Free Town is home to hundreds of small, medium, and large businesses. Yet, despite these business owners paying millions of dollars in taxes each year, critical infrastructure remains neglected, basic services are inconsistent, and the process of simply running a business has become unnecessarily difficult and expensive.
I know this reality personally.
As an entrepreneur, I have co-founded and led several Bahamian companies across tourism, agriculture, hospitality, and technology. I have had the privilege of helping to create jobs, attract investment, and introduce new industries to our country, but none of it came easily.
Early in my journey, I was denied a business license multiple times. Instead of giving up, I took the Government of The Bahamas to the Supreme Court and fought for my right to operate. I won that case, but more importantly, I learned firsthand how discouraging and exhausting the process can be for ordinary Bahamians who are simply trying to build something of their own. That experience shaped my commitment to fight for a fair and accessible system for every entrepreneur in Free Town and across this country.
This year’s Department of Inland Revenue business license renewal exercise has once again left hundreds of Free Town business owners frustrated. Many are navigating unclear requirements, burdensome prepayments, and audit mandates that do not reflect the scale or complexity of their operations. These policies squeeze cash flow and create uncertainty at a time when businesses are already facing rising costs. The problem in Free Town is not a lack of talent or ambition. It is a system that makes success harder than it needs to be.
Under a Free National Movement government led by Michael Pintard, we are committed to meaningful reform that will reduce the cost and complexity of doing business in The Bahamas. We will modernize agencies such as Inland Revenue by establishing clear customer service standards and real accountability, ensuring that business owners are treated with respect and fairness. We will eliminate the practice that forces businesses to estimate and prepay the following year’s license fees and replace blanket audit requirements with proportionate reviews based on risk and size.
We will examine and improve the VAT payment timeline so that businesses can better manage their cash flow. We will activate a true one-stop shop for major Bahamian investments, finally delivering on the long- promised Invest Bahamas initiative, and we will adopt a transparent, rules-based investment approval process with clear criteria and minimal political interference. The approval process will be fully digitized, reducing delays and allowing applicants to track progress in real time.
In addition, we will commit no less than $10 million annually in grants to small and micro businesses, with targeted support for young entrepreneurs, Family Islanders, and communities that have historically struggled to access capital.
Free Town deserves representation from someone who understands the pressures business owners face because he has experienced them. I am running to ensure that the next generation of entrepreneurs does not have to fight the same battles simply to open their doors.
I am proud to stand with a team of Free National Movement candidates who are serious about reform and focused on delivering practical solutions for the Bahamian people. Our approach is straightforward. Government must respect the people it serves, and it must create conditions where Bahamians can succeed on their own merit.
That is what it means to say we work for you. It means that policies are designed with small business owners in mind, that agencies are accountable to taxpayers, and that opportunity is not reserved for a connected few, but open to every Bahamian willing to work for it.