Determined to move beyond talk and into tangible action, executive director of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), Misha Lobban-Clarke, has outlined a series of initiatives aimed at accelerating the empowerment of women in business.
Speaking at the BCCI’s 2025 Power Summit – now in its fourth year – held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Monday, Lobban-Clarke said they were committed to building real-world opportunities for women entrepreneurs and professionals to lead and thrive in a rapidly evolving business environment.
“Our ultimate goal is not simply to host conferences or share inspiring statistics. It is to galvanise action and contribute to generational change,” she declared.
Among the key measures are the launch of an internship programme in collaboration with the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus, which will provide female students with practical exposure to business operations to boost workplace readiness and leadership potential.
She also announced a one-year capacity-building project to strengthen the disaster resilience of small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly those led by women. Partnering with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the project will be implemented in Barbados, Barcelona and Sendai, focusing on business continuity planning and crisis preparedness.
Lobban-Clarke also highlighted the BCCI’s alliance with the International Women’s Forum Barbados Chapter on the Suited For Success initiative, which supports young women entering the workforce by providing professional clothing to help them make a strong first impression. More than over 160 clothing items have already been donated through the initiative.
“We don’t only talk about
empowerment. We invest in tools, mentorship and networks that make empowerment possible,” she said.
Lobban-Clarke noted the remarkable gains Caribbean women have made in education, pointing to data showing they outpace men at the tertiary level. At UWI, women account for roughly two-thirds of both students and graduates, and more than 65 per cent of graduates from leading institutions in Barbados are female.
Yet, she cautioned that barriers persist – social, economic and cultural – which continue to impede women’s progress, and called on all sectors of society to support the 2025 International Women’s Day theme, Accelerate Action.
“Women in the Caribbean have long practised what Harvard’s Professor Linda Hill describes as servant leadership – leading from behind while lifting others,” she said. “But to truly advance, we need systemic, strategic and collective action.”
She urged women to build “bridges of cooperation and ladders of success” for one another and thanked male allies in the audience for standing as partners in the cause.
Lobban-Clarke reaffirmed the Chamber’s commitment to ensuring that women not only succeed as individuals but also help drive a wider transformation in Barbados and the region.
(CLM)
