Jamaican businessmen give Haiti the thumbs up

BY WINSOME TRUDY

Sunday, March 13, 2011

CONTRARY to some views expressed in the media, relations between Haiti and the Caribbean Community have not been fatally wounded by the recent spat over the expulsion of that country's Under-17 football team from the CONCACAF tournament in Montego Bay.

When all is said and done, the Caribbean business community is moving ahead in search of investment opportunities in that country in partnership with Haitian counterparts there, including the Diaspora.

This was the clear interpretation from the ringing endorsements given by several local businessmen of the economic climate in Haiti at a breakfast/seminar at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Tuesday, March 9. The event was hosted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and the recently launched air transport service between Jamaica and Haiti, Jamaica Air Shuttle (JAS), under the theme 'Doing Business in Haiti'. It was attended by a range of representatives from the business community.

One of the presentations delivered by Adrian Tait, executive director of PWC, was especially riveting. Tait painted a picture of Haiti before and after the earthquake in making the point that Haiti is much more than the show of underdevelopment presented in the international media. The country is also not what is at first visible to short-term visitors, he assured. He affirmed that Haiti gives meaning to the adage that one should not judge a book solely, if at all, by its cover.

Tait is currently leading a team that provides technical support to the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC). He told the seminar that nightlife is booming in Haiti with restaurants and clubs frequently crowded, especially with business people and young entrepreneurs. This is a reality that he, like many of us who have visited the country since the earthquake, had somehow missed.

This columnist will be returning to Haiti shortly on a visit and can assure readers that I will be looking at the country with a fresh pair of eyes. I was also delighted to learn from another businessman in the audience that much more of the post-earthquake rubble that littered the streets of Port-au-Prince had been removed or relocated, thereby reducing the ugliness that has partly defined Haiti's appearance.

Taitt's presentation was more than an endorsement of the country's business potential. He underscored a point repeatedly made by the Special Representative of Caricom on Haiti, PJ Patterson, that before the earthquake Haiti was on a growth trajectory.

Patterson's position had long seemed reason enough to invite a reassessment of Haiti's leaders in the more recent era, specifically the much maligned Rene Preval. If the 'before and after' picture painted at the seminar by Tait is true, and he presented the evidence, then Preval has little to be embarrassed about, except, perhaps, his failure to communicate his social and economic agenda to his people more effectively.

The PWC director's presentation was supported by graphs, charts and other visuals that debunked the image of Haiti as a 'failed state'. Based on the data he shared with seminar participants, Haiti's growth pattern in the decade preceding the earthquake conflicted reports of total mismanagement. The data showed instead that political stability and security were improving.

At the end of 2009, the Haitian banking sector was well capitalised and highly liquid, deposits were growing and non-performing loans had declined. Also, foreign investors' interest in a range of sectors had improved, such as in the areas of the hospitality industry, energy and textile manufacturing.

This progress, regrettably, was cruelly interrupted by the earthquake that caused the unprecedented destruction of human and physical capital resulting in losses estimated at 120 per cent of the 2009 GDP.

The good news heralded by Patterson and the businessmen at the seminar was that Haiti was back in business and the climate beckoned investors from the Caribbean and elsewhere. Also of significance was word that the Haitian people were more open to doing business with those who were prepared to treat them as partners and to respect their sovereignty.

In this regard, they were unlikely to be totally accepting of investors from the big money pledging countries whose main aim was to export the lion's share of profit made.

Another positive noted at the seminar was that an air shuttle service between Jamaica and Haiti was now a reality with the launch of the Jamaica Air Shuttle (JAS).

In his address, Patterson hailed the new air service as a major advance in facilitating social and business contacts between Haiti and her Caricom partners. He reminded the gathering of Jamaica's proximity to the country and the key role of a more direct air transportation link. Jamaica, he said, was a natural hub between Haiti and other Caricom countries. Currently, travel to Haiti is routed through Miami that usually requires remaining overnight in that city. The JAS service is a one-hour trip each way.

Mr Patterson also spoke about the proposed Caricom Special Fund for Private Sector Investment in Haiti. That proposal involves a US$1-billion fund. Its purpose is to provide loan financing of up to US$20 million to private companies investing in long-term development.

The special representative explained that there were two major related activities being undertaken. These are to mobilise the resources. In this regard, Haiti itself is leading the way, having committed US$3 million to start the fund. He announced the existence of a resource mobilisation team under his leadership that is targeting other Caricom and bilateral governments and agencies, multilateral institutions, major foundations, private sector bodies and the Diaspora. The other activity involves the finalisation of supportive legal and administrative arrangements.

The PWC director's review of Haiti was endorsed by other businessmen at the seminar, notably Ken Mason, development director of Digicel, and Chris Levy, CEO of Jamaica Broilers.

Mason told the seminar how that company was revolutionising the telecommunications market in Haiti. Digicel, he said, started out with an investment of US$47 million that has grown to $130 million and 1.6 million subscribers.

Levy expressed similar sentiments. He emphasised that the people of Haiti could be defined by their welcoming and appreciative spirit, but that they demanded respect and to be regarded as partners in development activities.

The seminar was also addressed by the deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and trade, Dr Kenneth Baugh, who outlined a range of initiatives agreed to by Caricom that were supportive of trade and investments between Haiti and its neighbours within the community, including non-reciprocal imports into the countries and the relaxing of visa requirements.

Asked to comment on whether the business climate between Haiti and Jamaica would suffer a fallout from the football episode, the Jamaica Broilers CEO gave a short and positive response in which he affirmed that any further deterioration was unlikely, although he too acknowledged that the incident was unfortunate and badly handled.

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Jamaican businessmen give Haiti the thumbs up