Rihanna: The Jewel of Barbados

BARBADOS, one of many sovereign island-states in the Caribbean, is one of the region's most populous and prosperous. In their earlier history, much of their wealth was derived from the export of sugar. This began to change around the '70s when the main source of their revenue was diversified, mainly toward the manufacturing and tourism sectors. The following years witnessed Barbados development as an offshore financial centre (OFC). Their clients ranges from oil and gas companies as well as financial services companies. This helps establish Barbados' reputation as a business-friendly state in the eyes of major MNC and businessmen.

Nevertheless, the growing diversification of Barbados' economy has not relegated tourism sector as irrelevant. In fact, it remains one of the most significant pillar of Barbados' economy. It currently employs about 1/10 of Barbados' working force.

SPEAKING of Barbados' tourism, it is arguably impossible to dismiss the significance of Rihanna. Rihanna is a Barbados-born pop star who had her debut in 2005 – her stardom itself had been expected ever since her first single made it into top two in Billboards 100 Single Chart. Most importantly, she keeps promoting her homeland and make it famous by pointing Barbados on the map and proudly proclaimed, “this is my hometown, this is my homeland” – in part, to respond to people who thought she comes from the United States.

Being one of the best-selling singers with more than 30 million albums and 100 million singles sold does not make her forget her homeland — for sure, she is very proud with her homeland. And because of that, she had been appointed by Barbados Tourism Authority as Barbados’ Tourism Ambassador for the 2011-2014 period. In promoting Barbados, she is working closely with Barbados Tourism Authority through advertisement campaign, concert, and also social media.

Besides the aforementioned direct contribution, she also contributes indirectly for her state. Call it Bajan (or Barbadian dream). Her success in the international entertainment encourages artists or other Barbadian singers to keep working hard like Rihanna with the hope that one day they might be able to succeed internationally, just like her. Her success could make Barbadian artists more confident about their ability to go out there, in the international level. In short, she is both a role model for fellow Bajans and she also succeeded in gaining world's respect for Bajans potential and ability.

According to Barbados' Ambassador for the European Union, Errol Humphrey, Rihanna has successfully shown the world that the Barbadian artist is a hard worker who wants the best result of their work. As a leader who helped negotiating the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) which was signed by the European Union, CARICOM, and the Dominican Republic; he also said that Rihanna has a crucial economic effect for Barbados since the EPA states that artists in a region can showcase their talents in all parts of Europe and that it will be a source of revenue for themselves and their respective states.

Accordingly, Maxine McClean and Irene Sandiford-Garner — both lead a faction of Senators in Barbados' Upper House of Parliament – granted some areas in Barbados’ elite area, Apes Hill, to Rihanna as a token of appreciation for her services in promoting Barbados. They said that it is much cheaper to spend $100,000 for the land compared with the cost of 30-second ads on television in the United States (which amounted to $700,000) for promoting Barbados. Put it simply, Rihanna deserves it according to them. It seems that the state owes Rihanna a lot. Senator Orlando Marville is going even further by saying that Rihanna is the most valuable 'export' asset for Barbados – position that traditionally held by sugar.

SHE certainly elevated Barbados’ image as a beautiful tropical Caribbean state that must be visited for a sweet escape. Here, we can see that a well articulated nationalism of a public figure can deliver a major impact for the economy of her home state – an economic impact that, arguably, able to displace that state's longstanding main export commodity, sugar industry.  Written by: Naura Nabila. The writer is a Staf of Indonesia Berbicara's Study Center (Pusat Kajian).