Sixty years before our independence in 1966, there were several black-owned businesses established in Barbados, many of which operated in Roebuck Street in Bridgetown [1]. However, once the owners died, the businesses normally closed shortly thereafter. This difficult conversation describes this black man’s curse.
Black-owned business owners tended to use their profits to educate their children. But their educated children did not then work in their parents’ business to make it more profitable. Instead, they worked to improve the profits of other companies, thus denying benefits to the businesses that supported them by diverting their talents elsewhere.
Generational Wealth
Generational wealth may be sustained by: (i) parents starting and growing a business, (ii) their children working in the business and eventually managing it, and (iii) their grandchildren working in the business and eventually managing it.
The type of business the parents start is not important. What is important is that every generation understands the plan. Parents who have been employed for 10 years should have developed the discipline to start a side business that their children can work in. Parents who offer professional services should encourage their children to pursue the profession of at least one parent.
No Regrets
It should be clarified that there is no right or wrong career path. Our children are free to choose their own path of study and work for any business they choose –or they may start their own business. The point is that this path may not sustain generational wealth.
I have no regrets about choosing the way of engineering. However, I sometimes wonder what would have happened had my father encouraged me to pursue a career in financial services before I attended university. It is likely that someone else would be doing the work that I now do, and I would have joined him in his business.
The Family Business
There are many benefits of children following the career choices of their parents. A parent may spend over a decade building a good reputation with many satisfied clients. Children who work in the family business get to stand on the shoulders of their parents who have already done most of the heavy lifting. These children then get to grow the family business.
Other ethnic groups seem to have no problem working in their family businesses. But the black man seems to prefer starting on his own, at the bottom, with no clients, far behind their peers in other ethnic groups who joined their family businesses.
Our black students frequently complain that employers want employees with work experience. Had their parents started a family business, they could have gotten this experience.
Breaking the Curse
How do we as a people break this curse? I have no idea. I did not follow my father’s career and my son did not follow mine – despite my best efforts. However, I will give some thoughts for consideration.
The parent’s career may not appeal to the child. The child may be musically inclined and have no interest in studying, say, accounting. However, the child should understand that pursuing accounting is to pay the bills and fund the development of any talent the child may wish to pursue. When the hobby can also pay the bills, then they may switch careers.
I believe that every black child can: (i) graduate from school, (ii) start at the bottom and enjoy a very successful career in any field, and (iii) build a house, raise a family and educate their children. That is a blessing, not a curse. The curse is that the black man is content to do only that, so that when he dies, his business normally dies with him.
[1] Carter, H. (2016). Resisting Hegemony: Black Entrepreneurship in Colonial Barbados, 1900-1966. Business and Economic History, Vol.14.
Grenville Phillips II is a Doctor of Engineering and a Chartered Structural Engineer. He can be reached at NextParty246@gmail.com.
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