensive input from young creative workers across the island, aims to address longstanding barriers in the sector, including inconsistent income streams, difficulty matching practitioners with clients, and low uptake of national social security contributions among independent creative workers. Senator Archer emphasized that creative professionals spanning writing, spoken word performance, visual arts, music and other disciplines are already poised for expansion, but require structured support to turn their natural talents into stable, long-term businesses.

    “I honestly believe that all sectors in our creative industry are ready for the next step, and are ready to earn all year round,” the minister said. “The point that we have to make is that we need to upscale our young people and our people that are involved in these industries.”

    The concept for the digital platform grew out of a recent gig economy workshop hosted by the Division of Youth and Culture at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, where hundreds of young creative workers shared their experiences and needs with policymakers. Once developed, the platform will streamline connections between two groups: creative workers seeking steady projects, and local businesses in need of creative services – from a guitarist for a St Lucy restaurant to a live performer for an east coast hotel event. Beyond matching, the platform will include a built-in “gig calculator” that helps practitioners set competitive, fair service rates while accounting for required National Insurance (NIS) contributions.

    This new initiative aligns with a broader national strategy first outlined by Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who called for collaboration between government technology bodies and local young software developers to build a digital framework for the National Portable Benefits Programme back in 2025. Mottley’s original plan centered on supporting gig and non-traditional workers to access National Insurance and Social Security Service (NISSS) benefits, a priority the creative sector platform will advance by encouraging consistent contributions from independent creatives.

    Senator Archer noted that the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted just how critical social security coverage is for workers in irregular employment, making NIS participation a core focus of the new programme. “We will have to encourage our persons within the creative sector to also pay the NIS, to also invest in their future because, as we saw through COVID, NIS was important,” he said.

    The ultimate objective of the platform, the minister added, is to empower existing creative professionals to scale their businesses while creating new pathways for emerging talent to build careers in the creative industries, supporting broad-based year-round economic growth across the sector.

  • Global Exposure Initiative reaps benefits for Mavericks

    Global Exposure Initiative reaps benefits for Mavericks

    Barbados-based Mavericks Sports Club has successfully concluded the second and final phase of its ambitious 2026 Global Exposure Initiative, with the organization’s Under-15 and Under-17 boys’ squads touching back on home soil Monday after a 11-day tour of Canada. This two-part international development program, which has engaged more than 120 players and coaching staff across both legs, launched in July with the first journey that brought the club’s women’s senior team and Under-12 boys’ group to overseas opposition. The initiative is rooted in a core goal: lifting the standard of domestic football in Barbados by giving emerging talent and coaching staff firsthand experience of international playing styles and methodologies.

    In an exclusive interview with Barbados TODAY, Mavericks president Raphael Holder shared detailed insights on the program’s outcomes and the club’s upcoming agenda. The second tour, held from August 28 to September 7, centered on the Ontario region, where the squad competed in the newly launched Friendship Cup tournament alongside top youth sides including Inter Toronto, and participated in collaborative coaching workshops with local Canadian soccer leadership.

    A key highlight of the tour was the opportunity for Mavericks’ coaching staff to engage directly with the Canadian Under-17 men’s national team head coach, as well as his assistant, who also serves as technical director of Milton Football Club. Though the Mavericks squads dropped all their matches in the inaugural Friendship Cup, Holder emphasized that the young Barbadian players displayed impressive competitive spirit and solid technical skill against higher-caliber opposition.

    “Coming into this tournament, our players were competing at a level much more intense than what they are used to back home in Barbados, and that was exactly the point of the whole trip,” Holder explained. “We designed this exposure to push them out of their comfort zones and help them raise their own game long-term. Beyond the on-pitch action, these tours let our young athletes build connections with peers from other countries, which is just as valuable as the match experience. Across both legs of the initiative, we organized a full slate of friendly matches to expose all our squads to different tactical and playing styles, and the whole program went according to plan.”

    Looking ahead, the club has a full calendar of competitive and developmental events planned for the coming months. In December, Mavericks will host an expanded Under-19 international tournament as part of its new Mavericks NextGen development series, building on the resounding success of 2024’s event. This year, at least three overseas international sides will confirm their participation, and the club will also invite top scouts from international academies to attend, creating new pathways for Barbadian talent to secure opportunities abroad.

    Starting in October, the club’s women’s squad will compete in the national Prime Minister’s Cup for Women, while the club’s youth age-group teams will return to action in the ongoing Barbados Football Association Youth Tournament. Beyond competitive football, Mavericks is also rolling out new off-pitch support programs for its members: the organization is working to enroll all registered players and their parents or guardians with a local banking institution to launch structured financial planning support for members, and will introduce a new health discount card to improve access to wellness services and support the overall well-being of the club’s community.

  • Five Colombians accommodated in Roseau return home

    Five Colombians accommodated in Roseau return home

    In a formal press briefing held Wednesday, Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit announced the successful conclusion of the first iteration of his country’s third-country national resettlement arrangement with the United States, confirming that all five Colombians admitted to the Caribbean nation under the deal have voluntarily returned to their home country.

    The program, which calls for Dominica to accept between five and seven third-country migrants per quarter at the request of the U.S. government, faced an early hurdle when Washington’s first candidate list failed to meet the Dominican government’s vetting requirements. Skerrit explained that Dominica’s administration requested additional background information on the individuals included in the initial submission, which U.S. authorities were unable to provide at that time, leading the Dominican government to reject the entire first slate of candidates.

    A second revised list, which included the full background details Dominica required, was subsequently shared by U.S. officials. From that list, Dominica’s government selected five candidates, all of whom were Colombian nationals, and confirmed that none of the selected individuals carried any criminal records.

    During their stay in Dominica, the five Colombians were housed in a local hotel, provided with three meals a day, and given full access to basic public and commercial services, Skerrit detailed. He noted that the group was even able to move about freely for leisure, including shopping trips and visits to local personal service providers such as barbers. Upon their arrival in Dominica, the government offered all five the immediate option to return to Colombia, and every person unanimously chose to repatriate, according to Skerrit. The entire process from admission to departure unfolded much faster than anticipated, the prime minister added.

    As of the press conference, there are no third-country nationals currently staying in Dominica under the bilateral arrangement. To oversee the logistical and operational components of the agreement, the Dominican government has contracted the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to manage all resettlement and repatriation activities on its behalf. Skerrit also confirmed that the United States has covered all costs associated with the care and processing of the five migrants during their stay in Dominica.

    Looking ahead, Skerrit stressed that all future U.S. requests for resettlement will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, in line with the terms of the existing bilateral agreement and Dominica’s established vetting criteria for admitting individuals.

  • Trinbago Knight Riders win second straight WCPL game

    Trinbago Knight Riders win second straight WCPL game

    In a high-stakes showdown between the final two undefeated franchises in the 2024 Women’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) at Bridgetown’s Kensington Oval on Thursday, the Trinbago Knight Riders delivered a statement performance, handily defeating Jamaica Empress Women by nine wickets to claim the sole position of the tournament’s only unbeaten side.

    Jamaica Empress won the coin toss and opted to bat first, a decision that quickly backfired as their batting order crumbled under relentless pressure from the Trinbago bowling attack. The side never recovered from a glacial opening to their innings, mustering just 29 runs for the loss of two wickets by the end of the mandatory six-over powerplay. The powerplay saw Irish batter Amy Hunter dismissed via run out without scoring a single run, while Australian superstar Meg Lanning only managed six runs before being forced back to the pavilion.

    Reshuda Williams, batting at the number three slot, emerged as Jamaica’s only consistent run-scorer, finishing with a team-high 40 runs off 47 deliveries that included six boundary fours. Lower-order batter Chinelle Henry contributed an unbeaten 22 runs from 26 balls, while Syeda Aroob Shah’s 12 not out remained the only other double-digit score for the Empress. By the end of their 20 allotted overs, Jamaica had crawled to a total of 100 runs for eight wickets, a target that would ultimately prove far too small to defend.

    Trinbago’s bowling attack was anchored by Player-of-the-Match Karishma Ramharack, who turned in a masterclass of disciplined line and length bowling to finish with figures of three wickets for just 11 runs. Laura Harris backed Ramharack up with two wickets for 10 runs, while Marizanne Kapp and star all-rounder Deandra Dottin each picked up one wicket apiece to wrap up Jamaica’s innings.

    Chasing a modest target of 101 runs for victory, the Trinbago Knight Riders matched their bowling dominance with an equally clinical batting display, reaching the required total in just 11.1 overs for the loss of only one wicket. Opening batter Yastika Bhatia stole the show with an unbeaten knock of 57 runs off only 34 deliveries, smacking six fours and three towering sixes along the way. Bhatia shared a 35-run opening stand with Laura Harris, who scored 22 runs from 18 balls, before Dottin closed out the innings unbeaten on 22 runs off 15 deliveries to seal the win.

    The dominant victory cements the Knight Riders’ position as the early tournament front-runners, extending their unbeaten start to the campaign. The side opened their 2024 run with an upset win over three-time defending champions Barbados Tridents on Saturday, September 5. The Trinbago side will return to the Kensington Oval pitch on Saturday, September 12 to face Guyana Amazon Warriors, in the first match of a tournament double-header. The second fixture of the day will see Barbados Tridents take on Jamaica Empress.

  • BUT warns Alma Parris teacher contracts could set precedent

    BUT warns Alma Parris teacher contracts could set precedent

    A major controversy over non-standard teacher employment is roiling the recently reopened Alma Parris Academy in Barbados, with the island’s main teachers’ union warning that a proposed independent contracting model could reshape the entire public education system if allowed to stand. The conflict, which centers on three affected teaching staff at the St Peter-based institution, has broader implications for job security and working standards across the country’s public schools, according to leaders of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT).

    The dispute comes less than two years after the Government of Barbados completed a $1.2 million first-phase renovation project and reopened the shuttered campus, which had been closed for seven years. Rebranded as a specialized academy serving students requiring additional learning support when it welcomed its first cohort of 24 students and hand-picked teaching staff in January 2025, the institution was framed as a fresh, innovative approach to meeting underserved student needs. Then-Education Minister Kay McConney confirmed at the time that all teaching and leadership roles had been finalized and selected.

    But the BUT now says school leaders and education officials have moved to hire teachers under a contractor model never before used in the country’s public education system. Speaking on behalf of the union, General Secretary Gilbert Carmichael laid out the core of the union’s objection: the fundamental nature of teaching is fundamentally incompatible with independent contractor classification. Under standard independent contracting agreements, workers set their own hours, negotiate their own pay rates, and provide their own work resources, Carmichael explained. None of these conditions apply to public education in Barbados, where the Education Act requires teachers to follow the direction of school principals and adhere to clearly defined, pre-set job duties that remove all control over the scope of work from the individual teacher.

    Beyond the classification mismatch, the union has raised urgent alarms about the loss of worker protections. Independent contractors are responsible for covering their own statutory contributions, and do not qualify for the pension benefits, job security, and employment rights that come with public service employment in Barbados. Carmichael emphasized that the union’s fight extends far beyond the three teachers currently impacted by the policy. If the independent contracting model is allowed to take root at Alma Parris, it will set a dangerous precedent that could erode tenure security and standardized working conditions for teachers across the entire public system in coming years, he argued.

    According to a BUT statement released Thursday, the union has already exhausted all internal negotiation channels with the academy’s Board of Management and the Ministry of Education Transformation. Original plans released ahead of the school’s reopening confirmed that approved posts were created for the principal, deputy principal, guidance counsellor and social worker, with all teaching staff to be redeployed from other secondary schools while retaining their existing permanent positions. There was never any public indication that part-time or contracted teaching staff would be needed to meet the academy’s staffing requirements, the union said.

    Carmichael noted that the union has corresponded with all relevant stakeholders, and even requested intervention from the trade union representative sitting on the academy’s board. While the union initially believed progress was being made toward a resolution, officials later discovered that only contractual terminology had been altered — the core independent contractor structure remained unchanged. Despite ongoing unresolved negotiations over the employment model, the school board moved forward with advertising open positions at the academy, a move that has escalated tensions.

    The union’s position is clear: all teachers at Alma Parris Academy should be hired under the long-established, standardized employment framework that governs public education in Barbados. “BUT would want that teachers are afforded the respect that they deserve and that the laws of the country would be followed in the sense that there is temporary teacher, there is full-time teacher, et cetera,” Carmichael said. “So an independent contractor is new. And we are questioning where it has come from because it’s not part of the educational landscape as it relates to the hiring of teachers.” The union has pledged to protect its members and their established employment rights “at all costs”. Barbados TODAY has reached out to the Ministry of Education Transformation to request a comment on the dispute, and is awaiting a response.

  • Thompson: Small businesses need strategy, not just survival

    Thompson: Small businesses need strategy, not just survival

    A top academic leader from the University of the West Indies (UWI) has highlighted a critical gap in Caribbean entrepreneurship, warning that most small businesses in Barbados are launched out of unemployment and necessity rather than intentional, long-term strategic planning. Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Canute Thompson made these remarks during a formal donation ceremony, where the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) — operating under its Export Barbados brand — contributed a $5,000 USD grant to support the upcoming UWI International Undergraduate Students’ Leadership Conference and Entrepreneurship Exhibition. The three-day event, scheduled to take place from September 23 to 25 in Kingston, Jamaica, aims to reshape how emerging young entrepreneurs across the region approach business building.

    Professor Thompson opened his address by emphasizing the outsized role of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the Caribbean economy, noting that consistent regional data places MSMEs as between 70% and 85% of all active business operations across Caribbean nations. With most new student-led ventures expected to fall into the MSME category, Thompson stressed that collaborations between established regional development bodies like BIDC and academic institutions such as UWI are foundational to scaling sustainable entrepreneurship across the Caribbean community. Aligning with the Barbados government’s regional development mandate, he added that MSME founders from across the Caribbean can access targeted intellectual and practical support from BIDC to grow their operations beyond local borders.

    Unlike many one-off industry events, Thompson clarified that the UWI entrepreneurship conference is a permanent biennial initiative created to give emerging student founders a structured space to refine their business models, connect with industry mentors and peer networks, and identify actionable pathways to scale their ventures. He noted that the core mission of Export Barbados — to expand regional trade and support competitive local businesses — aligns perfectly with the conference’s goal of nurturing a new generation of intentional entrepreneurs.

    However, Professor Thompson drew attention to a persistent, problematic trend in Caribbean small business ecosystems: many graduates turn to entrepreneurship not as a deliberate career choice, but as a last-resort survival mechanism when formal employment opportunities are unavailable. He explained that structural barriers to entry for formal work push many aspiring entrepreneurs into a survival-mode mindset that limits growth potential. “When someone starts a business only because they cannot find traditional employment, that foundation is rooted in necessity, not a clear strategic vision for long-term expansion,” Thompson explained. This mindset, he added, keeps most small businesses trapped at a micro, local level, unable to expand into regional or international markets.

    The conference directly addresses this gap by working to reframe entrepreneurship as a deliberate, aspirational career path rather than a fallback option. Organizers aim to encourage students to build scalable businesses that can trade across Caribbean borders and beyond, moving beyond the small, survival-focused operations that dominate the current small business landscape. Thompson concluded by outlining UWI’s evolving institutional goal: to transform the university into a hub of job creation, where students are empowered to pursue bold, innovative initiatives and leverage their creativity to build sustainable, impactful businesses that drive regional economic growth.

  • Export Barbados pushes entrepreneurship to industrialisation

    Export Barbados pushes entrepreneurship to industrialisation

    Against the backdrop of long-stagnant economic transformation across the Caribbean small island developing states, Barbados’ lead trade and investment agency is calling for a fundamental shift in regional ambition: moving beyond small-scale entrepreneurship to build intentional, scalable industrial capacity that can drive sustainable growth and global competitiveness.

    The Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC), which operates under the Export Barbados banner, recently underscored this vision while presenting a US$5,000 sponsorship cheque to support the University of the West Indies (UWI) International Undergraduate Students’ Leadership Conference and Entrepreneurship Exhibition, scheduled to run in Jamaica from September 23 to 25. The total value of the commitment amounts to BBD $10,000.

    Mark Hill, Chief Executive Officer of Export Barbados BIDC, emphasized that the sponsorship is far more than a one-off charitable contribution—it is a targeted investment in advancing the regional shift from startup entrepreneurship to systemic industrialisation. Hill drew a clear distinction between the two roles that are often conflated, noting that while an entrepreneur identifies a market opportunity, takes calculated risks, and launches a new enterprise, an industrialist expands that work to build a large-scale productive system. “The entrepreneur creates a business. The industrialist builds productive capacity,” Hill explained. “We need both. But we have long needed more of the latter to transform our regional economy.”

    Hill pointed out that the Caribbean is not lacking in creative ideas or ambitious, enterprising people. The core gap, he argued, is a clear pathway to scale ideas out of small, individual operations and into large, sustainable production systems that generate high-level intellectual property, mass employment, specialized expertise, and growing export volumes. It is this gap that Export Barbados aims to close through initiatives like its purpose-built International Food Science Centre, and the new GIGA framework for green industrialisation.

    Hill reintroduced GIGA, his agency’s initiative designed to connect the next generation of innovators with the resources they need to scale. The framework acts as a bridging platform linking new ideas and entrepreneurial talent to critical inputs: financing, cutting-edge technology, dedicated production facilities, international product certification, affordable clean energy, and access to global consumer markets. Hill said he wants participating UWI students to imagine a different future for themselves—not just as future employees or small business owners, but as a new cohort of intelligence-driven industrialists. These future leaders, he noted, would be equipped to build factories and research labs, commercialize scientific breakthroughs, launch technology platforms, develop climate-smart intelligent farms, and grow globally competitive enterprises.

    The ultimate goal of this investment, Hill added, is to lay the foundation for a long-term collaborative industrial relationship between BIDC, the private sector, and the regional university system. “It is an investment in new intelligence, and in the possibility that the young entrepreneur benefiting from this conference can grow into a transformative industrialist,” he said.

    Professor Winston Moore, Deputy Principal of UWI’s Cave Hill campus in Barbados, echoed Hill’s call for more targeted investment, noting that small island developing states face unique structural barriers to research and development (R&D) that hold back economic progress. Unlike large economies, small states cannot compete on production volume—their competitive advantage lies in innovative ideas. However, Moore highlighted that regional R&D spending consistently falls below 1% of GDP, a level too low to foster consistent development of new, commercially viable ideas.

    Moore stressed that partnerships like this sponsorship point the way forward for Barbados and other small developing states. Outlining his vision for the university, he noted that UWI aims to create a dedicated portal that connects private sector challenges directly to student innovators, creating a structured pipeline for turning ideas into solutions that can scale into new industries. “This is exactly the kind of investment we need to be making to unlock our region’s potential,” he added.

  • Labour shortage ‘challenges’ construction boom

    Labour shortage ‘challenges’ construction boom

    As Barbados undergoes an unprecedented wave of construction activity driven by large-scale tourism and infrastructure investment, the island nation is grappling with a critical shortage of trained skilled workers, according to Minister of Technological and Vocational Training Sandra Husbands. Speaking at the launch of the Barbados Annual Construction and Design Conference (BACDC) hosted by the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council, Husbands detailed how the current construction boom—fueled by a surge of hotel expansions, new builds, road upgrades, renewable energy installations, commercial developments and public infrastructure projects—has stretched the local construction labor force far beyond its current capacity.

    Husbands highlighted the massive scale of ongoing investment, pointing to the $800 million Beaches Barbados Sandals Heywoods development as a centerpiece of the current activity, alongside dozens of other residential and hospitality projects across the country. While this wave of investment has created widespread opportunity, generating future jobs not only in construction but also in hospitality and local supply chains, it has simultaneously exposed deep gaps in the skilled labor market that impact even small-scale projects.

    “When you look around our country, what is it you’re seeing? We are seeing hotels being refurbished and expanded. We are seeing new hotels being built. And then there’s some that are still to come,” Husbands told reporters. She added that ordinary homeowners are among the groups most affected by the shortage, as they struggle to find available tradespeople for small home repairs and renovations. “The people who may be experiencing the most pain will be householders who are struggling to find a carpenter to do something in their home or a mason to come and do some repairs because we simply do not have sufficient labour to be able to meet the demand in Barbados,” she said.

    Despite the challenges, Husbands characterized the labor shortage as “a good problem to have”—a byproduct of strong economic growth after years of stagnation. She explained that the current gap has roots in decades of economic decline, when prolonged downturns forced small contractors out of business and discouraged young people from pursuing careers in the skilled trades. The COVID-19 pandemic further delayed planned investment, leading to a backlog of projects that all launched at the same time once global restrictions lifted. Today, the country is managing nine major construction projects simultaneously, putting unprecedented strain on every segment of the construction labor market.

    “So instead of coping with one or two hotels at a time, we now find ourselves with having to manage nine, all wanting foreign exchange, staffing, and supplies in order to get their investment to work,” Husbands said. She outlined the core policy dilemma facing the island: whether to allow investment to shift to neighboring competitor countries like Saint Lucia, Guyana, and Jamaica, or to permit temporary foreign labor while accelerating vocational training to ensure Barbadians can capture the long-term job opportunities created by the boom.

    The shortage touches nearly every skilled trade in the sector, from plumbers, tilers, welders, and masons to heavy equipment operators, refrigeration technicians, and construction supervisors. The gap is particularly acute for licensed heavy-duty truck drivers, where companies are offering weekly salaries ranging from $700 to more than $1,100 to attract qualified candidates—yet still struggle to fill open roles. “Without drivers, materials don’t move, equipment does not move, and projects will slow down,” Husbands noted. She added that Barbados is far from alone in this challenge, with neighboring Caribbean nations including Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica reporting similar skilled labor gaps in their construction sectors.

    To address the crisis, Husbands argued that Barbados must dramatically accelerate its technical and vocational training programs while shifting long-held cultural perceptions that only traditional academic qualifications lead to successful careers. For too long, skilled trade occupations have been overlooked, even as demand for certified, practical workers has continued to grow.

    “Today, the realities of the labour market are telling us something different. The skilled trades matter, technical expertise matters, and certification matters,” she said. The Ministry of Technological and Vocational Training was created in part specifically to help the Barbadian workforce pivot toward these high-demand, lucrative careers available through the TVET system.

    Beyond attracting new entrants to the trades, Husbands noted that the industry also faces challenges around workforce soft skills, with many employers reporting concerns about work ethic and professional conduct among existing employees. “Many employers express concern not only that young people are not entering the construction sector in numbers, but also they are concerned about the work attitudes that our labor force now bring daily to the workplace,” she said. “The technical skill is insufficient; the attitude with the skills will make them unstoppable.”

    As part of the government’s comprehensive response, the ministry plans to launch a targeted skills upgrade program for existing contractors, giving them access to training through local institutions like the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute (SJPI) and the Barbados Vocational Training Board (BVTB) to learn modern construction technologies and update their professional capabilities. “One of the things we’re looking forward to is establishing a programme where we specially target the existing contractors and provide space and opportunity for them to get the necessary training… so that they can upgrade their skills and use those modern technologies and stay in the game,” Husbands explained.

    The minister also emphasized the critical role of formal certification, particularly for experienced workers who have developed advanced skills through on-the-job experience but lack formal credentials. She framed prior learning assessment recognition as a transformative tool to unlock career mobility for thousands of Barbadians who have the talent and experience but no formal certification. “Certification is becoming the passport to opportunity,” she said. “Prior learning assessment recognition is a powerful passport to accelerating the career opportunities and mobility of thousands of Barbadians who have talent, who have experience and expertise, but never had a certificate in their life.”

    Husbands stressed that the TVET Council and local training institutions must prepare both new entrants and incumbent workers for a modern construction industry that is increasingly shaped by digital innovation. Today’s construction sector is far removed from outdated perceptions of manual labor, she noted, now requiring expertise in digital tools, modern project management systems, precision surveying, building diagnostics, sustainable design, smart building technologies, and drone operations.

    The newly launched BACDC will serve as a collaborative platform for industry stakeholders, policymakers, and training providers to discuss the sector’s most pressing challenges and opportunities as Barbados continues to see sustained development activity. Ultimately, Husbands said, the country must leverage the current boom to build a resilient, future-ready skilled labor force that can meet immediate project demand while adapting to the evolving needs of the global construction industry.