Speeches & Op-Eds
Remarks at the opening of the Business Development Conference
British Colonial Hilton Hotel
May 14, 2007
Good morning. Moderators, Mr. Simon and Dr. O’Connor, our Partners in this event, President Tanya Wight of the Chamber of Commerce and Mr. Neville Adderly of the Bahamas Development Bank, President Hodder, Keith Stokes and other members of the Rhode Island delegation here under the auspices of the Rhode Island National Guard State Partnership Program. I am truly delighted to be here this morning and I hope you are as well.
This is the third consecutive year that the U.S. Embassy has partnered with the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and The Bahamas Development Bank to sponsor this event -- the Bahamas Business Development Conference. This event was initially developed with the goal of providing information to entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs about running a business. But, as we see with today’s agenda, it has blossomed into something much richer and we hope even more useful for those of you who have joined us today.
The U. S. Embassy is very pleased to be able to join with the Chamber and Development Bank in this initiative. To this end, we have sought to bring to the conference today some American speakers who could present information on small business development from a U.S. and in some cases global perspective, in order to share information with Bahamian entrepreneurs that we hope will offer food for thought as you go forward in developing and refining your business strategies.
I am particularly pleased to see that we will begin this morning where business development truly begins: with education. We are all fortunate to have with us this morning Dr. Janyne Hodder, President of the College of The Bahamas who will examine how knowledge-driven economies can contribute to development of small and medium-sized enterprises in a developing economy. I know that our Rhode Island Partnership has sought to foster such ties with the launching of our College of the Bahamas-University of Rhode Island partnership earlier this year. The Memorandum we concluded earlier this year has already led to two COB students completing a semester of studies in Rhode Island, and the first faculty exchanges are in train for this summer.
You will be in for a real treat in our second session which Keith Stokes, Executive Director of the Newport Chamber of Commerce, will discuss: “Using Culture and Heritage to Create Business Opportunities.” Keith’s participation is also an outgrowth of the Embassy’s National Guard State Partnership program with Rhode Island. He visited The Bahamas earlier this year, and I had the pleasure of walking through downtown Nassau with him and to hear his thoughts on ways downtown businesses could potentially partner with the government to help revitalize Nassau – as Keith has done so successfully in Newport. So we invited Mr. Stokes to share his vast knowledge on how Rhode Island has revitalized its tourism industry in recent years to enhance the visitor experience and reach out to new markets. And I can attest to this success, as I am an annual customer, eager to visit and enjoy all that Newport and the State of Rhode Island have to offer.
Keith’s presentation will review some of the things Rhode Island has done to promote its history and culture to tourists. Having grown up in Rhode Island and having now lived here in The Bahamas for the past couple of years, I see many similarities between our two island states. Both share a long history as seafaring states. Rhode Island's capital is Providence; the Bahamas’ capital is New Providence. Both places are competing to draw in some of the tens of millions of tourists who seek out new and interesting places to visit. And, both are also seeking to develop and diversify their business base.
Rhode Island has developed a remarkable tourism program of heritage trails. Their creation included the refurbishment of many historical places, such as Fort Adams, one of the largest forts of its kind and a key to coastal defense of colonial America. Today Fort Adams delights visitors with its restored fortifications. Similarly, the Rose Island Light House – and that’s Rose Island in Newport, not the one off our shore here -- gives visitors a taste of what it was like to live and work in a lighthouse. Visitors can visit Rhode Island’s rich religious heritage at the Friends Meeting House, Trinity Church, and the Touro Synagougue. Like Rhode Island, Nassau has a rich historical and religious heritage. I think Keith Stokes will be able to share many of the lessons of Rhode Island’s success with heritage tourism that could be applied with good effect right here in Nassau.
Our partners today have also assembled a high-powered line-up of business and entrepreneurial talent that will examine the always-present impact of globalization on small business development – which can pose both challenges in terms of economies of scale, but also offer opportunities in terms of adaptability to new markets and market conditions. I am pleased to see that Sandy Sands will also delve into the rich lode of how tourism can be a tool in crating entrepreneurship. And, I am sure the afternoon sessions on creating new ventures and doing business in The Bahamas will prove to fertile ground for this entrepreneurial crowd.
In the United States, entrepreneurship has long been the backbone of our economy. As we all know, two guys in a garage can design a new type of computer that becomes a world-renowned product. But small businesses do not create themselves. It takes dreams, which are never in short supply. But it also takes hard work. As Steve Jobs, one of the guys in the garage, once said, "I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance." And it takes planning. I think this afternoon's discussions will be invaluable for addressing the nuts and bolts of creating and incubating a successful small business. This brick by brick building of new business, I believe, will be a powerful engine for future growth in The Bahamas.
So I hope that everyone both enjoys and benefits from this event, and, perhaps more importantly, from the many new connections that you will make on the margins of the sessions. Once again, the Embassy is very pleased to be partnering with the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and the Bahamas Development Bank to support this event.
I look forward to seeing you this evening at Liberty Overlook. Thank you.