The State of Small Business in Barbados

National Survey of the Small Business Sector (Barbados)

Figure 1.2 Comparisons of Total Number of MSME Employers for 2025 vs 2016 Datasets

2016

2025

7914

8000

7231

6000

4000

2000 Number of MSMEs

1521

812

548

291

0

Agriculture

Industry

Services

Company Size

2016

2025

Figure 1.3 Comparisons of Total Employment Shares (%) of MSME by Broad Sector for 2025 vs 2016 Datasets

100%

84.0%

80%

75.3%

60%

40%

21.0%

20% Employment Share (%)

14.0%

3.8% 2.0%

0%

Agriculture

Industry

Services

Section 2: Number of FIRMS Created, COVID-19 Impacts, Gender Distribution in Ownership, Age, Experience and Education of Business Owners 2.1 Distribution of Businesses by Year of Establishment Data on new companies and other business registrations from Business Barbados were obtained based on administrative records. For the period of 2020 to 2025, new company incorporations have remained consistently strong, averaging approximately 1,000 new companies annually. New company registrations (incorporated businesses), increased from 923 in 2020 to 1,003 in 2025 (see Figure 2.2). This represents a compound annual growth rate of approximately 1.7 per cent per year over the five-year period. In simple terms, this means that formal company formation has been growing slowly but steadily on average. In contrast, new business name registrations - representing unincorporated sole traders and partnerships - display greater volatility over the same period. For new business name registrations, registrations declined from 4,573 in 2020 to 2,477 in 2025 (see Figure 1.6). This reflects a compound annual growth rate of approximately -11.5 per cent per year over the period.

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Small Business Association of Barbados