‘VI must survive swimming with the sharks’ – VI businessman Colin O’Neal
He was speaking on Tuesday January 12, 2016 during a forum for senior education managers and principals of schools held at Maria’s By The Sea.
He said the territory would now have to compete with other countries, which can offer the same skills at a fraction of the cost when compared to what those skills earn someone in the VI.
According to O’Neal, the territory finds itself competing with the low wage jurisdictions that have a vast pool of labour.
In addition, he said that the Virgin Islands are also competing with more traditional centres of the financial services industry.
“For example, I recently read a report that not only are we competing with our sister jurisdictions, if we can call them that, the other Overseas Territories - Cayman, Bermuda, Bahamas to some extent, in the sphere in which we operate, but new players who...involved in the industry in a way that was complementary to us, are now targeting BVI, the market that the BVI had traditionally dominated,” he said.
He noted that he was talking about countries like Hong Kong and Singapore, not known for being traditionally financial offshore centres like the VI, but usually referred to as mid-shore – somewhere between traditional financial centres like New York and offshore centres like the VI.
He said the VI competing with these other jurisdictions is a fact that must be faced.
O'Neal, however, said those countries have more resources and are more committed to higher and quality education and therein lies the advantage they have over the VI.
Here he cited an example of schools in the territory being closed simply because of the threat of a storm. He pointed out that in another jurisdiction this was not the case.
“...We again no longer operate in that fish bowl by ourselves, or even with friendly colleagues like Bermuda and other Overseas Territories. We need to accept that our real competition today and especially tomorrow is going to be far more aggressive, better resources and perhaps far more committed to acquiring market share at our expense," he said.
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10 Responses to “‘VI must survive swimming with the sharks’ – VI businessman Colin O’Neal”
Nevertheless, in spite of being small with its vulnerabilities and disadvantages, and as Colin noted the BVI must prepare for and adapt to play in the big leagues among the sharks. But VI has to face a number of challenges or head winds. For example, it will have to 1)deal with globalization, the interconnection of markets, 2) competition with other markets as Colin noted that can deliver the same services for the fraction of the cost in the VI, 3) compete with jurisdictions with excess low wage supply( Colin) and 4) higher quality education (Colin). The BVI is small but it has some BIG challenges ahead. We cannot let our GDP per capita ($38K) mask the challenges ahead. It must effectively plan now for the challenges ahead; procrastination is not an option, for survival is at stake.
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