Entrepreneurial Drive in Barbados

A group of concerned citizens have formed a vibrant volunteer group with the aim of transforming the Barbadian economy by 'shooting for the moon' to make Barbados The #1 Entrepreneurial Hub in the World by 2020. Check out what is happening at www.barbadosentrepreneurshipfoundation.org

It's not just sun, sea and sand - International Business in Barbados

Many people around the world are well aware of Barbados as a very popular tourism destination but few have any knowledge of the fascinating history of the country or of the fact that today it is a very attractive jurisdiction for international business.

Amongst those who do know, the Barbados business environment enjoys a universal reputation for its highly commendable levels of security, integrity and substance and this very solid foundation has attracted some of the world's top companies and wealthiest investors. Indeed there is a growing trend for major world companies to establish their global headquarters in Barbados, especially if the company's principles are seeking a good quality of life.

For a good insight into the sophisticated level of the Barbados business product you can visit www.businessbarbados.com

Barbados Photos at Chelsea Flower Show

To add to my earlier post about the Barbados Gold Medal success at the Chelsea Flower Show, here are a few photos showing the display itself and our special Guest Celebrities Ainsley Harriott and Leah Marville, Miss Barbados World 2009.

Miss Barbados Captures British Hearts as Barbados Wins Gold at Chelsea

The Chelsea Flower Show is the biggest and most prestigious flower show in the world and it is also rated as the UK’s premier publicity and PR event. Some 600 exhibitors participate in this magnificent horticultural extravaganza, including teams from far-off lands such as South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. Tickets for the week-long event were completely sold out way before the opening day and, as reported in the Independent: “at least 2,000 bottles of Champagne and 47,000 glasses of Pimms are about to be downed by 157,000 visitors.” It is impossible to quantify just how valuable this very positive exposure for Barbados at such a stellar global event can be for the country’s tourism industry and business sector in general; but it was glaringly evident during the special Press and Celebrity Day on Monday 24th May that there was a buzz around the Barbados stand that outshone all the other exhibits and attracted a steady stream of TV film crews, radio interviewers, photographers, journalists, celebrities and the general public. At the centre of this prolific media activity stood our invited UK Celebrity Guest, Ainsley Harriott, the very popular chef and TV personality, who did a fantastic job of promoting Barbados. Equally popular and considerably more dazzling was our own Miss Barbados, Leah Marville, who captivated the attention of everybody who set eyes on her. Wearing her Miss Barbados sash, Leah was literally a walking advertisement for the country wherever she went.

The Barbados team of volunteers flew into London early on the morning of Thursday 20th May, laden down with about forty very large and very carefully packed shipping boxes, containing a fascinating variety of blooms and foliage, all collected from private gardens and nurseries around the island. Undaunted by the tiring effects of the overnight flight, the team travelled directly from Gatwick airport to the Chelsea show-ground, joining other UK based 'Bajans' to immediately start work preparing this year’s exhibit.

This year’s theme, “Sugar Factory Ruins Reclaimed by Nature”, reflects the fact that as the demand for Barbados cane sugar has decreased in modern times then more and more of the factories have closed down. Inevitably, thanks to the glorious power of nature, the ruins of the sugar factories have been beautifully transformed as the benign Caribbean climate and fertile soils have combined to encourage a resurgence of a wonderful diversity of plants and flowers.

To represent this scenario, the Barbados team worked diligently to reproduce the vibrant, tropical beauty of their enchanting island by depicting the scene of a factory ruin that has been adorned with a magnificent and exotic display of bright and colourful plants and blooms. The display included classic Caribbean favourites such as heliconias, bird of paradise, ginger lilies, anthuriums, tube roses, orchids and banana flowers, as well as palm trees and verdant foliage. Additionally, long strands of the aerial roots of the Bearded Fig-Tree (Ficus Citrifolia) hung down from the crumbling factory walls. Interestingly, it is these roots that provided the origin of the island’s name. As early as 1511 maps showed the island as ‘Los Barbados’, which is Spanish and Portuguese for ‘The Bearded Ones’. It seems that the pendulous aerial roots of the Ficus Trees found all over the island reminded these Iberian visitors of the long beards that were popular in their own country at that time.

Having already won 13 Gold, 8 Silver-Gilt and1 Silver in a highly commendable 22 consecutive years at the Chelsea Flower Show, the Barbados team was determined to produce yet another superbly designed, expertly crafted and stunningly beautiful floral exhibit for 2010.

Thus it was that after many months of planting and nurturing a myriad of exotic blooms and foliage; several weeks of final preparations, careful packing and shipping of their precious cargo; then seven days of actually building the exhibit stand and adorning it with their spectacular and stunningly beautiful floral arrangements, the members of the Barbados Horticultural Society’s team woke up in London on the morning of Tuesday 25^th May to discover that the notoriously hard-to-please Chelsea judges had rewarded them with the highest possible accolade – a coveted Gold Medal.

Of course the real stars of the show were the talented team who actually created the floral arrangements and so cleverly crafted the whole exhibit. Special kudos should be given to Jean Robinson, Audrey Thomas, Hetty Atkinson, Mona Walker, Jenny Weetch and Trevor Inniss for their tremendous Gold Medal success.

Well done the BHS. Well done the flower growers. Well done the volunteer helpers. Well done Barbados.