| Digicel TCI is Turning on the Light |
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 While much of the world is being absorbed by the negative media attention being paid to the economic world slowdown, Digicel is working towards helping local businesses find the positives. Digicel TCI and its General Manager, E. Jay Saunders, brought together some of the greatest business minds in the community to share with local business owners their advice on how to work towards a profitable business and prepare themselves for the inevitable turnaround. Digicel invited anyone in the local community to join them for breakfast at the Beaches Resort and an semi-informal panel discussion on “Maximizing Profits In a Slow Economy”. The panel consisted of industry professionals such as John Benjamin, Managing Director for the TCI Bank; Eddinton Powell, CEO, PPC, and Delton Jones, Permanent Secretary of The Ministry of Finance, TCI. The panel was thoughtfully moderated by Executive Permanent Secretary TCIG, Dr. Hugh Fulford. Each panel member presented from their point of view, the opportunities for local businesses to focus on to help them sustain and grow their business. Many guest were particularly interested in the facts and figures presented by Mr. Jones in relation to the economy of the TCI. The economy of the Turks and Caicos has experienced incredible growth over the past 10 years. GDP almost doubled from 378 million USD in 2002 to 632 million USD in 2007, according to Mr. Jones. A major driving force for this economic growth was the creation of new businesses and public sector investment. In 2002 the TCIG spent 31 million USD in public sector development and 71 million USD in 2007. Going forward Mr. Jones explained that although we are experiencing a slow down in growth, things are still growing and we must not only survive, but we must ready ourselves for the eventuality of a bounce back. Mr. Benjamin picked up on this point with an anecdote, “The Turks and Caicos has amazing soil, in that you take your watering can and you pour water on it and it grows billions of dollars.” Mr. Benjamin focused on the positives of what a local business can do to survive these times and look forward to what is to come. He predicts the market to turn around in 18 months for now and declared the expected GDP to be 5.4% in 2008. While this is off considerably from the double digit growth of the past years, Mr. Benjamin explained the growth of the past 10 years was greater than one could have imagined and now things are starting to return to a more normal pattern. Benjamin gave a great deal of advice on how specifically local business owners can focus on savings for the short term and look forward to a healthy long term. E. Jay Saunders explained his reason for putting the conference together, “These are tough economic times for everyone, and we felt that the least we could do was to use our contacts and our experience to help the businesses - particularly the small businesses - within our community to survive.” It can be very frustrating for local businesses in these times. The more and more talk there is of economic downturn, the tighter the purse strings become with consumers, making it harder for businesses to survive. Although our TCI economy is generally doing well, especially compared to many other world markets, it can seem difficult for many small businesses owners to find the upside. In consideration of the pains many local businesses are feeling, Digicel has found a way to help bring opportunity to them in the form of advice, in essence, turning the light on at the end of the tunnel.
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