Barbados Expects Animation Industry to Make $5m in 2014

Barbados is expecting its adolescent animation industry to earn $5 million USD in export revenue this year, with several foreign animation firms seeking to set up delivery centers in the island nation.

Twenty four people have been trained in animation so far in the country, Industry Minister Donville Inniss said, according to the Jamaica Gleaner.

Barbados, which counts animation as a sub-sector of its lucrative media and entertainment industry, is rolling out the red carpet to welcome foreign animation firms. The minister said his government had persuaded a few firms to set up shop in the island nation, but he fell short of disclosing the names of the companies.

“It is a low-hanging fruit which we have talked too much about and not done enough for. I am afraid that this fruit will soon drop off the tree and be of no use to anyone here. The world would have passed us by,” Inniss said.

Grooming a lucrative animation industry is, however, too big a dream for a nation with just 250,000 inhabitants. Moreover, the telecom industry in Barbados is still in its infancy and telcos are yet to be regulated. Inniss has promised that the government will soon set up a telecom regulator, reduce businesses’ broadband costs and promote ICT-based industry to generate employment opportunities.