Bahamas News
Grand Bahama’s Small Business Incentive Program proving to be successful
#Bahamas, March 5, 2018 – Grand Bahama – The success of the newly launched Grand Bahama Micro and Small Business Economic, Empowerment and Incentive Program was evident in the certification of a second group of potential entrepreneurs from the program on Monday, February 26, 2018, in the Office of the Prime Minister.
The certification of 15 new business owners and the expectation of the program’s being extended to not just a third, but also a fourth group of individuals has brought to light what Minister of State for Grand Bahama, Senator Kwasi Thompson has been touting all along “that small businesses will be a big part of the economic turnaround for Grand Bahama.”
In addition to the 15 new self-starter businesses, eight existing businesses also received financial grants and certification to help in the growth of their already established enterprises. The businesses represented a cross section of careers, including restaurant, pastry and bakery, nails and cosmetics, bone fishing, sign making, perfume making and landscaping.
Senator Kwasi Thompson told the group of entrepreneurs that there are positive signs and good things happening in Freeport, if they chose to see those positive signs. “I want to encourage you to take advantage of the opportunities that are coming,” said Minister Thompson.
The Minister outlined some of the projects that are in the process of coming to fruition in Grand Bahama, which he said, will help to revamp the economy of Grand Bahama. Projects like the sale and re-opening of the Lucayan Resort, the re-started resort in West End that had once been a Ginn project, the Oban Oil Refinery project, two small projects in West End, inclusive the Sea Wood Fishing Village and the Blue Marlin Cove marina, two light manufacturing companies and other such projects.
“I don’t outline these projects or bring them up to suggest that Grand Bahama has turned any corner or that Grand Bahama is doing well, but I bring them up and talk about them because we all need to know that there are positive things happening in Grand Bahama,” added Minister Thompson.
“We also need to know what opportunities there are for us here in Grand Bahama. Think out of the box. Don’t limit yourself to the old ways of doing business. The good thing is that we have the access where your entire market does not have to be only people in Freeport, Grand Bahama, or even just in The Bahamas.
“The entire world now can become your market.”
He said that the time has come now where Bahamians begin to think globally and think about exporting their talents and their goods and services.
“You have the talent, you have the skills, to be able to compete with anyone, anywhere in the world,” added Minister Thompson. “In fact, you are the best in the world at what you do, because nobody could be Bahamian better than you and nobody can produce Bahamian better than you.”
Also giving the new business owners, as well as the established entrepreneurs, some words of encouragement was Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, the Hon. Michael Pintard, who reminded the business owners that they have to be committed and disciplined, not just in how they manage their respective companies, but how they manage their finances.
“You have to be prepared to wake up early, pray up, show up, stay late if necessary, in order to build your empire. Not everyone is an entrepreneur, so you are a unique group among hundreds of thousands in the Bahamas.
“But if our economy in Grand Bahama is to recover and if the Bahamas is to grow at the rate which we believe it has the potential to grow, much of that success is going to come as a result of the efforts by people such as yourselves. So we are happy to be working in conjunction with you.”
Minister Pintard pointed out that micro and small business enterprises help to fuel the economy of countries around the world and that The Bahamas was no exception. He said that one of the things that is presently being discussed among the government and the private sector is how to obtain the number of people required by Bahamian and foreign business owners, in order to sustain those businesses.
He said one of the things he and Minister Thompson discussed while putting together the program, was deciding the types of businesses they ought to fund.
“The view was that we should fund businesses that have an opportunity to make it with the present population size we have,” said Minister Pintard.
“So, you are uniquely positioned because although it would benefit you to have in excess of thousands more consumers in which to market your products and services, you have the capacity to do a volume of business that would be beneficial to you, your family and this community, right now.
“We wanted to identify businesses that would be in the creative arts, businesses that would affect tourism, or that would deal with personal consumption…and all of you represent these kinds of businesses.”
He admitted that every business will find itself in a competitive market, not just locally or nationally, but internationally, and with the ability to be paired with mentors who will assist them in ensuring that their respective businesses are successful.
By: Andrew Coakley
Photo Captions:
Header: Fifteen new self-starter companies and eight already existing businesses all received certificates and financial grants after successfully completing the required classes in the Grand Bahama Micro and Small Business, Economic Empowerment and Incentive Program on Monday, February 26, 2018 in the Office of the Prime Minister (Grand Bahama). Pictured with the graduates were Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, the Hon. Michael Pintard (seated, centre); Minister of State for Grand Bahama, Senator Kwasi Thompson (seated, second from left); Carla Roker-Brown, Program Coordinator in the Ministry of Youth (seated right); Lady Naomi Wallace-Whitfield, from the Office of the Prime Minister (seated, second from right) and Shavonia McBride, from the Office of the Prime Minister (seated, left).
First insert: Minister of State for Grand Bahama, Senator Kwasi Thompson reminded new and existing business owners to look at the positive things taking place in Grand Bahama and not focus on the negative. The Minister outlined a number of proposed projects to be undertaken in Grand Bahama, which will help to bring about an economic turnaround for the island’s economy.
Second insert: Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, the Hon. Michael Pintard encouraged new business owners to be prepared to put in the time, commitment and dedication to make their respective businesses successful.
BIS Photos/Lisa Davis
PM: Project delivers on promise and invests in youth, sports and national development
GRAND BAHAMA, The Bahamas — Calling it the fulfillment of a major commitment to the island, Prime Minister Philip Davis led the official groundbreaking for the Grand Bahama Aquatic Centre, a facility the government says will transform sports development and create new opportunities for young athletes.
Speaking at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex on February 12, the Prime Minister said the project represents more than bricks and mortar
— it is an investment in people, national pride and long-term economic activity. The planned complex will feature a modern 50-metre competition pool, designed to meet international standards for training and regional and global swim meets. Davis said the facility will give Bahamian swimmers a home capable of producing world-class performance while also providing a space for community recreation, learn-to-swim programmes and water safety training.
He noted that Grand Bahama has long produced outstanding athletes despite limited infrastructure and said the new centre is intended to correct that imbalance, positioning the island as a hub for aquatic sports and sports tourism.
The Prime Minister also linked the development to the broader national recovery and revitalisation of Grand Bahama, describing the project as part of a strategy to expand opportunities for young people, create jobs during construction and stimulate activity for small businesses once operational.
The Aquatic Centre, he said, stands as proof that promises made to Grand Bahama are being delivered.
The project is expected to support athlete development, attract competitions, and provide a safe, modern environment for residents to access swimming and water-based programmes for generations to come.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
The Bahamas, February 15, 2026 – For the better part of three years, Bahamians have been told that major Afreximbank financing would help transform access to capital, rebuild infrastructure and unlock economic growth across the islands. The headline figures are large. The signing ceremonies are high profile. The language is ambitious. What remains far harder to see is the measurable impact in the daily lives of the people those announcements are meant to serve.
The Government’s push to secure up to $100 million from Afreximbank for roughly 200 miles of Family Island roads dates back to 2025. In
its February 11 disclosure, the bank outlined a receivables-discounting facility — a structure that allows a contractor to be paid early once work is completed, certified and invoiced, with the Government settling the bill later. It is not cash placed into the economy upfront. It does not, by itself, build a single mile of road. Every dollar depends on work first being delivered and approved.
The wider framework has been described as support for “climate-resilient and trade-enhancing infrastructure,” a phrase that, in practical terms, should mean projects that lower the cost of doing business, move people and goods faster, and keep the economy functioning. But for communities, that promise becomes real only when the projects are named, the standards are defined and a clear timeline is given for when work will begin — and when it will be finished.
Bahamians have seen this moment before.
In 2023, a $30 million Afreximbank facility for the Bahamas Development Bank was hailed as a breakthrough that would expand access to financing for local enterprise. It worked in one immediate and measurable way: it encouraged businesses to apply. Established, revenue-generating Bahamian companies responded to the call, prepared plans, and entered a process they believed had been capitalised to support growth. The unanswered question is how much of that capital has reached the private sector in a form that allowed those businesses to expand, hire and generate new economic activity.
Because development is not measured in the size of announcements.
It is measured in loans disbursed, projects completed and businesses expanded.
The pattern is becoming difficult to ignore. In June 2024, when Afreximbank held its inaugural Caribbean Annual Meetings in Nassau,
Grand Bahama was presented as the future home of an Afro-Caribbean marketplace said to carry tens of millions of dollars in investment. What was confirmed at that stage was a $1.86 million project-preparation facility — funding for studies and planning to make the development bankable, not construction financing. The larger build-out remains dependent on additional approvals, land acquisition and further capital.
This distinction — between financing announced and financing that produces visible, measurable outcomes — is now at the centre of the national conversation.
Because while the numbers grow larger on paper, entrepreneurs still describe access to capital as out of reach, and communities across the Family Islands are still waiting to see where the work will start.
And in an economy where stalled growth translates into lost opportunity, rising frustration and real social consequences, the gap between promise and delivery is no longer a communications issue.
It is an inability to convert announcements into outcomes.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
A hardline strategy that reduced murders, gunfire, and collateral deaths
The Bahamas, February 8, 2026 – What happens when police stop routinely granting bail to high-risk suspects and aggressively execute outstanding warrants? In The Bahamas, the answer in 2025 was fewer murders, fewer gunshots, and safer communities.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force arrested 4,337 individuals on outstanding warrants last year, ensuring suspects were brought directly before the courts instead of being released back onto the streets. At the same time, police significantly curtailed the use of police bail for high-risk and repeat offenders, particularly those already entangled in violent disputes.
Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles said the shift was informed by hard lessons from previous years. Intelligence reviews showed that
many homicide victims were not random targets, but men already wanted by law enforcement and — critically — by other criminals. When released on bail, those individuals often became targets themselves, triggering retaliatory shootings that spilled into neighbourhoods, roadways and public spaces.
By keeping high-risk suspects in custody pending court appearances, police say they disrupted that cycle — removing both potential offenders and potential victims from the streets.
The impact was stark. Murders declined by 31 percent in 2025, falling from 120 in 2024 to 83, the largest percentage decrease in homicides since national tracking began in 1963 and the lowest murder count in nearly two decades.
Police leaders say the strategy also reduced the collateral damage that had increasingly alarmed communities. Innocent residents had been caught in “sprays of gunfire” as targeted attacks unfolded in residential areas, at traffic stops, and in public settings.
Gun-violence indicators reflected the change. Gunshot reports fell by 35 percent, while incidents detected by ShotSpotter technology declined by 29 percent, confirming that fewer shots were being fired across the country.
“Gunshots ringing out and cutting through our peaceful paradise were down remarkably,” Commissioner Knowles said, attributing the improvement to decisive enforcement, tighter bail practices, and sustained pressure on offenders.
Police also intensified enforcement against breach of bail conditions, charging and detaining more suspects than in any previous reporting period. Officers say the approach removed the opportunity for repeat offending while matters were before the courts.
Police leadership said the results go beyond statistics. By limiting bail for high-risk suspects and executing warrants at scale, the strategy saved lives, protected bystanders, and restored confidence in public safety.
In 2025, fewer people were hunted, fewer bullets were fired, and fewer families were left grieving — a shift police say was no accident, but the result of deliberate, hardline choices.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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