Start something, there will be something

Funny enough I got this thought from my pastors sermon on Sabbath. But we all know this is usually meant in the negative – Don’t start something and there will be nothing!

I was listening out for the great things the Grand Bahama Port Authority and the Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas have for this island and it seems the great plans are a little ways off.

On Friday as I was praising persons for their ideas that are starting things, I saw in The Freeport News that the East End Project is still coming…. but no dates were given.

This project should be a lot of employment and more developments because now we will need more apartments out east for those who will move closer to work. The residual money earners are what I am looking at.

Even with the big companies we presently have there are opportunities if we have the know how, to make a small thing better that can make us the world.

Just this week I was listening to “Think and Grow Rich” and heard the story of Edwin C Barnes who put into his head the idea of becoming partners with Thomas Edison, and still held these thoughts when he was hired by Mr. Edison but made his move to become the salesman for the Edison Dictating Machine which got him his desire to work with Edison, no for Edison and also earned him riches.

More recently there was the story of a small company noticing a small part needed to make the cell phone more accessible as “pre paid” devices. They were building on something already there and made millions.

How can you make something easier for consumers/developers/businesses?

These thoughts bring ideas that bring the desired fame and fortune.

But at the base of it all are the words from Zig Zigler, “you can get what you want, as long as you help others get what they want.”

The advice today for persons looking at ways to change Grand Bahama is really to start something, even if it is long a small part to help an already established business and see how far it goes.

We all just need to start something, so that there will be magic in the city and we all will benefit. But you have to want it, instead of sitting in the doom and gloom corner thinking it can never happy.

Go forth, and start something.

Don’t forget the Grand Bahama Regatta this weekend at Taino Beach

 

Follow your bliss….

The old pain of Grand Bahama has been explored and brought up a lot of unpleasantness. What it has not done is made anyone come up with more ideas of how to fix the problems.

As I have said before, it’s not just about the Government. It’s not just a Port issue. It’s an everyday people issue. Things change when people change and we are changing all the time…. so let’s make an effort to all change for the better!

I remember a few years ago I was listening to a speaker at a conference talking about a country to exemplify as it spoke of Singapore. The speaker (whom unfortunately I cannot recall at this time) spoke of how the country decided what sort of jobs and professions that they would need in the future and through the education system steering the students in those directions. With a concerted effort they changed their country for the best.

I heard this speech and was inspired because I was thinking here is the answer to a perplexing question posed every year for as long as I can remember only during the months of May and June each year ….. well we have so many students coming out of school, where will they have jobs? What will they do?

In the late ’90s as assistant editor at the Freeport News I came up with a list of possible jobs and I had published in the paper which I thought could help.

Sometimes to prove a point, people don’t tell an entire story. The entire story about Singapore that was left out was the fact that it is a communist country. Their decision to implement such a system to make their people world leaders would work if they of course had no choice.

We have many choices but no direction.

If we would begin to look a head at what we want to achieve and then begin the steps then yes we can do it without changing our views on governance.

What does our future hold? This questions is particularly acute for Grand Bahama because we have two things to think about … what happens after the Hawksbill Creek Agreement is either broken or falls away, and then what the future of the country looks like?

The Hawksbill Creek agreement has a 40 years, but as with all agreements, it can be broken. So if it is broken for any reason, what will it mean for those persons living and working here?

Funny, as I am writing this post I did two things that made me smile. I checked out the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s website and found out their vision is: “Our vision today is to become the island of choice for global investment in The Bahamas by 2012″

What I find funny about this is that it is not been updated.

Also, as I was looking up more information on the Hawksbill Creek Agreement I checked the “trusted” wikipedia to find out that the tax concessions that we are waiting to discuss with the Government and the Grand Bahama Port Authority, “has since been extended an additional 49 years, to the year 2054″.

Things that make you go, hmmmm. I noted also at the bottom of the post its says, “This page was last modified on 10 June 2014 at 01:07″

Who did that?

All that aside, I implore you to think of a day when Grand Bahama returns to the government of The Bahamas and what it will mean to you and you will mean to the country. When Grand Bahama will no longer be generating $200 million to the coffers anymore. What is your part in this generation of funds now and what will it mean then?

What you do today will ultimately affect all our tomorrows.

Still follow you bliss to make this island the best in the country and in the world. What is your passion? Go after it with both hands. We can’t all be just retail store owners, maids, shop keepers, etc. What is your part to play? I’m sure your gift will make way for you and ultimately help your island, your country and the world.

Nameste.

Ps. Thank you to all those who continue to read this blog and especially to those who commented and those whose words I was privileged to use last week to give full exposure. I love the feedback and do keep it up.

Photo by Yasmin Popescu

Inspiration

The optimism of this blog is meant only to inspire others to think of what they can do to make life better for themselves and for the island which would mean making it better for the country.

Asked about my blog, I thought it was self explanatory.

Grand Bahama has been looking for a saviour and the residents need to wake up and realize they are that saviour and they need to begin by doing something.

We have been through some of the history of Freeport and the Hawksbill Creek Agreement. In the archives there is the entire (well almost entire) Hawksbill Creek Agreement and the Bend or Break speech by the late Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling first Prime Minister of The Bahamas.

There is a saying that if you don’t know your past your are doomed to repeat it.

In the past we had waited for the investors and we have planned on jobs that we don’t want to work but  we have plotted on making money without working.

Its time to re-think our future and make it one that says we are a determined group of people who are willing to take the bull by the horn and to plough ahead for a better island and a better country.

In the last post the question was asked what are you doing for you? And as I have said in previous posts, we need to stop just looking to the government for changes. We have established a failing system based on political favors and when things are not going the way we want we get upset.

If your party is in power you expect them to look out for you. How about you empower them to look out of the best interest of all concerned?!

Until this happens, everyone needs to pick up their own load and carry it. That load is lighter when you are busy doing the things you like and are things you were destined to do, and you are being paid to do it.

Lighten your load by following your passion and make your life, your island and your country better.

 

What are you doing for you?

I heard of a story of a young man in Grand Bahama being counseled recently and I can only applaud the gentleman who did the counseling.

The young man had apparently went to restaurant to beg for food but what he got was so much more as the business man explained that if he fed him, he would be back but explained to him the ways of the system and how to get some money and how to help himself.

Then came the important question that he asked the young man, “but, what are you doing for you?”

It is a wake up call for all Grand Bahama residents living here after the storms of 2004/2005 – “What are you doing for you?”

Yes it has been rough but there is something you can do.

Yes the government and the Grand Bahama Port Authority pose some challenges especially if you think you don’t know someone important or that you are not connected to someone important.

But you can do something for you.

If there are no jobs, follow your passion and do what you love to do an it should make you some money.

In the bible, God asked Moses, What do you have your hand?

Moses had a rod and only a rod and he became one of the most talked about leaders of all time.

What do you have in your hand? What is your passion?

My passion is to see Grand Bahama turn around and the economy do better. So I write about the positive and try to encourage others to see a more positive more ahead.

The next great bit of advice told the young man was that although he thought he only needed money that money is not the answer to his problem. He was told that the rich have money and still have no satisfaction and are killing themselves with what money can buy.

What he needed was to find his purpose but he told the young man he had to make that first step.

I borrowed this inspirational video from Youtube to express all this.

 

More Grand Bahama Business Outlook

On our regularly scheduled day we continue to bring you the speeches from the 16th Annual Grand Bahama Business Outlook hosted by TCLGroupLtd on Thursday February 27th, 2014.

Today we have the Minister of Tourism, Hon. Obie Wilchcombe:

Ms. Agatha Marcelle, Director, National Training Agency:

Mr. George Gobin, Microsoft Country Manager for Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Belize and the Turks and Caicos Islands:

More to come on Friday. Enjoy!

The Hawksbill Creek Agreement

There is been much said about the formation of Freeport and the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, but today I want to look specifically at the Agreement itself.

This Agreement signed August 5th 1955, was designed to make a “free port” that would encourage foreign investors to come to Grand Bahama Island through a variety of tax exemptions.

It was signed between the Government of The Bahamas and the Grand Bahama Port Authority, which was a private company founded by Virginian financier Wallace Groves.

The Agreement granted the Port, as it is called, the first 50,000 of crown land with exclusive rights to develop.

In return, the Port Authority was required to dredge a deepwater harbour, construct an airport, hospitals and schools and provide other services and amenities. Later the Port acquired additional land from the crown and from private sources, giving it a total of 150,000 acres or 233 square miles for development.

Through the years that have been a lot of dispute over how the investors got hold of some of the land, but in the end, right amount of money offered or not, deals were struck and the land was turned over.

The Government of The Bahamas gave the Port the right to grant business licenses as an incentive and later the Port was given permission to license casinos and to develop tourism within the Freeport area.

The initial agreement, which has been changed throughout the years, was build on residents and licensees in the Port area being free from personal income taxes, corporate profit taxes, capital gains taxes, death taxes or property tax until 1992, then pushed back to 2015 because they felt the time was not right for those taxes.

With 2015 almost here, more discussions will be held with the intentions again to push that date to the end of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement which has a life of 99 years.

The last copy of the Agreement I have attached here for your edification.

Hawksbill Creek Agreement

It is noted that the rest of The Bahamas also has these same freedoms from most of these taxes and if the tax regime in The Bahamas changes, because of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, the Hawksbill Creek Agreement would provide a special exemption clause to maintain this tax free status until 2015.

However, what was not foreseen was the Customs Management Taxes that came on board as The Bahamas prepares for VAT to become part of the World Trade Organization, and its affects on the licensees. At present there is a battle afoot led by the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce to deal with this matter for the licensees.

Funny enough, according to the write up from The Grand Bahama Port Authority on their page on The Hawksbill Creek Agreement, it says, “The Agreement also provided that residents and licensees also be free from excise taxes, stamp duties and most custom duties until 2054.” This is the basis of the present legal batter being contemplated.

Further, it is noted that companies the have businesses in the Port area are exempt from the Bahamian business licensees fees until August 2054.

Also of notice there is no licensee association and attempts to form one have never really made it through despite the fact that all licensees issued from the Port mentions it.