Entrepreneurs stress ‘integrity’ in attracting FDI
For the operators of FIMI Investments Jamaica Limited and Chukka Caribbean Adventures integrity in business is an important factor in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to their business and, by extension, to the country on a whole.
Bernard Henry of FIMI Investments and Alexander Melville of Chukka Caribbean say they have realised the growth of their companies from their collaboration with overseas-based companies, while both argued that their “good name” and integrity contributed significantly to this success.
They were speaking at the Annual Economic Forum entitled ‘Beyond Crime and Corruption to Growth: Practical Lessons from Columbia’ held at the Hilton Kingston Hotel on Friday. Their comments came in the context of attracting investment to Jamaica following the battering to the country’s reputation by the recent unrest in West Kingston.
Henry said Fimi Wireless, has seen growth within the nine years since Digicel, his investment partner, came to Jamaica because he had integrity and he could “think outside the box”.
“One of the good things that happened was that I had a good name, I had integrity, so I worked hard and I was passionate about what I wanted to do,” Henry said.
Henry said in 2002 he created the company with the help of his high school and college friends and has watched it grow to more than 70 stores which have generated revenues in excess of $40 to $50 million a year and provided jobs for just under 500 persons.
“For somebody like me, who in 2002 had no clue, no idea about telecommunications, who had no knowledge about this industry at all, in eight years it really has been a dream to be able go see us move,” Henry said. “Today, we regard ourselves as Digicel’s leading dealer. We have nine locations in Jamaica with associated companies in five other markets, Haiti, Guyana, Trinidad, Panama, Honduras, El Salvador”.
Henry added that despite the perception that Jamaica is a volatile place for investors, this has not been the case for Digicel and FIMI Wireless. “Jamaica itself has been probably the most stable market that Digicel has had in any region,” Henry argued. He compared Jamaica’s relatively stable environment to the earthquake-ravaged Haiti and the recent coup in Honduras. “But let us not paint the picture that everything has been rosy. It has not. We have had many, many challenges,” said Henry. He said despite this, the key to getting FDI is the ‘people issues’.
“At the end of the day it is the people who are going to build teams… and in building organisations first and foremost we had to have strong relationships with a company like Digicel at many levels where people trust your integrity, trust your loyalty and also are willing to believe that you can add value to what they are doing,” Henry said.
Melville said in 2004 Chukka Caribbean saw the opportunity to expand its business to include canopy tours, but without the capital to do so, relied on relationships, contacts and the ‘good name’ of the partners in his business to access the funding.
“At the time we were stretched and getting financing for this was tough. No bank institution we could find wanted to give us US$500,000 and then hold the ropes,” Melville said in reference to the material for the canopy attraction.
“We thought very creatively about it, employed contacts, went to trade shows and targeted Carnival tours,” he said. “This investment has brought us to today where we have other canopy tours in Jamaica and represents 40 per cent of our turnover off this one investment.”
Melville said the key to getting an unsecured loan from a multinational corporation such as Carnival was integrity.
“The precursor of doing business with any of these businesses when they come to set up in your market is having a great business name and reputation. They want to know that the person that they are doing business, that they are trusting their customers with, are going to take care of them, have integrity,” Melville said. “So when the next round of investment comes into Jamaica, all of us need to look and make sure that all of our businesses have great names, have great reputation,” he added.
He said that before investing money with Chukka, Carnival checked with other persons and entities with whom Chukka had already done business to verify the company’s and owners’ reputation.
“They do their due diligence so when they do their due diligence if you want to take advantage of this investment you have to make sure that when they check, that the company’s name, your name, and the shareholders in the business is above board,” Melville said.