INNOVATING AT THE INTERSECTIONS

Co-mingling People and Ideas to Create Lasting Value

Barbados is a resilient country, and Barbadians fairly unflappable, enduring unexpected hardship with humour, composure and self-control.

Nothing could have cemented this perception more firmly than the last almost four years of managing a major national fiscal crisis while navigating a nearly two-yearlong global pandemic, at the same time weathering a major hurricane, a freak storm and the effects of tons of ash from an erupting volcano in nearby St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Annalee C. Babb, Ph.D. Founder | CEO Intersections

The economic, social and infrastructural damage from any one of these events would have posed challenges to more well-endowed countries. Coming sequentially and in some cases concurrently, with many effects still lingering, they spotlight a tiny nationstate whose people, leaders and institutions are able to navigate the pressures of a complex, chaotic global environment.

Collectively, Barbadians exhibit several of the characteristics that drive success for the world’s leading innovators: resilience, flexibility, courage, tenacity, ingenuity and discipline.

If combined with clarity and unity of vision, competence, confidence, structures that are fit for purpose, responsiveness, service excellence, and an ability to communicate effectively with diverse audiences, Barbados could have the makings of a truly innovative nation.

For years, the island has been primed for social and economic revitalisation. In key sectors, digital transformation has been championed but is yet to be fully realised. While some might see this as a glass-half-full scenario, there are latent opportunities for rapid growth, revolutionary change and significant value creation if the right leadership, cultural and structural choices are made in strategic areas of national importance.

Opportunities have already begun to materialise.

The country’s transition to a Republic on November 30, 2021 signals the start of a new era.

There is the sense that even as Barbados resets to manage a protracted pandemic, it is ready to undertake the radical restructuring required to bring its Independence journey to fuller realisation.

There is no better time to leverage the power of emerging technologies to help