'Substance' is a characteristic that has become
consistently linked to the Barbados international business brand.
It is a well-known attribute of a mature economic sector capable of
providing downstream and upstream benefits, particularly in small
state economies.
'Substance' is manifested in several ways, but
principally in employment opportunities, quality of work life,
salary scale and, oftentimes, the ability to move from one
geographical location to another because the entity of
'substance' has offices or operations across the globe.
'Substance', as an index of a mature, reputable and
responsible international business and financial services centre,
is one that successive governments of Barbados have insisted on
because of the propensity of capital flight, which is often
endemic, especially with small open economies. Substantive
activities are highly prized by governments because they present
tangible expressions of why a particular path of economic
