A United States-based academic says local entrepreneurs and small businesses are missing out on numerous networking opportunities from the Welcome Stamp Programme, and has called on authorities to create a formal structure for them to make the best of those prospects.Dr Ebony A. Utley, Professor of Communication Studies and an Associate Director for the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, who came to Barbados through the programme in 2021, lamented that the initiative has no portal to encourage business links.The 12-month Welcome Stamp Programme was introduced in July 2020 to give people from other countries the opportunity to work remotely on the island.Although praising the initiative, Dr Utley told Barbados TODAY: “If you have people from around the world with different networks and connections that are interacting with the local entrepreneurs, maybe those connections would be sufficient to find someone who might be interested in investing or find someone who could be an ambassador for your product on a different continent potentially.
