The State of Small Business in Barbados

National Survey of the Small Business Sector (Barbados)

A further 15.0 per cent of businesses generated annual revenues between BDS $100,000 and $249,999, while progressively smaller shares of firms occupied higher revenue brackets. Collectively, approximately 14.4 per cent of MSMEs reported revenues of BDS $250,000 or more, indicating that while most firms remain small, a non-trivial minority has achieved moderate to high revenue levels. At the upper end of the

Table 3.1: Annual Sales Revenue Annual Revenue (BDS)

% of Businesses

Less than $100,000 $100,000 – $249,999 $250,000 – $599,999 $600,000 – $1.24 million $1.25 million – $2.49 million $2.50 million – $3.49 million $3.50 million – $5.49 million $5.50 million and above

53.2

15

7.2 7.2 2.6 9.2 5.2 0.3

3.2 Estimated Revenue of MSMEs (and overall MSME sector) In 2016, it was estimated that the MSME sector (private, non-agricultural sector) accounted for 47.5 per cent of the $7.3-billion-dollar economic contribution of total formal business sector, which was approximately BDS$ 3.47 billion. distribution, 17.3 per cent of firms reported revenues of BDS $1.25 million or more, including a small group of high-performing enterprises earning above BDS $3.5 million annually. For the current 2025 study, a similar estimation approach to determine total revenue generation for the sector was used; however, the agricultural sector was included due to having some representation in the sample dataset. Overall, medium-sized enterprises are the single largest contributors to MSME revenue (BDS 1.86 billion), accounting for approximately 37 per cent of total estimated turnover, closely followed by micro enterprises at 36 per cent (BDS 1.81 billion). Small enterprises contribute just under 27 per cent (BDS 1.35 billion) – indicating an overall estimated total of 5.03 billion for all firms combined in the formal economy. If the agricultural sector was removed from the dataset to permit direct comparisons with the 2016 estimates, MSMEs (in the private, non-agricultural sector) would be estimated to generate approximately BDS 4.9 billion in annual revenue (compared to the 3.47 billion in the 2016 report).

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Small Business Association of Barbados