Barbadian businesses are being urged to search for opportunities in Kenya from which they’ll increase revenue.
High Commissioner of Barbados to Kenya Ambassador Alex McDonald told a lunchtime meeting of the Rotary Club of Barbados that there have been tremendous opportunities within the capital, Nairobi, and the broader African continent, from which Bridgetown may gain advantage greatly.
At the identical time, he highlighted several steps being taken by Barbadian authorities to woo more visitors from Kenya and areas for cooperation, including in sport.
He pointed to the scale of Kenya and other countries which share the continent, noting that Barbados and Barbadian businesses had the chance to money in.
McDonald noted that the East African nation, which has an estimated 60 million inhabitants, has a gross domestic product (GDP) of just over US$300 billion annually.
“So immediately, although you may see the scale and scale, you see that there’s an unlimited difference in GDP per capita and, due to this fact, I can inform you that the Bajan dollar or the US dollar goes a good distance in Kenya. That starts to hint on the opportunities which can be there for Bajans in Kenya,” he said.
McDonald said that while there have been some differences between the 2 countries, by way of cultural practices, there was no difference in the standard of healthcare or education and, due to this fact, there needs to be no fear about going to Kenya to establish shop or finding people from Kenya with whom to work.
“Kenyans are very creative and every little thing they eat is locally grown and locally made. There’s now a possibility for new and various spices coming from our market. There’s a possibility for rum to are available in. Kenya virtually produces no rum,” he said.
Recalling the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Barbados Manufacturers’ Association and the Kenya Association of Manufacturers for technical cooperation, McDonald said he believed this can “profit us in an incredible way”.
He said he was helping to discover ways through which Barbados and Kenya can proceed to deepen their bilateral cooperation.
Officials are working to bring athletes and coaches from Kenya to Barbados and introduce road tennis in Kenya.
“Kenyans like it and we are actually trying to customize and call it Bajan road tennis,” he said.
“We’re beginning to introduce calypso and Bajan soca on a few of the radio stations because we would like tourists to come back from Kenya to Barbados, and the music is one in all those things. There are a number of other things we’re doing; we try to ascertain an air link,” he added.
Through the Rotary meeting, McDonald, who is that this island’s everlasting representative to the United Nations Office in Nairobi, also shed some light on the practices and customs in Kenya in addition to its infrastructure development. (MM)
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