OPINION: Made in Antigua and Barbuda: Unlocking the Nation’s Manufacturing Potential

Made in Antigua and Barbuda: Unlocking the Nation’s Manufacturing Potential

One thing I’ve always found interesting is what you notice when you walk into supermarkets across the Caribbean.

In Antigua and Barbuda, you’ll find products from Jamaica like Grace, Devon House and Tastee. You’ll see products from Trinidad and Tobago like Chief, Angostura and carib. You’ll find products from Guyana, whether it’s El Dorado, Indi or limacol. Barbados has Pine Hill, Mount Gay, and banks.

Now travel to Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad or Guyana, and you’ll notice something else.

The overwhelming majority of what fills their supermarket shelves is made at home. Their poultry, meats, dairy products, sauces, beverages, baked goods, seasonings, snacks and countless other everyday items are produced locally. Imported products certainly exist, but they’re usually from larger regional producers or international brands. The backbone of their supermarket economy is local manufacturing.

It raises an important question.

What foundational steps do we need to take in Antigua and Barbuda to significantly expand local manufacturing, strengthen local production, and ultimately build products that can compete throughout the Caribbean and internationally?

The talent already exists.

Every year someone launches a new juice company, a hot sauce, a yogurt brand, a locally crafted spirit, a cocktail mix, seasonings, baked goods or other innovative products. Many of these products are genuinely excellent. In fact, some are every bit as good as the imported brands we buy without hesitation.

Yet I believe one of our biggest challenges is psychological.

Too often we unconsciously associate “locally made” with lower quality, while assuming that products from overseas or even neighboring islands must automatically be better. That mindset becomes one of the biggest barriers to building sustainable local industries.

No manufacturing business can grow if people don’t support it. Consistent local demand gives businesses the revenue they need to improve quality, invest in equipment, hire more workers, expand production and eventually enter export markets.

The benefits of getting this right extend far beyond any one business.

• We reduce our import bill and keep more money circulating within our own economy.
• We create export industries that bring new foreign exchange into the country.
• We create more entrepreneurship opportunities instead of relying almost entirely on government or traditional private-sector employment.
• We generate skilled jobs across manufacturing, logistics, packaging, engineering, marketing, distribution and sales.
• We strengthen our food security and become less vulnerable to international supply chain disruptions.
• We encourage innovation by adding value to our own agricultural products instead of exporting raw materials or importing finished goods.
• We diversify our economy so that tourism is no longer carrying such a heavy share of our national income.
• We build brands that represent Antigua and Barbuda throughout the Caribbean and internationally, putting our country on the map for something more than beautiful beaches.

Perhaps just as importantly, we need to develop a stronger sense of pride in supporting products made right here at home.

Supporting local doesn’t mean lowering our standards. It means giving our own entrepreneurs the opportunity to meet, and eventually exceed those standards.

Every successful Jamaican, Barbadian, Trinidadian or Guyanese brand started because people in those countries believed in them first.

Maybe it’s time we asked ourselves: What would it take for the shelves across the Caribbean to carry more products proudly labeled “Made in Antigua & Barbuda”?

That conversation is long overdue

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