Russell – No more family operated businesses

If Randolph Russell can have his way, the days of family operated companies would quickly come to an end.

That’s because the Executive Director of the Private Sector Organisation of St Vincent and the Grenadines believes that the proliferation of family-owned business is stifling investment by the public in the private sector and as a result retarding a more robust commercial growth.{{more}}

According to Russell in order to fully develop the business potential in St Vincent and the Grenadines there must be public participation from private enterprise.

“Over the years we have only had family-owned and family-run companies, things are changing and that system is not very satisfactory in the developing world… the modern trend is to have public companies,” Russell told SEARCHLIGHT Business.

The Executive Director believes that the private sector owes it to the community to develop and sponsor the right type of businesses to meet the needs of the country.

According to Russell financial institutions, such as banks, are no longer a preferred means of investing, because of low returns on saving but he noted that was where most Vincentians were depositing their money.

“Banks are very liquid and Vincentians only know to put their monies in the bank and not in stocks which offer a greater return than the banks,” Russell said.

“To fully develop businesses to the maximum potential there must be public participation,” he added, noting that family owned businesses, which have majority shares in companies in St Vincent and the Grenadines, continue to hold on tightly to their investment rather than opening up their businesses to stock markets, the businessman who has a background in a family-owned business said.

Russell, a former politician, noted that extensions of these close-knit family businesses could have serious implications on the economy when the Caribbean Single Market comes in to effect.

Members of the East Asian community and other foreign investors, he said, should also integrate into the business community in order to develop the private sector.