Against the backdrop of rising petroleum prices at home and abroad, the specter of failing businesses will loom to a greater degree. Of interest to BU will be the number of Black businesses which are likely to flounder in the current environment. Obviously to manage any commercial enterprise in a climate which reeks of unpredictability and stiff competition, calls for high order business skills, in-dispersed with a heavy dose of common sense. We reluctantly have to admit that too many Black businesses in Barbados have attracted comments like “no succession planning”, “a willingness to be too generous with their deposits to the hairy bank” and other disparaging labels too numerous to mention.
A related story which resonated with the BU household appeared in the Nation newspaper last week. It outlined the imminent demise of a popular Black business, the Dining Club which is owned by Chef Peter Edey.
The article outlined the huge debt which Chef Edey’s catering business has accumulated. If we recall what was reported correctly, the debt racked-up is to the tune of $200,000.00. Edey is quoted as lamenting the uncertainty which now surrounds the tenure of his 100+ employees. What floored the BU household is his plea to the government for help!
One of our earlier blogs highlighted the fall of the previously Black successful Rayside Construction company. There is no evidence that the Dining Club has suffered the same fate. However we remain concerned that another significant Black owned business is struggling to avoid bankruptcy. We accept that some businesses will encounter turbulence from time to time given the day-to-day challenges of doing business. We have become ambivalent to the plight of too many prominent Black businesses which have ‘pissed’ away their good standing. Can any member of the BU family comment on how Chef Peter Edey who is widely regarded as Chef #1 in Barbados would have shipwrecked his business caused by the accumulation of exorbitant debt?
Even if we were to believe that the catering business in Barbados is not as lucrative as we thought, we are still encouraged to examine the following line of reasoning:
If Edey’s business was failing why would he have ignored early indicators which called for important management decisions to have been taken to save his company? If early corrective measures taken had failed then free market forces should have come into play i.e. liquidation, inject new capital, sell off as a going concern etcetera. We continue to be embarrass to read of Chef Peter Edey ‘begging’ the government of Barbados to rescue his business. We don’t know the guy but after viewing his popular TV cooking show he seems to be an affable kind of person. Please forgive us Chef Edey if we are not coming over as being very sympathetic to your plight.
Mr. Edey you invested in the Dining Club catering business, you managed it we hope, to the best of your ability, and you appear to have failed. In a free market arrangement there is a consequence you sometimes have to suffer from making bad business decisions. We live in a competitive arena which increasingly invites competition from at home and abroad. If the Dining Club is unable to manage successfully in our domestic market, how can it expect to be successful going forward in a changing market where new entrants are expected to enter and provide sterner competition? Maybe this is one of the reasons why Prime Minister David Thompson was encouraged to remove some of the protection on petroleum which the Barbados market has benefited in recent years. Maybe he is sending a message that not only individuals need to make difference choices, so too our businesses if they want to be able to compete going forward.
Modern business practices and tools make it easy to diagnose and analyze company performance minute by minute. If the principals of any business doubt their management ability, support services are available to assist. The BU household has become increasingly impatient, maybe intolerant to the utterances of Black businesses ‘begging’ for assistance from the public purse. Why is it that we never hear Indians, Syrians or White business doing the same thing?
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