The State of Small Business in Barbados

National Survey of the Small Business Sector (Barbados)

Figure 3.1: Export Participation Rates – 2025 vs 2016 Datasets

2016

2025

10%

8.6%

8%

6.1%

6%

4%

2%

Export Participation (%)

0%

3.7 Export Intensity among Exporting Firms

Among businesses that do export (n = 31; 8.6%), export revenue typically represents a small share of total sales. Most exporters derive less than 10% of their revenue from exports, confirming that exporting activity is generally supplementary rather than central to business operations.

Export Share of Revenue % of Exporting Firms

Less than 10%

54.8 32.3 12.9

10% – 25% 26% – 50%

More than 50%

0

Table 3.7: Share of Revenue from Exports (Exporters Only)

Table 3.8 (below) presents estimates of MSME export activity by firm size and broad sector, combining information on export participation, the average share of sales derived from exports among exporting firms, and total estimated revenue. Together, these measures provide an integrated view of both the extent and depth of exporting within the MSME sector and allow for the derivation of indicative export values. Overall, industrial MSMEs are more likely to export, but service-sector MSMEs earn more from exports overall. Despite this stronger export participation, industrial MSMEs generate about BDS $34 million (estimated on an annual basis) in export revenue, while service MSMEs generate a larger export revenue of BDS $51.5 million (estimated on an annual basis). Overall, about 2 per cent (or about 1.7 to 1.8 per cent) of total MSME revenue comes from total exports (approx. BDS $85.5 million) on average (based on sample estimates). In the prior 2016 study, the analysis focused on national export outcomes. In that report, MSMEs were estimated to account for 38.8% of total national exports, with export earnings concentrated among small and medium-sized service firms and large industrial enterprises. Small service MSMEs alone contributed 12.6% of all exports, while micro enterprises played only a minor role (about 1.1%).

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Small Business Association of Barbados