Freeport needs global entrepreneurs more than it needs concessions. All this talk about the need or non-need to extend concessions under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement is nauseating. For political reasons the government will extend these concessions (real property tax exemptions and business license fee exemptions) eventually.

The Bethel committee wasn't needed to make this happen. When the concessions are extended Freeport and Grand Bahama will see no real positive consequences as a result. If the government does not extend the concessions Freeport and Grand Bahama will experience more hurt feelings than real economic fall-out from the same.

Grand Bahama needs global entrepreneurs with real business savvy. These investors will be driven by strong profit opportunities because their value propositions globally are terrific. They will not be looking at Freeport because we have a government of giveaways.

Concessions are not the way of the future for a modern Bahamas. They had their time. They served their purpose.

There are international entrepreneurs in Cuba, South America, Latin America, China, Sub-Saharan Africa and the like. They are there not merely because the governments offer concessions but because the profit opportunities are significant.

Some of these territories have great political and financial risk but the potential returns are so high that investors deem the risks acceptable. This is what Grand Bahama needs: global investors who have a good business case who feel that Grand Bahama is the place to be. They would not be peddlers looking for giveaways.

We will not attract these investors sitting on our rump debating over whether to extend modest concessions over another few years. We need to be serious about economic development. If we are serious we would have a 24/7 investment promotion machinery with a strategic thrust being executed by highly capable people. We have never had this in The Bahamas. Let me say it again: We have never had this before.

Under the first Ingraham administration there was a good effort in that global climate to rebrand The Bahamas and dedicate resources to promotion. It yielded results, bringing the likes of Kerzner to the table. But even that first effort pales in comparison to what we need now. We have to build our investment climate from the ground up. We have to improve our product, people and processes to appeal more strongly to investors.

We have to be about this business daily. We have to be serious, focussed and committed. We can pump $9 million to $12 million into Junkanoo carnival if we want but how about as much as $30 million annually into attracting serious global investors. Who should provide this money? The Grand Bahama Port Authority and government jointly should do so. If they do not desire to do this then you know why we are screwed.

It is hard to do business in The Bahamas and from The Bahamas. It is costly. It is slow.

Labor is expensive and relatively unproductive. There is too much political interference and too much dishonesty on all fronts. There is too much collusion among private players; too many local businesspeople and professionals focussing on fleecing their clients rather than offering a world-class product. There is too much rigidity in labor markets. Service is poor and foreign pushback is too strong. In Freeport, the Grand Bahama Port Authority seems like a shadow of its former self, a playground for the unserious.

We have become a nation of hustlers. In public and private sectors it's "every man for himself". Just ask yourself: If you had a billion dollars and wanted to make a lot of money investing it in Freeport what would you do? How would you feel about investing your money knowing what you now know about your country? Then imagine that you know what you know but you are a foreigner. Would you be eager or hesitant about investing? I don't know what your answer would be but I can tell you the feedback that I am getting from local and foreign businesspeople is not good.

Many who are in it now are hanging on because they feel that they have invested too much and stand to lose too much if they get out now. They say, though, that life in business is really hard and making money is really limited. Those who look in to consider investing are turned off after just a short due diligence, they say.

Some who were in hate The Bahamas' business climate with a passion. It does not help that Baha Mar stands out there like an albatross, a non-starter before it even got started. Argue all we want over these concession extensions that - contrary to popular belief - will increase cost for many more Bahamians than foreigners; 80 percent of port licensees are now Bahamians.

The real fight is for a Bahamas attractive to global investors with real entrepreneurial capabilities and for an investment promotion regime that is capable of landing them on Grand Bahama and keeping them here. Of course there are other things to put in the pot but the path to an economic turnaround that is short term and able to aid the entire country's financial wellbeing is paved with good serious international investors. I hope we eventually get it.

o Zhivargo Laing is a Bahamian economic consultant and former Cabinet minister who represented the Marco City constituency in the House of Assembly.

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