Caribbean Export OUTLOOK 2016 - 2017

Pulse OF THE CARIBBEAN

The Role of the Caribbean Private Sector in Ensuring Economic Sustainability By Stephanie L. Bishop

Growth rates in the Caribbean have been, on average, very low for several decades, and have remained below 3% since the most recent global recession.Suchlowratesofgrowthhavecontributed to the persistently high levels of unemployment and poverty in our region, and with more than 21% of our population living below the poverty line, accelerating and sustaining inclusive growth is, arguably, one of themost pressing development challenges confronting our region today. However, onesolutiontothischallengelieswithintheregion’s engine of growth, the private sector. Expanding economic opportunities is arguably where Caribbean private sector firms have the greatestpotentialtodrivegrowthwithintheregion. Businessactivitycancreatejobsandentrepreneurial opportunities, enable technology transfer, build humancapitalandphysicalinfrastructure,cultivate inter-firm linkages, generate public revenue for governments, and provide a variety of goods and services to consumers and other businesses. Ultimately, each of these impacts has multiplier

effects on both social and economic development.

increased revenue and profit streams, economic stability, growth, and employment.

In examining the role of the Caribbean private sector in ensuring economic sustainability, Caribbean Export OUTLOOK spoke with one of the region’s most prolific financial minds, Don Wehby. As the Group Chief Executive Officer of GraceKennedy Limited, Wehby is charged with positioning one of theCaribbean’s largest andmost dynamic food and finance corporate entities as a global consumer group. Wehby has been with the GraceKennedy Group since 1995 and assumed his current position in 2011. He took a secondment to the Jamaica governmentin2007,whereheservedhiscountryas asenatorintheMinistryofFinance,beforereturning toleadthefull-timechargeofoneoftheregion’stop business brands. As an accomplished business executive, Wehby believes that it is the role of the private sector to invest in business relations that will create

“Consequently, the private sector has to be strategic in its investment allocation in people, research, technology, innovation, product development and market diversification, as well as its business relationship regionally. Regionally, business support organisations and individual companies are cooperating in services and trade, especially where synergies can be optimised, and this has helped with regional economic stability.” The affable Jamaican also explained that the private sector must be influential in the development of international trade agreements, public policy, public sector efficiency, and fiscal prudence to ensure the creation andmaintenance of a more predictable, socially stable, macro- economic and business friendly environment.

In recent times, the private sector has come

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