Bahamas News
Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation to Catalyze Business Resilience in Grand Bahama
#TheBahamas, February 11, 2022 – University of The Bahamas (UB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have formalized a partnership aimed at sparking innovation and entrepreneurship in Grand Bahama and developing capacity in digital technology for small business persons.
Officials of UB and the IDB have signed a technical cooperation agreement, commencing a three-year project for which the IDB is contributing a $500k grant and the University is matching that commitment. As a result, a Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and business incubator will be established at University of The Bahamas-North
(UB-North) in Grand Bahama where entrepreneurs will be trained, mentored and facilitated in using digital technology to increase their resilience.
IDB Country Representative Mrs. Daniela Carrera-Marquis said during the official announcement on Friday 4th February that many more Bahamian businesses will have the opportunity to develop the skills and ideas to thrive in a global digital arena.
“This partnership with University of The Bahamas aligns perfectly with our Vision 2025 and this vision for the IDB including Latin America and the Caribbean aims to support a more resilient recovery by focusing on five priority areas all of which are actually touched in this partnership that we are establishing with the University – regional integration, support for small and medium enterprises, promotion of the digital economy and prioritization of gender and climate change response.
“This technology focused project has the potential to impact all of these areas and we are very proud to support this endeavor. The contribution of $500k further cements our commitment to drive innovation for inclusion while improving the social, economic and environmental conditions for the most vulnerable,” she said.
Campus President of UB-North Dr. Ian Strachan explained that participants in the programme will be empowered to confidently start businesses or to expand the reach, versatility and resilience of their existing businesses.
“The boot camps, incubators and courses offered will make available to our citizens, at a crucial moment of high unemployment, much needed opportunities to retool; to gain valuable skills that will allow them to participate in the fast changing global economy.
“They will allow them to become more marketable, more competitive and to be masters of their own fate through entrepreneurship. The skills gap and lack of diversity are key weaknesses of the Bahamian economy and this initiative seeks to tackle these head on,” Dr. Strachan said.
The goal is to establish UB-North as the STEM Campus of the UB System, drawing students from across the archipelago, the region and the world to centres of academic excellence, he added. A business incubator will also be created along with programmes in Entrepreneurship, Computer Science, Operations Management, Electrical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Marine Science, Environmental Science, and Sustainable Innovation.
The lingering effects of Hurricane Dorian as well as other devastating storms and the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the economic sluggishness of Grand Bahama, the country’s industrial mecca. However, the technical agreement is a part of a larger effort to stimulate an economic transformation.
Chair of the UB Board of Trustees Mrs. Allyson Maynard-Gibson also heralded the impending transformation.
Through the project, 600 participants will be trained and equipped with enhanced digital skills, 300 persons will be directly assisted with starting their own businesses, 25 new courses in digital entrepreneurship and innovation will be offered at UB-North and an annual Grand Bahama Tech Expo will be hosted.
“The partnership that we celebrate today, created by a half million dollar grant from the IDB and matching commitment from UB will transform UB-North, Grand Bahama and The Bahamas. The Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UB-North will stimulate micro-, small- and medium-sized business ownership and increase the capacity of Bahamians to soar in the digital realm, ensuring our competitiveness nationally and internationally,” she said.
UB President Dr. Rodney D. Smith thanked the IDB for a longstanding partnership with the University and acknowledged that creating a robust environment for entrepreneurship has been a longstanding goal.
“I must thank the IDB for this current project on behalf of the university and for the people of Grand Bahama. We at the university have long envisioned a business and entrepreneurship incubator at the UB-North campus, as a part of that campus’ growth and for the benefit of Grand Bahama. The creation of the Centre of Entrepreneurship and Innovation is our vision realized – it will become the birthplace of innovation,” he said.
Senator the Honourable Kirk Russell heralded the government’s commitment to making the island an epicenter for innovation.
“For the Grand Bahama community, this signing further demonstrates the commitment to transform challenges into innovation. By introducing an environment where the nation’s brightest minds can embrace emerging technologies, the government demonstrates its commitment to remaining focused on the challenges ahead. COVID-19 and the economic fallout have taught us as a nation that paying attention and seeking opportunities to expand our thinking about what is ahead is critical to survival,” he said.
University leaders affirmed the institution’s critical role in the transformation that Grand Bahama is destined to experience.
Photo Caption:
Header: Among the persons who attended the announcement were members of the UB Board of Trustees. Seated: from left are Senator Hon. Kirk Russell; IDB Representative Mr. Tyran Thompson; IDB County Representative Mrs Daniela Carrera-Marquis (online); Chair of the UB Board of Trustees Mrs. Allyson Maynard Gibson; UB President Dr. Rodney D. Smith; Campus President of UB-North Dr. Ian Strachan; and Vice-Chair of the UB Board of Trustees Mr. Peter Whitehead. Standing: Trustee Mr. Barry Rassin; Staff Trustee Mr. Melvert Clarke; Student Trustee Mr. Mackenson Charles; Faculty Trustee Professor Bridget Hogg; Trustee Rev. Dr. Keith Russell; Trustee Mr. Marcus Laing; Trustee Dr. Gadville McDonald and Trustee Mr. Henry St. George.
Insert: Announcement of a $500k grant from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to University of The Bahamas (UB) to spark entrepreneurship and innovation in Grand Bahama. From left are: Vice-Chair of the UB Board of Trustees Mr. Peter Whitehead; Senator Hon. Kirk Russell; IDB Representative Mr. Tyran Thompson; IDB County Representative Mrs Daniela Carrera-Marquis (online); Chair of the UB Board of Trustees Mrs. Allyson Maynard Gibson; UB President Dr. Rodney D. Smith and Campus President of UB-North Dr. Ian Strachan.
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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