<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?> <rss version="2.0"> <channel>     <title>Caribbean Business Enterprise Trust Inc.</title>     <link>http://www.cbetmodel.org</link>     <description>Weekly Columns By Dr. Basil Springer, Change-Engine Consultant, Caribbean Business Enterprise Trust Inc.</description>     <language>en</language>     <copyright>© 2012 Dr. Basil Springer</copyright>     <lastBuildDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 20:14:52 PST</lastBuildDate> 	 	<managingeditor>webmaster@cbetmodel.org</managingeditor> 	 	<webmaster>webmaster@cbetmodel.org</webmaster> 	     <image>     <title>Caribbean Business Enterprise Trust Inc.</title>     <url>http://www.cbetmodel.org/images/shared/caribbean-business-enterprise-trust.png</url>     <link>http://www.cbetmodel.org</link>     </image> 	     <item> 		<title>Incubators versus Shepherding</title>   		<description><![CDATA[  The Shepherding Model has its genesis in dialogue with the stakeholders; it is focused on hand holding, dynamic interactive dialogue, experiential training and anecdotal exchanges; it is enterprise specific; it promises to mitigate the risk of business failure on an enterprise by enterprise basis by adopting the 25 cell Management of Business Matrix™ approach. After hearing of the process and experience which has led to the CBET Shepherding Model™ he concluded the meeting by admitting that he is most likely to be in touch soon again to discuss presumably classical “Incubation” versus “Shepherding” which is solution specific to small states and emerging nations like the Caribbean.   When Solomon met God face to face in a dream shortly after becoming king, he had the opportunity to ask for anything God might give him. His only request was for &quot;an understanding mind&quot; - the ability to discern right choices in governing his people. If development aid is going to have a lasting impact on the developing world, then all we ask is that the donors have an understanding mind which implies the capacity for wise insight and spiritual perspective. This allows us to choose which thoughts we hold in mind, which words we speak, which actions we take. I am reminded of a quote from Albert Einstein: “It&apos;s not that I&apos;m so smart, it&apos;s just that I stay with problems longer.”  ]]></description>                   	<link>http://www.cbetmodel.org/business-articles-details.cfm?newsID=431</link>         <pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 20:14:52 PST</pubDate>     </item>      <item> 		<title>Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion</title>   		<description><![CDATA[   Oliver Headley, Head of the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES), in the conclusion of his last formal presentation to the Caribbean Solar Energy Society Meeting on Sustainable Applications for Tropical Island States (SATIS) held at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel, Kingston, Jamaica August 28 to 31, 2001 affirmed “Certain renewable energy technologies such as biomass and wind are now sufficiently mature to attract financing under normal conditions. Solar hot water, solar crop drying and electricity from solar thermal plants are also economic; solar photovoltaic power is economic in niche markets, but the economies of scale should make it economic in the general electric power sector within the next five years. We in the small tropical island states need to show the world that we can use environmentally benign technologies for energy production and so avoid a greenhouse catastrophe which would literally leave us with nowhere to live. These technologies have the additional advantage that they save foreign exchange, hence their deployment is a win-win situation”.  In the same paper, Oliver stated that 10% of the projected electricity generated from renewable energy sources could come from OTEC. Barbados Renewable Energy Association let your voice be heard!   ]]></description>                   	<link>http://www.cbetmodel.org/business-articles-details.cfm?newsID=430</link>         <pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 20:14:52 PST</pubDate>     </item>      <item> 		<title>When upu move beyond your fear - You feel free</title>   		<description><![CDATA[   Whereas for human beings the global infant mortality rate (the number of deaths of infants under one year old per 1,000 live births) is just under 50 (or 5%), recent figures for business failure rates indicate that 20-30% of start-up businesses fail in the first year. Once the human being survives the first year then the mortality rate decreases significantly in the next four years, whereas for start-up businesses the mortality rate may increase to 90% by year five. I am not aware of any biblical reference related to the life expectation of a business but I can certainly attest to the text that no one pours new wine into old wine skins with impunity.  We have established that on the one hand the business life cycle can be intrinsically much longer than that of the human being but on the other hand the increasing failure rate is the real problem. How can we address this? Well, of course the answer is the CBET Shepherding Model™ which has been tested over the last three years.   The results from the project have revealed that there is no constraint in the context of Barbados, to find business ideas with the “DNA of an Elephant” since, in addition to the 12 considered, there were over 70 others which could not be considered because of the lack of resources required over the project period.   Based on the feedback from the Shepherds that were assigned to each project and the Enterprises themselves, there is absolutely no doubt, qualitatively, that the hypothesis that “shepherding mitigates the risk of business failure” was upheld.  A quantitative estimate of the reduction of the failure rate will be determined in time.  The major constraint arising from the project is the continuing difficulty to access seed/venture capital funds from the available financial markets.  The next phase of the Barbados project will, therefore, be to focus on targeting specific institutions to set up individual funds which would be managed by the CBET (Barbados) Fund management company under a franchising arrangement.     ]]></description>                   	<link>http://www.cbetmodel.org/business-articles-details.cfm?newsID=429</link>         <pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 20:14:52 PST</pubDate>     </item>      <item> 		<title>Life Cycles</title>   		<description><![CDATA[  This last week I was present on the occasions when we celebrated the life of E. Coleridge Pilgrim and Adrian J. L. Randall who had come to the end of their adult life cycles. Coleridge was a senior agriculturalist when I returned to the Caribbean as a Biometrician at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, in 1968.  Even though he was not based in Trinidad, regional travel was an integral part of my job and in this context our paths crossed on many occasions. I was most impressed by his commitment to agricultural development in the Caribbean and learned much from him.   In the last ten years, we spent a lot of time together as we were both involved in the promotion of the development of West Indies Sea Island Cotton as a value-added industry for Barbados and the Caribbean.  We were both disappointed in the lack of progress when compared with the potential for the industry.  Coleridge, as long as I am given the opportunity and can regulate my breathing to make a contribution to this end, I shall emulate your passion for this “family silver” industry especially now that the economy needs all the help that it can get.  The agricultural community is the poorer for his sudden passing but he did make it to the rich old age of 90. May he Rest in Peace! Adrian was junior to me at Harrison College and I do not recall any common interests at that time.  He and his brother were of course known as Mrs. Randall’s sons. She was the headmistress of Queen’s College, the high profile girl’s school at that time. Adrian returned to Barbados to live in the middle of the last decade with his wife Jenny who predeceased him two years ago.  Adrian and Jenny became Rotarians in our club, the Rotary Club of Barbados South.  We also met through activities of the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Old Harrisonian Society.  His dedication to Rotary was exemplary. May they both Rest in Peace!   When one loses family, friends or colleagues suddenly, or we think prematurely, clouds may seem dark for a time, but we may be heartened by the fact that faith in God can conquer the world.   ]]></description>                   	<link>http://www.cbetmodel.org/business-articles-details.cfm?newsID=428</link>         <pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 20:14:52 PST</pubDate>     </item>      <item> 		<title>Corporate Governance and Trading Trusts</title>   		<description><![CDATA[   This corporate governance design is based on the philosophy that Government determines policy, enacts legislation and creates an enabling environment, while it is the job of the private sector to trade. The Trading Trust will have a mandate to contribute to the growth of the economy of Barbados, one successful enterprise after another.   ]]></description>                   	<link>http://www.cbetmodel.org/business-articles-details.cfm?newsID=427</link>         <pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 20:14:52 PST</pubDate>     </item>      <item> 		<title>Cricket: Fire in Babylon</title>   		<description><![CDATA[   Perhaps I should comment, from my perspective, on the principles surrounding the impasse between Christopher Gayle and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB): no player is bigger than the game; the Government’s role is properly to propose policy, enact legislation/regulations and create a user-friendly enabling environment for its populace; and WI cricketing public is disenfranchised in the context of the WICB governance system.   Caribbean politicians were correctly involved in the context of adult suffrage in the early 1950s, which ensured that certain elements of society, who were previously disenfranchised, were given the right to vote. In the context of cricket, the politicians need to become involved, at the legislation level, to redress the situation of “cricketing public suffrage” where only a small minority of the cricket public currently have the right to vote in the WICB governance system.  Until a legislative change is made, on what grounds can the Caribbean politicians get involved with the decisions of the WICB on the Christopher Gayle or any other issue?  Politicians please listen to the word behind thee and walk thee in it.  ]]></description>                   	<link>http://www.cbetmodel.org/business-articles-details.cfm?newsID=426</link>         <pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 20:14:52 PST</pubDate>     </item>      <item> 		<title>The Business of Scouting</title>   		<description><![CDATA[ BASIL SPRINGER COLUMN WHICH WILL APPEAR IN THE BARBADOS ADVOCATE&apos;S BUSINESS MONDAY ON MARCH 19, 2012 THE BUSINESS OF SCOUTING  “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” – Psalm 119:105  The year, 1941; the day, Sunday, July 06; the time, afternoon; the place, Government Hill, Barbados. Charles Reginald Courtney Springer was holding a scout meeting in the downstairs level of the house. His meeting was disturbed by the crying of a child. He sent a message to the upper level requesting that the noise from the child be curtailed since it was disturbing his scout meeting. Advent Basil, his firstborn, into the world.   The Springer legacy in scouting all began in March 1912 when Charles Wilkinson Springer, my grandfather, was the first Scoutmaster of the first Scout Troup in Barbados at the Combermere School. All this was refreshingly renewed last week when I was part of the celebrations of the 100th Anniversary of Scouting in Barbados.   My scouting journey began as a “Tenderfoot” at age 10, which is the first rank earned as a Boy Scout; it encompassed the privilege of attending the eighth world Boy Scouts’ Jamboree in Canada in 1955 when I was 14; through to the honour of becoming a Queen’s scout at age 17.   Now several decades later, I can reflect that Scouting was indeed an excellent foundation for the journey through life and I regret that, apart from a short stint as a Cub Master at Harrison College, I broke my service in the scout movement when I left Barbados for a period of 14 years pursuing higher education and embarking in the world of work. On returning to Barbados in 1974, the heavy workload and exigencies of travel did not permit me to become immersed in the scout movement but I tried to assist wherever I could.  Now that I have matured and benefited from the word as a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path, I have an inner peace as the song relates “Peace is flowing like a river, Flowing out through you and me, Spreading out into the desert, Setting all the captives free”.  Last Sunday was the Barbados Boy Scouts Association’s Centennial Founder’s Day Service at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium. Last Monday at assembly in the Combermere School, there was an exciting programme of reminiscence which culminated in the unveiling of a plaque with a suitable inscription, including the members of the Scout Troup in 1912, as well as members of the current Scout Troup 100 years later in 2012. The plaque was unveiled by Lieut. Col. Owen Springer, Assistant Chief Commissioner, who was assisted by 91 year old Mr. Lisle Harrison, the oldest ambulatory Combermerian Scout alive today.  I have known Lisle for as long as I can remember. He is six years younger than my father and was very much involved in the scout meetings which my father held, many of them at our house, when I was growing up. He and my father were certainly close in scouting and so were our families.   Lisle had the opportunity and vision to enlarge and frame an historical photograph of the first camp of the Combermere School Scout Troup which was held at Codrington College in 1912. He presented this to the Principal of Combermere School at last Monday’s celebration with a suitable inscription from the Harrison and Springer families. This was a repeat of a similar presentation that he made to the Rev. Dr. Nigel Taylor, Chief Commissioner for Scouts in Barbados, at the Founder’s Day Service the day before.  The speakers giving the feature addresses at the Founder’s Day Service and the Combermere School Ceremony, Father Clement Paul and Mr. Lionel Weekes, respectively, both lauded the efforts of the scout leadership in Barbados to sustain such an uplifting organisation over the years. They appealed for more and more young men to join the scouting movement and also for more and more leaders to come forward so that the rate of growth of the movement would not be stymied by limited leadership resources, and so that the moral and industrious underpinning of the scout movement will contribute to the growth and sustainable development of our country.  All three sons of Charles Wilkinson Springer were Scouts and made a contribution to scouting over the years. Charles Wilkinson Springer’s contribution was short-lived due to his untimely death in 1914 at the age of 27. The eldest son, Robert Christopher, actually started the Scout Troup at Queen’s Royal College in Trinidad when he was teaching there. Sir Hugh Worrell was Chief Scout in his capacity of Governor General of Barbados, and my father rose to the height of Assistant Island Scout Commissioner (Training). I continued the legacy. My two sons, Kevin and Bevan, were not only Sea Scouts but also sportsmen until they, too, left the Island to pursue their education and respective careers, and have only returned on infrequent visits. The Springer legacy in scouting has therefore petered out.  While at Combermere School last Monday, the current Scoutmaster of the Troup, Mr Simon Alleyne, introduced himself to me and I bravely promised to assist wherever I could. One opportunity is to shift the paradigm of the scouting movement to the “business of scouting” with a focus on mobilising the scouting fraternity to be aware of the entrepreneurial trend that has engulfed.  This could not only contribute to the development of the scout movement but also to the advancement of the careers of scouts and to the sustainable development of Barbados. (Dr. Basil Springer GCM is Change-Engine Consultant, Caribbean Business Enterprise Trust Inc. - CBET - Columns are archived at www.cbetmodel.org)   ]]></description>                   	<link>http://www.cbetmodel.org/business-articles-details.cfm?newsID=425</link>         <pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 20:14:52 PST</pubDate>     </item>      <item> 		<title>Good Leadership is Key to Sustainable Success</title>   		<description><![CDATA[  On Friday night, the guest speaker at the Eighth Annual Lecture of the Fair Trading Commission of Barbados was none other than The Hon. Mr. Marston Gibson, Chief Justice. His topic was “Dialogue with the Courts: How can organisations best articulate their cases before the Courts”. He admitted that, even though the new Justice Building in Barbados was in many ways state-of-the-art in technology, the processes were indeed archaic, the human resources were set in their ways and, hence, productivity suffered as a result. The Chief Justice convinced the audience that his leadership qualities were very likely to take Barbados to Grade 1 health in the practice of jurisprudence.  He advised the audience that later in the year they could look forward to significant improvements led by the introduction of Alternative Dispute Resolution strategies.   ]]></description>                   	<link>http://www.cbetmodel.org/business-articles-details.cfm?newsID=423</link>         <pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 20:14:52 PST</pubDate>     </item>      <item> 		<title>The Power of Affirmation</title>   		<description><![CDATA[   At the individual level, the impact of the recession has induced a major unemployment threat in the public and private sectors. Traditional jobs may not be sustainable.  We have to affirm that private sector led national trading systems, for example, in agriculture and in the cultural industries, will have to be developed to create opportunities, not jobs, through a dynamic enterprise programme boosted by the shepherding and venture capital process. Even the sick must motivate themselves and reaffirm to get better quickly and rejoin the labour force. Of course, affirmative action is also needed by all concerned.  Finally, we affirm that all this will be developed in the context of sustainability.   ]]></description>                   	<link>http://www.cbetmodel.org/business-articles-details.cfm?newsID=421</link>         <pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 20:14:52 PST</pubDate>     </item>      <item> 		<title>The Spiritual Blanket</title>   		<description><![CDATA[   One of my Sunday activities, whenever I am in Barbados, is to take my octogenarian Aunt to see her nonagenarian brother. Last week she asked, as is her wont, “How are you Basil?” to which I replied in my usual style, “Superb”. She quipped, “You are always superb, don’t you face the ups and downs of life during the week like the rest of us?”  I said, “But of course.” I then explained to her what I meant by being superb.   “I have a superb comforter, a virtual spiritual blanket, which I lay above the clouds to avoid any undue turbulence and this creates a serene, tranquil and idyllic setting where I am spiritually attuned to receive the whispers of God. These whispers address the challenges that are manifested in your terms - the ups and downs of life.  My spiritual blanket gives me a full measure of protection and comfort from the vicissitudes of life.”]]></description>                   	<link>http://www.cbetmodel.org/business-articles-details.cfm?newsID=419</link>         <pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 20:14:52 PST</pubDate>     </item> </channel> </rss> 

