Just under two weeks ago, on June 11, the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) hosted its 41st Annual Awards Banquet with the theme ‘Building Forward: Recognising Excellence in Recovery, Resilience and Growth’, designed to recognise those who had responded to disruption by strengthening operations, embracing innovation, and investing in long-term sustainability.

The keynote address of Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness highlighted the relevance of this theme to all of Jamaica when he told his business audience, “Jamaica could become like Dubai or Singapore — countries that leveraged strategic locations to become financial hubs, logistics centres, global playgrounds and, especially in Singapore’s case, centres of industrial production.”

In its June 18 editorial, ‘Beyond the Vision’,
The Gleaner outlined, amongst other things, the different labour market policies of Dubai and Singapore: Dubai used oil to finance a development strategy based on foreign labour, and Singapore achieved development through the educational upgrading of its labour force as part of a sustained industrial transformation under the strong governance of its legendary Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and his drive to move his country from Third World to First World status.

Whilst both are port and now logistics cities — as Jamaica could be — and share some characteristics with Jamaica, I would still argue that Ireland is much closer to our likely governance model, and an updated version of their original 1980’s strategy (adapted to our circumstances) is still the most relevant to our situation. Other than being a “messy” democracy like ourselves, last week’s Diaspora conference in Montego Bay should focus all our minds on how best to use the untapped potential of our Diaspora to drive economic development, as Ireland did decades ago, starting with attracting foreign investment and addressing our clear skills gap.

This transformation, as the prime minister noted, would require a fundamental change in attitudes towards productivity, wages, and most important, labour. At the event, he appeared to foreshadow his Monday, June 22 appearance on
Nationwide News Network with veteran reporter Cliff Hughes regarding the issue of third-country nationals (TCN), where he was at pains to distinguish between the need for structured migration to Jamaica in the future and an apparently limited number of TCNs to be sent from the United States — the hot-button issue of the moment.

He also urged the JCC to become stronger advocates for labour market reform, noting, “If our economy grows, we might have to bring people in to keep the economy turning over,” and called for a “new labour policy” suited to an economy approaching full employment.

I would argue that the first step should be to finally review and discuss the nearly decade-old labour market reform report steered and chaired by the late great leading trade unionist Lloyd Goodleigh and business titan Professor Marshall Hall. While this document will need to be updated to include the world of artificial intelligence (AI), a quiet review could avoid the issue becoming an immediate political football — which may be why the prime minister appears to be asking the private sector to start the discussion, perhaps through entities such as Acorn, which has been instrumental in our social partnership initiatives and wider general union/employer peace.

The role of tourism

Prime Minister Holness pointed to the Cayman Islands and Antigua and Barbuda as regional examples of small economies that had drawn on imported labour, including “our labour, to build their industries”.

Adding, “We have to see ourselves as a country where people want to come and live.” In my opinion, a nod to the very successful Barbados Welcome Stamp, a 12-month remote work visa that allows digital nomads and their families to live and work legally on the island. Prime Minister Holness correctly argued the island’s traditional tourism model needed to be fundamentally reimagined to focus on “how many people can we get to come and live in Jamaica” in order to “spend and hire and create and do business”.

Importantly, he also emphasised the role of the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) in creating opportunities for long-term economic growth beyond rebuilding physical infrastructure: “We would like you all to work in partnership with the Government to become the private sector infrastructure of a stronger Jamaican economy” in order to not just rebuild but “to arrive somewhere better”. This emphasis rhymes perfectly with the JCC’s emphasis on downtown redevelopment, which included a vibrant video at the awards ceremony, a strategy that should be extended to all our town centres working along with, for example, the regional chambers.

At the beginning of his opening speech, JCC President Emile Leiba emphasised the critical role of the Private Sector Emergency Operations Centre (PS-EOC), which helped coordinate and mobilise non-governmental organisations and utility companies, and, as he put it, “emphasising collaboration over competition” and “action over rhetoric”.

The JCC Resilience in Action honour recognised individuals and corporate entities whose leadership and service supported Jamaica’s recovery following Hurricane Melissa. The PS-EOC awardees were Jaimie Ogilvie, vice-president of Jamaica Broilers Group Limited; Lisa Bell, management consultant; Lisa Soares Lewis, founder and CEO of Great People Solutions; Olive Downer Walsh, special advisor for government and industry affairs at Hardware & Lumber; Jamaica Public Service Company Limited; Digicel Jamaica; and Flow Jamaica.

There were many others who could have been honoured — no doubt a difficult choice — such as Ali Matalon for her role in fund-raising, administration, and direct support for the presidents and Paris Lyew Ayee for providing data on every map, statistic, and even estimating damage and recovery.

Commenting on the many things still to be done, Soares Lewis noted, “On a national scale, it means a relentless alignment on building codes and town planning so that we are less vulnerable when the next major storm inevitably approaches.”

For her part, Bell noted, “Post-disaster recovery efforts must continue to give focus to helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) recover while building greater resilience against future shocks through combining resilient infrastructure, digital transformation, business continuity planning, and stronger risk management.” She also emphasised the critical role of the development finance institutions (DFIs) in helping small businesses strengthen financial management, adopt digital technologies, and improve climate resilience.

Keith Collisters