Entrepreneurs and High Performance Growth
Over the last seven years, the Caribbean Business Enterprise Trust Inc. (CBET) has developed the CBET Shepherding Model™. This model speaks of business facilitation and partnership with the entrepreneur in their "start-up" business.
Nov 28, 2008“A Caribbean Catalyst turning Concepts into Commercial Realities”
An emerging nation imperative is to grow the size of the economic cake to: boost energy and food security; increase foreign exchange earnings/savings; generate employment; reduce poverty; induce sustainable economic growth; enhance returns to individuals, commercial banks, private sector businesses, trade unions, credit unions and the Diaspora. This can be achieved by developing a family of successful high performance enterprises, again and again.
Passionate entrepreneurs with creative and innovative business concepts are often not fully equipped to convert these concepts into commercial realities. Experience has shown that they need to complement their specific talent with business expertise and other resources.
Over the last seven years, the Caribbean Business Enterprise Trust Inc. (CBET) has developed the CBET Shepherding Model™. This model speaks of business facilitation and partnership with the entrepreneur in their “start-up” business. It shepherds the entrepreneur on the journey from “business concept” to “sustainable business success” ensuring that the companions of business systems and financial capital are optimal at every step of the entrepreneur’s journey. The shepherding element of the model, also referred to as mentoring or hand-holding, has been introduced as a protective measure against the risk of failure, hence the concept ‘Management as Collateral’.
Effective business systems expertise and supportive shepherding assistance can be sourced at a price, but timely access to financial capital for these “start-up” businesses is a major constraint. Entrepreneurs have become only too familiar with the mantra from financial institutions; - We do not fund “start-ups” - primarily because of the inherent high risk involved. As a result, many business concepts with high performance potential but with little or no access to financial resources do not see the light of day and the rate of growth of the economy may be stymied commensurately.
CBET has identified two phases of “start-up” financial needs in an attempt to disaggregate, manage and mitigate the risk involved. In the first phase, there is the high risk involved from “business concept to business plan viability and investor identification”. If a viable business plan or road map is produced, with the support of a shepherd, then the investment risk is significantly reduced. In the second phase, with a business plan in place, investors identified and a shepherd as a guide, the journey from “investment to sustainable business success” becomes a much smoother ride.
In order to address these two phases of need, CBET has proposed that each sovereign emerging country in the Caribbean, and indeed elsewhere, should embark on an initiative to establish twin funds namely:
(1) A Quick Response Revolving Seed Capital Fund to expedite the first phase; and (2) A Quick Response Venture Capital Fund to expedite the second phase.
CBET has further proposed that each fund should be a partnership between CBET, the Government and the private sector of the sovereign country. CBET has valued its intellectual property associated with its model and twin fund concept, and will charge franchise fees for its use.
The Government of Barbados is the first Government to respond to this CBET initiative, as a franchisee, and has partnered with CBET and the private sector in the quest to develop a family of successful high performance enterprises. The Barbados Quick Response Seed Capital Revolving Fund will be primed with Government permanent subscribed capital and will be private sector managed. Government will provide incentives, such as attractive tax credits, to encourage private sector investors to capitalise the Barbados Quick Response Venture Capital fund which will also be private sector managed. The Government of Barbados has expressed the view that the government should not be visible operationally.
This initiative is expected to herald a new era of enterprise development and build up a cadre of effective shepherds and business advisors in the Caribbean and beyond. The spirit, creativity and tenacity of our Caribbean entrepreneurs are valuable assets that should receive the deserved recognition.