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THE PRESIDENT’S CORNER

PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS

at the

27TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Delivered by

Patricia Ghany, AMCHAM T&T President
(Wednesday, June 10th, 2020)


BUSINESS IN THE NEW NORMAL

On behalf of the newly elected Board of Directors for 2020, I would like to welcome you to “Business in the New Normal”.

Let me first thank the members and Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago (AMCHAM T&T) - for the confidence and faith placed in re-electing me as your President for another term. 

In preparing for this speech, I revisited some of my previous speeches at AMCHAM T&T events. It’s tempting to say that the coronavirus has propelled us into a world of radical uncertainty where “none of the old rules make sense.” We would all, I’m sure like to take comfort in believing that macroeconomic forecasts at the start of 2020 are now out the window given the impact of a  black swan event that has  altered the trajectory of governments, economies and businesses.

But if we do so, we would be fooling ourselves. The old, fundamental rules do apply and COVID-19 was not a black swan event.

But, hey, don’t take it from me, here is what the Managing Director at McKinsey wrote 12 years ago at the end of the Financial Crisis in 2008, “It is increasingly clear that the current downturn is fundamentally different from recessions of recent decades. We are experiencing not merely another turn of the business cycle, but a restructuring of the economic order. The question is, “What will normal look like?” While no one can say how long the crisis will last, what we find on the other side will not look like the normal of recent years.

Bill Gates, numerous scientists, and even former U.S. President Barack Obama have been talking about the need to prepare for a pandemic for decades.

THE RULE OF LAW

So, what do I mean about fundamental rules? Well, one of AMCHAM T&T’s core principles is the promotion of the rule of law. Fairness and access to justice are key to developing a conducive business environment but so too are they to building a resilient and cohesive society. In the old normal or the new normal, strong adherence to the rule of law is key.

And so too are the development and articulation of a vision for both the society we want to create and role we want our companies to play in it. Our success as a country cannot be measured simply by GDP growth. Neither can our businesses’ success be measured only by profit. From what I have seen in my more than two decades as part of AMCHAM T&T and in my own business, for the most part, the business community has always taken an interest and supported both fence-line communities and the national community. Now, we may need to do a little more and, quite frankly, communicate what we do a little better. This is beyond CSR. It’s about building resilient communities and contributing to the overall sustainability of the country and, hopefully, the region.

In terms of vision, at our Economic Outlook event in January 2020, which now seems like a lifetime ago, I shared with you what we at AMCHAM T&T envisioned as a better future for our country. “We see a country that will be safe for all our young people to live, work and grow.  We see visionary leaders and good governance.  We see a flourishing business community where investors and entrepreneurs work together to create a booming economy that works for all our citizens. We see high levels of social mobility and equality.”

And that last point is where I want to tie it all together. As a country, we need to do a better job of fixing the systems that inhibit social mobility and perpetuate inequality. We cannot fool ourselves by talking about outliers who emerge successfully from structural inequity and try to hold them up as examples that can be easily replicated. As citizens, we should have a vested interest in making our society better. And as businesses, we should see that if the rule of law is assured for those who are often most invisible and on the “margins of society” it will be assured for business too, making the entire economy more efficient and attractive.

NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INNOVATION

So, more specifically, during the past three months we have seen a wave of innovation unleashed by companies, government, non-profits, and individuals as we quickly tackled COVID-19 challenges.

For example, Angostura began producing hand sanitizer for our healthcare, CSP is producing fire-resistant face masks, engineers at UWI are developing ventilators. Supermarkets, food delivery services and logistics have come up with ways to ensure a safer experience for their customers and employees. None of these tasks have been easy, but individuals and organizations have demonstrated the motivation and behaviour mind shifts needed to research, innovate, and act quickly.

How do we continue to fuel and foster and reward this innovation going forward? How do we enhance our innovative capacity to take advantage of global supply chain re-alignment? This will require a paradigm shift, promoting an environment that stimulates creativity, creating the right regulatory environment to incentivize investment so that we can expand our markets regionally and internationally.

ACCELERATION OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

It will require an acceleration of our country’s digital transformation. So, let’s imagine, a digitally-enabled Trinidad & Tobago.

Over the past two months, we have seen signs of a shift in how consumers and businesses behave. Some of these changes are direct, short-term responses to the crises and will revert to regular levels once COVID-19 is contained. However, some of these shifts with remote learning, entertainment, and consumption will continue, creating a long-term digital disruption that will generate valuable business opportunities. The COVID-19 situation has ripped the band-aid off the need across the public and private sector to enable teleworking and remote learning across most households. To support this new normal, gaps need to be closed in ICT availability, affordability and adoption for a large cross-section in society, through public and private sector policies and initiatives.

Now, more than ever, there is a need to promote and accelerate the use of alternate, technology-based channels for the delivery of Government services and enabling integrated government, with a view to improving cost efficiencies and service quality. We congratulate the GOTT on accelerating the offerings of e-payments for statutory tax payments such as Corporation tax, Green Fund.

We look forward to the implementation of a unique National Identification Number system which will allow for the provision of government services in a less disjointed manner and instant verification of information provided by the customer. This is something that we have been speaking about for years and was a key recommendation in my AGM speech last year.

We encourage the GOTT Recommit Trinidad and Tobago to the Open Government Partnership and provide more data available in manipulatable format to allow the private sector to extract economic value from our Data with the appropriate privacy protections supported by data privacy and data transparency laws including the full proclamation of the Data Protection Act.

We also need to urgently address the deficiencies in the education system as it relates to

1)     the appropriate use of IT in the teaching-learning process,

2)     the teaching of teach-related skills specifically and,

3)     at a base level, differentiated approaches to teaching to most effectively facilitate learning across the widest group of students.

ENERGY SECTOR

As the energy sector remains the mainstay of our economy, and will continue to be in the short to medium term, it is imperative that we address issues around the energy value chain. I am not being alarmist when I say that continued inaction and reluctance to make decisions is putting the Pt Lisas Industrial Estate in jeopardy. We need to act and act fast on this but at this point, I prefer not to say more.

We also need to transition to renewable energy, leveraging both our natural assets but also the technology and expertise of the multinationals already operating and invested in T&T.

We need to accelerate initiatives around energy efficiency to reduce local wasted consumption.

And of course, the Government and private sector have to work more closely to further develop the export capacity of the energy services sector, in recognition that if our petroleum resources were ever to be depleted, we could still have a vibrant, foreign exchange-earning energy services sector.

CLIMATE CHANGE & RESILIENT ECONOMIES

My final point is that the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities into business strategy will be more important than ever as we build the “new normal.”

While the impact of COVID-19 has resulted in a worldwide disruption and lockdown, what has also emerged is the positive impact on the environment.

It also poses a unique opportunity to build economies that are more resilient and to engage in sustainable business practices. Protecting the environment is not a luxury, nor is it something we can leave for our children to fix. The cost of COVID-19 can be dwarfed if we do not deal decisively with climate change, which affects the most vulnerable in society. If we do not take action to protect sensitive habitats and species; conserve water, forests and other natural resources; and lobby for more stringent environmental protection enforcement, our ecosystems will collapse.

At AMCHAM T&T, we are cognizant of the role we play in society and believe that we need to tackle this problem head-on.

Last October, AMCHAM T&T signed an MOU with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and is the coordinator of the ARISE network in Trinidad and Tobago. AMCHAM T&T has a solid 23-year track record of providing strong direction and leadership on HSSE compliance for the sustainable future of companies, communities, and our nation. Through the work of our ARISE, we have been actively seeking to build resilience amongst the SMEs in Trinidad and Tobago. We are also cognizant that we have just started an active hurricane season so this year we will be working on disaster preparedness, BCP and early warning systems. AMCHAM T&T is also working with PREPARE TT on assessing the probable impact of an earthquake disaster in the country’s capital and would facilitate advocacy and planning around strengthening seismic disaster risk reduction and preparedness measures.

WORK IN PROGRESS

In these challenging times, the way in which individuals and companies, organizations have leapt into action with a clear sense of priority, urgency, and community gives me hope that there will be light at the end of the tunnel.

AMCHAM T&T's vibrant internal culture has allowed us to leverage the current crisis as a catalyst for change in our organization. We remain confident that our ability to be nimble during this time will allow us to continue to be relevant to our members in the years to come.

In closing, I would like to express my gratitude to our C.E.O. Nirad Tewarie for his vision and leadership during these unprecedented times. Thank you to Secretariat, the staff at AMCHAM T&T, who work so tirelessly to building this organisation and maintaining contact and communication with our members.

To my fellow Board members, Officers of the Board and committee members, please know your hard work, passion, commitment and dedication is greatly valued.

And, to our most loyal and faithful sponsors and members thank you for the generous support and unflinching loyalty you have shown to this organisation over the past twenty-eight years.

Thank you for your time and attention and I sincerely look forward to our journey together over the next year as your President.

Stay safe, connected, and healthy,


Thank You.

Inaugural Address by Mitchell De Silva, President AMCHAM T&T

24TH Annual General Meeting

Thursday 1th May 2017

Salutations

I begin my inaugural speech to you by expressing sincere thanks and appreciation to the Board of Directors of AMCHAM T&T and you, the membership, for having the confidence in me to lead this organization.  That said it would be remiss of me to not also acknowledge the many persons and experiences within different organizations that have led me to this latest adventure.  My parents, wife, family, friends the Fatima Old Boys Association, colleagues across three financial institutions, Citi, Scotia and RBC, all of whom and which afforded me  guidance, encouragement and key learnings.  I owe you all a deep sense of gratitude and it is my hope that my performance in this office will fully reflect all that you have instilled in me.

Overview, objectives

I have been actively involved with AMCHAM T&T for quite a few years, with this being my second and longest stint.  Over the years I have seen the organization steadfastly represent you the membership on many different fronts, whether it be regional, hemispheric or domestic our voice has been raised and our presence  felt.  Testimony to that is evidenced by the fact that our very own former President Nicholas Galt, held the post of Chairman for our regional body, AACCLA, and our immediate Past President Ravi Suryadevara now serves on its Board.  I highlight this, not only out of pride and admiration for these distinguished gentlemen, but to emphasize the point that the lobby voice of this Chamber has a depth and breadth to it that few, if any, can lay claim to.  All of your past Presidents have been persons who excelled in their respective fields, where they served and in most instances continue to serve with distinction.

Priority 1 diversity

This brings me to what I view as one of my priorities as I assume the Presidency, as I look back at previous holders of this office, there appears to be only one instance where a woman was at the helm.  In keeping with one of the key goals of the United Nations on Sustainable Development, the organisation’s philosophy and indeed, my own personal beliefs, it is my hope that when I demit office that the Board and you the membership will see it fit to transition the leadership of this Chamber to one of the eminently qualified women who serve on our Board.  Like the Presidents of the past, the women on our Board are leaders in their respective fields and are as capable and competent as any to assume the Presidency. Forgive this seeming digression as it may seem odd to speak of leaving office when I have just assumed it, but I see this as a priority and a natural fit in the context of the Women in Leadership event that we have successfully hosted for a number of years.  AMCHAM T&T must be a standard bearer and an exemplar in evidencing the diversity we promote and while we have achieved same at a Board level the time has come for us to take the next step.

Priority 2- Continued advocacy

As I have highlighted above, we will continue to remain relevant in conversations that affect you the membership, that said, and as another critical priority for my time in office I intend to continue the heightened engagement with Government and critical stakeholders in our economy that characterized Ravi’s Presidency.  Our views must and will continue to be tethered to logic, sound judgement and reasoned objectivity.  It is only with these values will we remain credible in the eyes of those whom we seek to sway as we work on influencing how as a country we navigate these most turbulent times.

Successive credit downgrades, one firmly entrenched in junk status, rampant violent crime, an untenable Fx situation and a widening of the divide between labour and business together with multiple other threats to our country and wellbeing must be boldly tackled and remedied with urgency.   

AMCHAM T&T’s push, as part of the Private Sector / Civil Society Group’s initiative, for the operationalizing of Procurement legislation and the bringing into effect and staffing of the office of the Procurement Regulator is one of a series of critical steps that we believe assists in treating with some of the issues mentioned above. This legislation, once appropriately brought into force, has the potential to radically change the expenditure patterns of the State and significantly improve accountability and oversight on Public spend.    Achieving this objective should allow for more efficiency and transparency, thereby limiting instances of artificially inflated project costs and questionable disposal of State assets.

Indeed, the passage and implementation of adequate public procurement legislation is critical to reducing a significant portion of white collar crime.   

Our unfortunate reality today is that the surge in crime is evident at all levels, from corruption to widespread violence.  Talk of the death penalty and a need for swift justice and a reboot of our judicial and penal systems are spoken of daily.  The latter points are indeed needed, however seemingly absent from the national conversation is a focus on what brought us to this juncture and what is required to move us back from it.  If we agree the view of Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, in their book Freakonomics, we would have to concede that the solution to our current problems will not happen overnight.  In their analysis of crime riddled New York of the 1970s and 80s and its seeming return to sanity in the 1990s and early 2000s, they do not attribute the resurgence to then Mayor Rudy Giuliani, but rather to a series of policies and steps taken in the years and decades before that culminated in the significant reduction in crime levels and criminality.  Yes, the leadership at the time was in fact a major contributor to the improvements noted, but it was not solely their doing rather a collaborative effort that took years. We need this type of long term vision and planning in our country, the patience to persevere and the will to have seemingly small changes take root.  Let me be clear the need for immediate firm action is necessary, but more arrests and prosecutions will not stem the problem on their own, we need a more holistic approach to an issue that is out of control.

Clearly, the problems that confront us are many and our desire for rapid change and course correction is significant.   Years of seeming indifference, buoyed by unprecedented growth in our energy sector, as we all well know, masked the inefficiencies and shortcomings of our institutions, systems and tragically undermined our productivity as a people.  The entitlement mentality is pervasive across our society, not only at the level of labour, where a day’s pay is exchanged for three hours of work, but even in the very private sector that we hold in such high esteem. Far too often we as a sector cry out to the Government to solve our problems as opposed to creating the solutions on our own. A difficult task yes, impossible, no.  I know this point may be difficult to accept, but in this current crisis the Private Sector must take up the challenge to cede from the Government the position of being the main driver of our economy. Again, this will be incremental, as it is foolhardy to believe that we will become the main driver in the short term.  In the immediate term however, we must engage the Government in adopting and accepting that its main role in the economy is not that of actor, but rather facilitator. As President of AMCHAM T&T, I recommit the organisation to this process and I appeal to the Government to engage meaningfully as it is only through real collaboration that we can return our country to growth.

As I mentioned previously we see Procurement Legislation and its being brought into effect as an apt example of our efforts to get Government to embrace its role as facilitator.  Sadly, we have not achieved complete implementation of the legislation, nor is its roll out occurring as contemplated and advised by the civil society group, nevertheless we continue to press on multiple fronts to have this landmark piece of legislation enacted and operationalized in the best interest of all concerned.

Our efforts will not stop at Procurement as we intend to press the Government to adopt fiscal rules, as many countries have done, Grenada and Jamaica being two regional examples.  We see implementation of codified and legislated fiscal rules as a necessary step to follow from Procurement as the two will work in tandem.  One, broadly speaking, designed to ensure efficiency in expenditure and the other intended to preserve or one might say establish a strong correlation between what we spend and what we earn. Fiscal rules and Procurement are not a panacea for what ails us, but they form the basis for creating a more accountable and responsible form of Governance, not only at the political level but across the entire society. 

Priority 3- Enhanced relationship with labour

In the crisis that we face as country today, the already tense relationship between business and labour is more likely to deteriorate than it is to improve.  That is of course, if we both continue to wed ourselves to our seemingly entrenched positions.  In my view it is time to change how we engage with labour, as Barack Obama noted in his inaugural speech in 2008,

“…if you unclench your fist, we will extend our hand…”  that statement rings true on both sides.  If we are true to ourselves we will see that our fists, on key issues, are just as tightly clenched as we view labour’s on matters of importance to us.  The question that has vexed and plagued many before me, is how do we bridge the divide.   I recognize that  a degree of tension between the forces is necessary and a requisite for a healthy industrial relations climate,  but what I do believe and what I do foresee, is that to continue as is will only lead to a further fracturing of our society.

 Now is not a time for unyielding commitment to ideology but to find new ideology to fit our reality. I am not advocating that we abandon our core principles but that, as we discuss the future, we incorporate these into a shared sense of purpose for the benefit of all. We have no choice but to search for a better way. In this regard, it is my hope that the unions will see it fit to return National Tripartite Advisory Council and that Government Business and Labour come together on some key initiatives to drive our socio-economic recovery.

Closing summation

Assuming office in the year that marks AMCHAM T&T’s 25th anniversary as a Chamber, coming in after so many Presidents who have provided invaluable service to the Chamber and by extension to you the membership; at a juncture where our economy is delicately balanced on a razor’s edge; is daunting to say the least.  All that said and acknowledged I take up this challenge with full confidence in the capacity that has been built in the Chamber over those many years:

  • ·        our CEO and his staff who work tirelessly, with pride and dedication
  • ·        a Board that meets monthly and provides consistent guidance, direction and counsel
  • ·        an executive that is available engaged and committed and
  • ·         obviously you the membership, our reason for being and the inspiration for our efforts

All of these reasons clearly say to me that I am not alone, the support, guidance and counsel that all I have mentioned above will remain and I will rely on them to ensure that I execute on this critical mandate  in keeping with those that have gone before me.

In closing permit me to especially recognize our outgoing President, Ravi Suryadevara, those of you who would have had the privilege of interacting with Ravi I am sure, like me are the better for it.  Ravi, your commitment, passion and dedication to the Chamber and your values as an individual are not only worthy of praise but emulation; on behalf of the membership and the Board I thank you and more importantly, I salute you.

Dignitaries, members, Media, Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you.



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