The 36th annual CANTO Trade and Virtual Exhibition kicked-off on Wednesday, with headline sponsor C&W Communications (CWC) hosting the first day of the three-day virtual event.

Held under the theme ‘The New Digital Reality – 2021 and Beyond’, the event was formally opened by David Cox, senior director, regulatory, CWC, and current chairman of CANTO who welcomed participants and panellists to CANTO’s first-ever virtual trade event.

CWC put together an impressive line-up of discussion panels on the first day that focused on topical issues faced by the sector in the wake of an ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.

In the first session, Cox spoke with CWC Chief Executive Officer Inge Smidts in a candid and insightful virtual fireside chat.

Smidts detailed how the regional communications and entertainment provider has been able to navigate through the challenges of the pandemic and put a uniquely ‘human’ face on the company’s commitment to keep its employees working and its customers connected.

“With the onset of COVID-19 we focused on our two ‘whys’, taking care of our people and keeping our customers connected. My philosophy is that our people are our biggest asset. Having the network capacity to meet the demands of our customers is important but having the right people to take care of our customers is even more important,” said Smidts.

She attributed the company’s ability to continue to meet those ‘whys’ on the resilience of its employees and their willingness to face the challenges head on to ensure they continued to find ways to keep customers connected.

As the region’s only female CEO running a full-service telecommunications company, Smidts offered the virtual audience some personal insights into her management style and leadership approach during the pandemic.

Smidts said: “The pandemic induced a period of ‘unlearning’, forcing companies, including CWC, to find new ways to meet the needs of their customers and employees, and to embrace change”.

Other virtual sessions held included, a ‘Women in ICT Leadership Panel Discussion’ adeptly hosted by Wendy McDonald, C&W senior director – Communications and Stakeholder Relations for the Caribbean.

McDonald’s guests included Daysi Andrades, advisor to the chief information officer at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DC; Monica Desai, global head, Connectivity and Access Policy at Facebook; and vice-president of People at CWC, Sonali Dighe.

This panel took an intense look at how the pandemic brought unique challenges for women in the workplace, particularly in leadership roles.

In her preamble, McDonald spoke to the additional challenges imposed on women in the workplace who were forced to, “suddenly and unexpectedly” manage competing and overlapping work and family commitments on a scale and with a level of urgency many women had never encountered before, a situation that in some cases is causing women to leave the workforce.

Dighe impressed upon the audience the need for companies in the region to focus on their leadership pipelines and to implement succession planning programmes with a focus on moving more women into leadership positions.

Later in the programme, ‘The Parenting and Education in the Digital Age’ discussion panel saw an equally impressive list of panellists which included: Trinidad and Tobago’s minister of education, Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly; Sherra Carrington-James, president of both the Caribbean Association of Principals of Secondary Schools and the Trinidad & Tobago Association of Principals of Secondary Schools.

Also bringing a wealth of knowledge on human capital in the region was Dominic Boon, vice-president of talent and organisational development at CWC’s parent company, Liberty Latin America.

The panel was moderated by Simone Martin-Sulgan, vice-president for CWC’s operations in Trinidad and Tobago, who, as a mother of two herself, was deeply connected to the panel’s in-depth look at how parents have been searching for new, engaging, and innovative means to support their children through this new normal of the pandemic.

The panellists sought to address the issues facing the education sector and in keeping with the overall conference theme, using our “New Digital Reality” to determine where the opportunities for intelligent collective collaboration exist and do our best to exploit them to our and our children’s advantage.

CWC has been a long-standing partner of CANTO and through its corporate social responsibility programmes, and the work of its C&W Charitable Foundation, continues to invest in, and advocate for, greater digital access for the region’s children.