DENIS O’Brien, one of the nominees for the Jamaica Observer 2010 Business Leader Award, came in for praise recently from former US President Bill Clinton.

Giving the address titled “Embracing Our Common Humanity”, at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel last week, Clinton said that while politicians might dwell on the nature of a project and its cost, the most important question was how the project would be implemented.

He cited the work of O’Brien, the Digicel founder and chairman, in Haiti as an excellent example of “a private citizen trying to solve public problems and do public good”.

Clinton said that O’ Brien ran a business consortium that aimed to promote development, arguing that “we live in a profoundly unequal world”.

He noted that even before January’s massive earthquake, 75 per cent of Haitians lived in dire poverty and 85 per cent had no power supply.

Clinton, who is in the forefront of the Haiti restoration effort, has been collaborating with O’Brien. Digicel was the first private corporation to commit extensive support to the tune of US$20 million to the Haiti rebuilding programme immediately after the earthquake, according to the company.

Commenting on the work of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in Haiti, O’Brien said that he had been inspired by the compassion and commitment shown by Clinton towards the people of Haiti and that he shared his resolve that the country would emerge stronger after this setback because of the faith and resilience of the Haitian people.

In February of this year, O’ Brien was declared a Goodwill Ambassador by the mayor of Port-au-Prince, Jean Yves Jason, who said that before Digicel’s launch in Haiti, back in 2006, O’Brien had been a huge supporter of the French-speaking country.

Jason said the Digicel head had worked “tirelessly to ensure a better standard of living for our people through the provision of housing, educational facilities and programmes”.

In Jamaica, the Denis O’Brien-funded Digicel Foundation has sponsored multi-million dollar projects in every parish of Jamaica, in education, community development and sustainability.