Chief Executive Officer, Mark Hill told participants at the recently held Small Business Association webinar that Export Barbados has introduced a new system to help small firms that want to engage in export.

An Export Academy has been developed to support small businesses, and starting in April, it is expected to ramp up its work. The Academy is to be the entry point into the export space and is to be the bridge between agencies such as Trust Loans, YES [Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme], and the Enterprise Growth Fund Limited. “So the Export Academy is where you transform from a duck to an eagle. Duck, because you’re primarily focusing on the local market, and eagle because you are soaring into the international market,” he said.

The Academy will equip firms with the export skills and the tools to navigate international markets successfully. Hill noted that these skills are different from those required to trade in the national market.

“It’s two different skill sets – the value chain analysis, the logistics is totally different, the exposure, the risk assessment is a lot more different and due diligence is a lot more critical. So being prepared as an export entrepreneur is a little different from being prepared as a national entrepreneur.” The Export Academy is therefore available for persons to sign up and benefit from export capacity training.  

There is a dedicated team committed to the work of the Export Academy, which caters to persons who want to be in the business of double and triple-digit growth. Approximately 111 persons are benefitting from this training. 

Export Barbados will be conducting roadshows in various communities in the coming weeks to see firsthand the products being produced and how to get them ready for export. The goal is to use our logistics program to consolidate these products in one shipment for export.