Business Barbados 2022

Tiny Star on the World Stage ‘We write our names on history’s page, With expectations great, Strict guardians of our heritage, Firm craftsmen of our fate.’ No truer words could have been written about our beautiful island and its people, as they were by Irving Burgie in our National Anthem. Now, as we look to craft our fate as a newly formed Republic, our leaders are doing just that for us on the global stage. At just 166 square miles, Barbados is amongst the smallest countries in the world. An island of many global ‘firsts’, amongst many other things, Barbados is known famously as the birthplace of rum and the grapefruit; and for inventors, such as Alan Emtage, who invented the first internet search engine, Professor Oliver Headley who designed the first and largest electrical grid system using solar energy, installed at Harrison’s Cave, and Professor Cardinal Warde, a professor of electrical engineering at MIT, who is considered one of the world’s leading experts on materials, devices and systems for optical information processing and is a co-inventor of many optoelectronic systems and devices. It is not surprising then that Barbados continues to forge ahead with firsts. Barbados elected its first female Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, in 2018. As with all stories of success, our leaders have faced many challenges over the years, but they have not backed down in the face of adversity. Prime Minister Mottley continues in this proud tradition and through her actions in the last year she has placed the country firmly on the world stage. Barbados is the smallest country, and first in the Caribbean, to host an UNCTAD quadrennial conference. UNCTAD 15, appropriately themed ‘From inequality and vulnerability to prosperity for all’, was for the first time ever, hosted in a hybrid (part physical/part virtual) format. Handing over chairmanship of the organisation to Prime Minister Mottley, President of the Republic of Kenya, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta said, “Barbados has acted true to form punching well above their weight as it has consistently done and served as a model to all nations of the world that indeed size does not matter.” He continued, “I want to congratulate our host Prime Minister Mia Michael Bynoe Territory Leader PwC 25 BUSINESS BARBADOS 2022 T I N Y S T A R O N T H E W O R L D S T A G E