Flipping Grand Bahama

This past week the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce announced plans for this year's Business Excellence Awards. It was noted that this event skipped a year but people in the community are being asked to let the Chamber know who they feel are the great business achievers this year. Here is the announcement from Sarah Kirkby, Director; Mercynth Ferguson, Director; and H. Rudy Sawyer who is a member of this committee.

Its the middle of the years and really we are slowly sweeping into the end of 2014. What has happened so far in Grand Bahama? Well the truth is, if you want to be negative it's really easy and you can say nothing. To be realistic and positive there has been some small but steady changes. In the world of real estate, there has been some small pockets of great fortune as things change. This is one of the indicators of an economy - real estate. Another indicator is construction and although we have not seen a lot of construction going on at present some has picked up. We are still waiting for such projects as the sale of a major hotel or the building of the one projected for out East, but what about the smaller enterprises that you can work on just for you that can work itself into hiring others? What about the incubators? Grand Bahama will do well with an incubator for small businesses. This is a dream of mine and my daughters' ... to start an incubator. It's ...

Research, research, research. I was wondering about business and doing business in The Bahamas. There is still a lot of thought on getting investors in but for Bahamians I came across this list from "tripod" of businesses that are reserved for Bahamians only. These are: Wholesale and Retail Operations. Commission agencies engaged in the import/export/trade. Real estate and domestic property management agencies. Domestic advertising and public relations firms. Nightclubs and restaurants, except specialty, gourmet and ethnic restaurants, restaurants operating in a hotel, resort complex or tourist attraction. Security services. Domestic distribution of building supplies. Construction companies, except for special structures for which international expertise is required. Personal cosmetic/beauty establishment. Shallow water scale-fish, crustacea, mollusks and sponge-fishing operations. Auto and appliance service operations and Public transportation. International Investo...

Last week we looked at the being able to start up a business in 10 days in Grand Bahama/The Bahamas, but we were talking about Bahamians. So, what does it take for a foreigner to set up a business? Here is what I found from the World Bank - International Finance Corporation: 1 Search for a Company name and reserve the proposed name online  The online name search system has been in place since 2004 and it is estimated that less than 50% of all applicants use it while the rest still request the search in person. Since the majority of people cannot search it, it is mainly done by lawyers and service providers who include the name fees in their fees. The name reservation expires after 90 days.   Less than one day (online procedure) no charge (included in procedure 2) 2 A lawyer prepares and notarizes the company documents (memorandum and articles of association).  Legally, only the memorandum has to be filed at the moment of the incorporation. Standard Ar...

Again I attended a Flint Stone Inc's event last evening ... a mixer ... where the guest speaker was Wenrick Clarke, Bank of The Bahamas Branch Manager. Noting the present state of Freeport he said he feels that we would take another two years to get out of the doldrums. Interesting analysis. But what he said that was even more interesting was that fact that people do become rich during depressions. This is so true. Googling this here is a list of ten: 1. Baseball star Babe Ruth, who made $80,000 a year in Depression era dollars 2. Robber John Dillinger, who raked in more than $3 million in todays dollars 3. Supermarket pioneer Michael J. Cullen, who left Kroger in 1930 to start King Cullen Grocery 4. Film star James Cagney, one of the top money makers in Hollywood in the mid 1930s 5. Charles Darrow, creator of the Monopoly game who became the world's first millionaire game-designer. 6. Oil man J. Paul Getty, who snatched up depressed oil stocks with his inheri...

Last week's post on starting a business in 10 days brought a lot of discussion and I particularly loved what Erik Russell had to say about starting a business: " Too many people want to start a business in 10 days but have no plan for 10 years. It's like people who spend so much time and money on their wedding without thinking about their marriage. Yes, there are steps you have to go through because that's what  responsible entrepreneurs do. Just because you have an idea doesn't mean that you have a viable business. If you are 'open today and closed tomorrow' then you probably shouldn't be in business. And those that think that a GBPA business license has no value (or is equal to a gov't license), don't know what they are talking about! There are lots of business opportunities in Freeport, just not enough people that are effective business owners with sufficient capital to start and sustain a business during the startup period (typically 2-3 ...

I came across this article recently and smiled gently to myself and thought... is this possible in Freeport? So I had a look at what it had to say: Day 1: Write a business plan: The article said this is a critical step to your success and that you might want to eschew the napkin for something a little easier to copy and distribute to potential investors and colleagues - Well I think this one we can do! Day 2: Study the market. Hmmm in Freeport this is ok but not that easy. But you are advised to figure out where your products and services are and what rules and regulations are unique to your industry. But remember, there is such a think as overdoing it. Day 3: Create a brand. I think thats easy. To build your identity you need a name, logo, a website and a social-media presence to get going. Day 4: Get your legal affairs in order. This is also do able and now we are talking about expenses. But, hire an attorney to incorporate and draw up documents for legal agreements and ide...