Philip KingYou remember the days when our Barbadian economy was booming & everyone had money to travel and live life to the fullest? Me neither.
We live in a period of prolonged recession & it has become harder for the every day Barbadian to sustain a comfortable standard of living as utilities, taxes and grocery prices seem to rise in unison. However, a recession doesn’t spell the end for commerce.
Around the world a number of business defy the market & produce favorable or increasing returns during recession periods through the recognition of an untapped market and the efficient allocation of assets to fulfill that need.
Today I hope to spark your innate entrepreneurial abilities by sharing a few of my personal ideas for making a profit given our current situation.
CitiBike Meets Barbados
If you’ve travelled to the United States within the past few years, you’re likely to have noticed the emergence of CitiBike, recognizing the prominent issue of transportation and parking within the congested city, the prominent bike sharing startup “Motivate” Sponsored by the nationwide bank “Citi Bank” established the chain of bicycle rentals conveniently spread across cities and boroughs such as New York.
My idea combines this concept with one of our prominent tourist hubs, the port.
A local bicycle rental service situated just outside the entrance of our Bridgetown port would enable guests to affordably explore the City of Bridgetown, while providing potential employment for tour guides & local experts. Additionally the risk of theft is minimized as guests MUST return to their cruise ships for departure, hence, the renter may be able to hold guests boarding passes as a surety that their property is returned.
With little to no overhead costs beyond the maintenance of equipment and employment of staff this idea holds great potential for any committed entrepreneur.
Start A Business with Friends
Now this may not seem like an “idea” at first but let me put it into perspective.
Our islands population can be estimated to be roughly 300,000 persons based on 2016 data, from this group the vast majority attends one of our 26 public secondary schools, with such a compressed society Bajans are familiar with the phrase “Barbados too small” where persons are found to all be connected to each other via family and friends.
Its due to this strong personal connection by our people that the opportunity to profit arises. With a small team of skilled persons you may recognize the demand for Babysitting services within your neighborhood, register a business name, print company shirts and approach your neighbors with your proposal. Offer a competitive rate to the generally less formal baby sitting services they may currently utilize and build your client base. Remember that your teams satisfaction guarantees you long term passive income as you the owner retain a share of all revenues.
One great example of a local entrepreneur employing this strategy of including their peers is found with Grass Busterz’ Property Management service, I was truly impressed by the professionalism of the team & the number of familiar Combermerian faces working together. Below view a short advertisement produced during their work on my home.
Start A Brand
If you’re a Bajan you know that we’re a fashionable people, with a tendency to follow international designer trends and fads. Thus, it comes as no surprise that our consumer tendencies tend to be unfazed by the global economic recession, regardless of high import costs and taxes from designer brands.
However, the opportunity is there for any Local to launch their own creative brand and to showcase their designs. Companies such as Shop8ighti offer very affordable rates for a small start up to print their own line of Dad Caps, T Shirts, Visors, Badges & numerous other forms of merchandise.
Once you’ve formalized your business idea and designs for your merchandise all that’s left is marketing. Be it through an online platform, such as our own www.biminatti.com, or through physical promotion at events such as BMEX (Barbados Manufacturers Expo) where locals will be able to interact directly with your business and provide feedback or potential clients.
One excellent benchmark for your approach to this market would be the development of the High Class Brand, directed by Dylan Morris.
Mr. Morris has recently joined our platform upon releasing his line of High Class Hoodies, you can look out for him at the upcoming PM Splash Next Week.
Video From Our Last Collaboration:
Be Sugary
Unfortunately this last plan isn’t applicable to majority of us. But its a common occurrence in our new Digital Diaspora for persons to gain recognition for their various creative skills over social media. In which case our only recommendation is to keep smiling on the Gram and watch the law of attraction shower you in opportunity.
Make sure you grab it before the shower ends.