Over the past few months, the Data Protection Commissioner has made her presence felt across a series of public forums, each reinforcing the same message: Barbados can no longer afford to treat data privacy as an afterthought. Most readers understand why responsible data practices matter. The real question quietly gathering momentum is whether the Data Protection Act will ever be enforced with the consistency and confidence the country has been waiting for. Without that, compliance becomes little more than corporate wishful thinking.
In one of her recent addresses, the commissioner used a vivid analogy: compliance is like watching a bus approach from a distance. At first, you may not feel the urgency, but as it draws closer, the signs become impossible to ignore. Her message was clear: organisations should not be surprised, or caught unprepared, when that bus finally pulls up to their doorstep. And I would add this: the country is now approaching the point where her office will need to make an example of someone who fails to comply. That is how enforcement regimes everywhere establish credibility.
Her increasing visibility suggests that the compliance enforcement bus is no longer far off. It signals a period of preparation, capacity building, and the early stages of institutional readiness for action. For organisations across every sector, hospitality groups handling guest data, financial institutions managing sensitive transactions, healthcare providers protecting patient records, educational institutions safeguarding student information, and retailers building customer profiles, a shift from preparation to enforcement carries immediate operational implications.
The timing makes the upcoming Data Privacy and Protection Workshop on November 27 and 28 particularly significant. This is not just another session explaining why data privacy matters. This time, the focus shifts to how organisations can actually mitigate their risks. It marks a move from theory to practice, arriving precisely when the Commissioner’s office appears ready to transition from education to enforcement.
Hosted by the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, the workshop is the first of its kind in Barbados and open for registration at this time of my writing, via the official portal (https://dataprivacyroundtables.rsvpify.com/). Participants will not only hear from the commissioner herself; they will also engage with practitioners who confront these issues in the field. The programme promises interactive sessions, case-based discussions and peer learning, designed to help institutions understand what practical compliance looks like and what steps must be taken now before enforcement reaches their doorstep.
Whether you are a data controller, a processor, or a business leader who may not yet understand what those terms mean, this event offers a rare chance to benchmark your readiness, ask the right operational questions, and connect with experts. If you have not yet registered, the link is already live to secure your place early.
As one of the speakers, let me take you inside the lineup and the core themes that will shape the two-day event. The workshop opens with the Data Protection Commissioner delivering a deep dive into Data Protection and the Law, setting the legislative foundation for everything that follows. I will present immediately after, outlining Data Governance as the essential gateway to any meaningful privacy programme.
From there, participants will hear from other notable practitioners bringing both regional expertise and practical implementation experience. Edward Millington, a well-known regional cybersecurity expert and Commonwealth Caribbean Cyber Fellow, will unpack the real-world role of cybersecurity in safeguarding personal data. Allison James, Director of IT Risk, Governance and Strategy at Grant Thornton East Caribbean, will focus on the critical importance of risk assessment for organisations of every size. Bartlett Morgan, CIPP/E, a Caribbean-based attorney-at-law and consultant, will examine the practical challenges of data subject rights management, and how organisations should handle requests from individuals exercising their legal rights.
Across the two days, the workshop will tackle a range of practical topics, including:
Navigating the Barbados data privacy regime
Building blocks of an effective privacy programme
Risk assessment and data mapping
Privacy failures and lessons from a real-world case study
Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs)
Data subject rights and handling requests
The second half of the workshop concludes with a breakout session built around a practical breach simulation. Participants will step into the roles they would occupy during a real incident, and work through how their organisation should respond. It is a hands-on exercise designed to expose gaps, sharpen decision-making, and give attendees a realistic sense of what an actual breach requires in those first critical moments.
According to datareportal.com, Barbados closed 2024 with 338 000 mobile connections, equal to 120 per cent of the national population. Internet penetration reached 80 per cent, representing more than 226 000 people online, and 68 per cent of Barbadians maintained at least one active social-media identity. In a society this connected, personal data is not sitting quietly in filing cabinets; it is moving through phones, apps, cloud services and social platforms every hour of the day. The digital footprint of the average Barbadian is larger, faster and more commercially valuable than most people realise. And with that level of exposure, even a single weak point in an organisation’s privacy posture can trigger national repercussions in seconds.
This is why robust data-privacy practices are no longer optional for businesses, government agencies, or institutions. They have become a fundamental part of national resilience. Cyberattacks, mis-directed emails, poor access controls, weak data-handling rules, and outdated internal processes are no longer abstract possibilities. They are everyday realities. When something goes wrong, the impact is not limited to the organisation itself; it affects customers, employees, students, patients and sometimes the wider public.
The workshop offers practical guidance, real-world case studies, and hands-on exercises that show organisations what compliance truly looks like. For many attendees, this may be the first time they see the full scope of their responsibilities and the first time they understand how close the “bus” of enforcement really is. For any organisation serious about protecting the people it serves, this is not just an event. It is an opportunity to step into the future fully prepared.
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