By Kimberly Ramkhalawan
kramkhalawan@caribmagplus.com
April 30, 2021
One year after the COVID-19 Pandemic brought the world to a halt, along with Caribbean tourism and trade, a publication aimed at reorientating the region’s business ethos moving forward has been unveiled.
The book which is broken up into ten chapters within 124-pages, looks at how Caribbean businesses are needed to reinvent themselves in areas such as state business, business continuity, optimizing assets, communications, business models, Information and Computer Technologies, and emerging industries in the region, while its said the private and public stakeholders had an input in the collective of solutions put forward.
In his opening remarks, author of the publication and Assistant Secretary-General, Trade and Economic Integration at the CARICOM Secretariat., Joseph Cox, says while nations struggle with vaccine nationalism and vaccine paralysis, the region did not have the luxury to wait until there is full access to vaccines to continue with business operations.
Instead he says, businesses in the region must learn how to navigate market disruptions in the post COVID era as “they enter a prolonged period of economic pressure while taking cognizance of the fact that their actions in the months to follow will set their performance trajectory for the years ahead.”
Citing that the process of transformation as something inevitable, he adds that so far it has resulted in digital engagements, forcing the business architecture to become ICT driven, where it’s no longer viewed as a support service, but a key driver in operating in the post COVID era.
Cox described businesses that survive this era into the New Normal as ones that possess bold vision, a willingness to innovate, practice discipline and adapt with agility, something he says requires optimization of the labour force, upscaling and rescaling, which are all integral accelerators to the future of growth, and if anything, businesses need to quickly grasp the shift in customer behaviours.
He however warned that businesses looking to revert to models pre-pandemic will no longer be the norm. as emphasis should be placed on the value added for both customers and potential customers.
Endorsing the book, Sandra Husbands, Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados, says the book offers the “new generation of entrepreneurs the chance to command a better market share within their own backyards”. She added that the publication reinforces the capacity for adaptation in current business models, with adaption mattering the most and not how strong or weak nations were in the past. Husbands took the opportunity to also urge the region to cease the gap created by the pandemic by seizing opportunities to reposition itself in food and health security, close the gap in production shortages and take it as ample chance to reintroduce local goods and services before the region is overwhelmed by inflation of goods which leads to poverty.
But it was Dr. Patrick Antoine, Principal Consultant and Interim Head at CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO) who reminded those present for the launch of the current natural disaster happenings in the St. Vincent and Grenadines, even as the world continued to grapple with the pandemic, of how much Caribbean states remain vulnerable, and the need for collective financing support for smaller states. Adding that the pandemic has impacted the growth of private sector within the region in the coming years, the sector remains mindful of its role at the “forefront of the region’s aspirations to reduce poverty, addressing NCDs and other challenges faced by the people, stimulating investment and economic growth, and providing employment”.
Instead, he noted that the CPSO were intent on doing so through intensified regional trade and integration into regional and global valued added chains and networks.
Keynote speaker, and Former Jamaican Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, underscored while no other crisis the Caribbean faced posed as much challenges as the COVID-19 Pandemic, he said “we in the Caribbean are afflicted with a lethargy and unresponsiveness towards the changing dynamics of the world in which we live and on which we must depend for our prosperity”.
He says the issues highlighted in the book and the prescriptions Cox has provided would have been relevant and appropriate even it was published two years ago, prior to the pandemic.
While we can identify “sparks of life” in every country in the region, he said this has become a predominant feature of Caribbean Economies, as a great deal of time was spent lamenting the “economic injustice globalization brought to countries like ours”. He however stated while that there was no denying that as a fact, the region had not admitted its failure to make sufficient effort to take advantage of the opportunities that exist and recognize it could no longer afford to continue “standing on the shoulders of any imperial or superpower, but firm up our leg muscles and stand on our own feet”. His offering to the situation, the former Jamaican PM said it was time the region utilized its cohort of capable young minds and look to empower them to unleash the intellect they possess in driving economic development through the pandemic, recovery and beyond to get us to a place of sustained development and the creation of sheer wealth.
The publication is said to be the starting point for a series of webinars to be held in each member state over the next six to nine months. Persons interested in accessing the document, can do so via CARICOM’s website.