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Bad Business Practices in The Bahamas

I read with disgust the news article on Sir Jack Hayward's million dollars that went missing.

Clearly, the government misappropriated the funds, which is going to make it harder to get donations this year, should we be visited by guests as unruly as Frances and Jeanne were last year.

But, Sir Jack's biggest complaint was the treatment he received from a civil servant in the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) when he attempted to get some answers about the missing money.

The civil servant refused to take Mr. Hayward's repeated calls or ever return a call to him.

Unfortunately, this problem is not isolated to Sir Jack, who is a wealthy and powerful member of Bahamian society. The treatment the rest of us get is even worse.

Unprofessional and rude behaviour is, in fact, becoming a hallmark of the Bahamian business environment. There have been numerous published reports of local business persons and foreign investors complaining about the red tape and bureaucratic difficulties they have had trying to accomplish even simple tasks.

Business atrocities include not returning phone calls, missing appointments, arriving late to appointments, not completing work on time or in budget, rude and discourteous service and other practices which violate the basic tenets of commerce.

One can simply browse the 5,000 articles on the Bahamas News portal for examples.

But, it is not only government Ministers and civil servants who act irresponsibly in their business dealings. There are plenty of private companies whose owners engage in business practices (and ethics) so shallow that it is difficult to see how they can remain in business. One explanation is that some of them they have a monopoly on their market, or they receive favours and concessions by their cronies in government or the civil service.

Unprofessional behaviour not only make doing business in The Bahamas more difficult and expensive, but it also tends to discourage investments and business development, because many investors and entrepreneurs feel that "once bitten, twice shy."

One local businessman recently arrived for a scheduled appointment at the office of a prominent Bahamian lawyer, only to discover that the barrister "wasn't in" and had apparently blown off the appointment. The businessman never received a call that the appointment would be postponed or cancelled. Despite the unprofessional behaviour on the lawyer's part, the businessman made a second appointment but ended up getting "dissed" a second time. The lawyer never even called to apologize or give a reason for missing the two appointments.

This rude unprofessional behaviour seems to be contagious.

Another horror story involves a small retail outlet on Cable Beach. An entrepreneur called and talked to the owner regarding a promotional idea that would yield a handsome profit and plenty of exposure for the shop. The owner promised to get back to the entrepreneur the next day with some prices. He didn't. The entrepreneur called the following day and spoke again with the owner, who apologized and promised to call back with prices the next day. Again, he didn't. This went on for three more days before the entrepreneur found another supplier.

Then, there is the owner of a large tour company. The company apparently makes too much money and doesn't want any more. The marketing manager of a large US-based travel Website telephoned the company to arrange tours for about 100 visitors to The Bahamas. The tours would have included a three-day stay in Nassau, then a two-day stay on a Family island. The marketing manager wanted to know whether the tour company could handle the job and he needed some prices to give to his boss. After three days of trying to contact the owner, or anyone other than a secretary, the Website decided to take the people to Jamaica instead.

If all this isn't enough to kill your appetite for business in The Bahamas, wait until you hear this one.

A restaurant located near the Paradise Island Bridge could receive an award for being the worst business in The Bahamas. After finding cooked cockroaches in his food, a diner demanded to talk to the owner. The owner came out, looked the situation over, then turned away saying, "that happens all the time".

Posted by admin at July 1, 2005 04:57 PM | TrackBack