St. Lucia Simply Beautiful

I continued to interrogate with the twin question: “Do you agree that the ideal role of the media in any given society is to inform the general public on events and issues that affect them? If journalists are reporters who report the news, is it the editors who are to go beyond being placidly reactive (reporting the news) and adopt the role of being aggressively proactive (offering opinion to the general public on events and issues that affect them)?”

My new proposal, therefore, to stir the Caribbean governments into action, is for each and every one of us to pray that in each Caribbean country a leader(s) would emerge to introduce the public private partnership framework or revamp it along the lines suggested by the late Barbados Prime Minister, above.

“I have no doubt whatsoever about the great future that (Trinidad and Tobago) is going to have. I see in my vision a united Caribbean region and I see (Trinidad and Tobago) as the helm at the top leading the Caribbean region. It is a dream I have held since as a boy and it is a dream coming true.” – The late A.N.R. Robinson, former President and Prime Minister, Trinidad and Tobago (Trinidad and Tobago Newsday)

Last week it was reported in the press that the President of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Lalu Vaswani, said that the true state of the Barbados economy is not a rosy picture. He lamented Government’s lack of forthrightness on the economy and policies that could lead to lack of confidence as well as anxiety over the future of the exchange rate of the Barbados dollar. As a result he appealed to the Government, the trade union movement and other stakeholders to come together now to rescue the island.

Here are 12 instruments which may constitute a solution to the problem either individually or in combination: (1) corporate social responsibility grants; (2) sponsorship in return for publicity (3) crowd funding; (4) asset-based lending; (5) factoring of receivables; (6) retail bond markets; (7) public equity markets (local or foreign); (8) angel investors; (9) traditional venture capitalists; (10) benevolent seed/equity capitalist entities which allow the enterprise to buy-back the investors shares and regain ownership as close to 100% as is desired; (11) demand loans from friends and family who believe in the entrepreneurs and/or the enterprise; and (12) profits from “cash cow” subsidiaries of the primary enterprise activity. There may be other instruments.

I grew up in the management consulting profession with the business planning culture that “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail” (Winston Churchill) and “If you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there” (Lewis Caroll, Alice in Wonderland). I have had my experiences preparing many business plans in the Caribbean over the years – thick documents which comprised a marketing plan, an operational plan and a financial investment plan (financial forecasts and all). After all that trouble, I would tell my clients that the only thing that is predictable about the business plan is that the forecast would not be right because it was based on a number of assumptions over which we have no control. This then led to the question “why prepare these massive business plans in the first place?” The answer, of course, is that it was part of the culture. It was what was taught in the formal business courses.

I am so passionate about this that I am now promoting the concept that “Nothing Beats Business Success”. We must remember that there is a formula for successful enterprise development which consists of three components. The identification and selection of “DNA of an Elephant” ideas out of which evolve innovative products and services – observation and experience has shown that there is no shortage of these ideas in the Caribbean. The Caribbean Institute for Certified Management Consultants is mobilising the shepherding (life coaching and business mentoring) resources needed to provide the necessary business management support. The third component, the quick response composite seed/equity capital fund(s), which is needed for timely investment in enterprise development, is sadly lacking.

My mission was to set up, as a pioneer in the Caribbean, my own management consultancy practice SINCOS Consultants Limited in Barbados, but serving the Caribbean. SINCOS is an acronym for Statistical, Information and Computing Systems and was later to become Systems Caribbean Limited (SCL). Why did I make this change? Because I wanted out of the sheltered environment and closer to the real world.

Another observation is that access to quick response investment capital is the biggest single constraint to enterprise development, even though Trinidad and Tobago is blessed with one of the strongest financial sectors in the Caribbean.

There is need for a single national quick response seed/equity fund which can be painlessly, prolifically and profitably funded by the private sector, with incentives from government, to the benefit of all.

The Caribbean has the potential to be a unique attractive region of the world not only for its residents but also as a tourist destination and an investment haven for diverse legal business activities. Yet, there is growing evidence that there is a challenge in realising this full potential. Only this last week it was brought to my attention that the Trinidad Express Newspapers published an article on June 18, 2013 by Dr. Rolph Balgobin, an Independent Senator in the Trinidadian Parliament, entitled “The Gathering Storm”. The article concluded that “there is something dangerous rising in our midst that demands our attention. If we do not act now to address the threat, it will soon confront us”.