is in Dominica.
Its like the uncle who comes with some cash in his pocket and the whole family gets lined up by the door of a recently cleaned room.
Its embarassing but Venezuela is our IMF. You gotta dance to their tune. Unlike many I dont have a problem with that until we conntinue dancing even after the music stops. What is worrying is that when Chavez is gone, all the nice treats get put away and out comes the whip.
It would be good if the mobilisation of resources that was done to get the place ready for the visit, was a constant of life here.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
To be....or not
Years ago, when I worked at Breakaway Solutions I remember meeting an old guy in the bar area of the Old Colonial Inn Old Colonial and he asked me what I did for a living.
It was a simple question.
I couldnt answer it.
Back then I was the UK CTO (chief technical officer) for Breakaway. Breakaway dissapeared in the rubble of the dot com bust, but there are some really strong people who emerged from the company. A company in Leicester in England, had requested that I go the the US to effectively babysit the project they were running, a B2B reverse auction system (see what I mean..I am speaking gibberish again).
What FOL wanted to do was groundbreaking. Take the complex human auction system that governed providing everything from bull sperm to milk from farmer to farmer...and translate it into an online trading platform. ICG (the parent VC of Breakaway) put alot of money into FOL - almost 7 million pounds actually. Yet very early on during the due diligence, I flagged it as a project doomed to die. Reverse actioning was difficult enough...but to try to get farmers, the least likely people to embrace that new technology was a stretch.
The reason I am saying this ?
ICG were the seed funding for Bway and for FOL. Bway provided the consultancy for FOL. The VC money never left the pool of companies.
And now they call Madoff and co crooks.
Take it even further. When we did the due diligence for the setup of Inreon in Switzerland (my colleague Kevin Sheehan can back this up) we raised serious flags on a number of things. In fact Anderson Consulting were the ones who hosted us, even though we were in SwissRe's HQ in Zurich. Imagine being in someones home and you never meet them. You get shuttled around the house by a helper who doesnt exactly help around the house.
Btw the third person who did the due diligence ended up being.....drumroll....the first CEO of Inreon.
I will post the due diligence report when I find it. Maybe my most boring post ever but...it made me think about how money gets wasted.
Oh and btw...ICG is still around. Nearly all the seed companies died.
It was a simple question.
I couldnt answer it.
Back then I was the UK CTO (chief technical officer) for Breakaway. Breakaway dissapeared in the rubble of the dot com bust, but there are some really strong people who emerged from the company. A company in Leicester in England, had requested that I go the the US to effectively babysit the project they were running, a B2B reverse auction system (see what I mean..I am speaking gibberish again).
What FOL wanted to do was groundbreaking. Take the complex human auction system that governed providing everything from bull sperm to milk from farmer to farmer...and translate it into an online trading platform. ICG (the parent VC of Breakaway) put alot of money into FOL - almost 7 million pounds actually. Yet very early on during the due diligence, I flagged it as a project doomed to die. Reverse actioning was difficult enough...but to try to get farmers, the least likely people to embrace that new technology was a stretch.
The reason I am saying this ?
ICG were the seed funding for Bway and for FOL. Bway provided the consultancy for FOL. The VC money never left the pool of companies.
And now they call Madoff and co crooks.
Take it even further. When we did the due diligence for the setup of Inreon in Switzerland (my colleague Kevin Sheehan can back this up) we raised serious flags on a number of things. In fact Anderson Consulting were the ones who hosted us, even though we were in SwissRe's HQ in Zurich. Imagine being in someones home and you never meet them. You get shuttled around the house by a helper who doesnt exactly help around the house.
Btw the third person who did the due diligence ended up being.....drumroll....the first CEO of Inreon.
I will post the due diligence report when I find it. Maybe my most boring post ever but...it made me think about how money gets wasted.
Oh and btw...ICG is still around. Nearly all the seed companies died.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
A Caribbean oddity
I dont think its a Dominican one, but I am sure we do it more than other islands.
Its both a very serious thing (which it is) and a total joke (which it is as well).
I refer to how the government calls a signing ceremony complete with speeches and hushed tones to launch everything from a public convenience to fixing a road to building a sea wall to giving a scholarship.
Imagine if after a surgery procedure a doc comes out and calls a press conference to announce that they had successfully stitched your forehead. Well...the irony of this is that these are things that governments are SUPPOSED to do, yet somehow they turn it into a back slapping self congratulation complete with odes to the PM and accolades for all.
Its so funny its sad.
Its both a very serious thing (which it is) and a total joke (which it is as well).
I refer to how the government calls a signing ceremony complete with speeches and hushed tones to launch everything from a public convenience to fixing a road to building a sea wall to giving a scholarship.
Imagine if after a surgery procedure a doc comes out and calls a press conference to announce that they had successfully stitched your forehead. Well...the irony of this is that these are things that governments are SUPPOSED to do, yet somehow they turn it into a back slapping self congratulation complete with odes to the PM and accolades for all.
Its so funny its sad.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
What to do....
Dominica doesnt need much.
1. sustain itself food wise. All the talk of exporting food ignores the fact that we import way too much food. If Dominica concentrates on simply feeding itself we can achieve serious success.
2. take control of our geothermal resource. this means more than government expropriating the the resource but actually engaging in exploiting the resource in two definite ways. first in reducing the cost of electricity in such a way as to revolutionise the cost of living for the local population. second in creating a real opportunity to sell energy to the rest of the region and to create a competitive advantage for business to be located in dominica.
3. get rid of income tax and become an indirect tax jurisdiction. this is always controversial because like all small caribbean states we have been taught that ttaxation is our way of life. unfortunately our infrastructure is still one of the poorest in the caribbean and consumption is dropping like a stone. its a double whammy we dont need. by leaving vat and corporate tax and eliminating base income tax, we can sell the perception of a tax free jurisdiction which frees up everyone mentally. The population needs to dream.
4. engage in community planning. for too long new communities in dominica have developed organically without any support or guidance from government. the nightmare in picard is evidence of what happens when you leave a population and new arrivals to simply make their way.
thats a decent start.
1. sustain itself food wise. All the talk of exporting food ignores the fact that we import way too much food. If Dominica concentrates on simply feeding itself we can achieve serious success.
2. take control of our geothermal resource. this means more than government expropriating the the resource but actually engaging in exploiting the resource in two definite ways. first in reducing the cost of electricity in such a way as to revolutionise the cost of living for the local population. second in creating a real opportunity to sell energy to the rest of the region and to create a competitive advantage for business to be located in dominica.
3. get rid of income tax and become an indirect tax jurisdiction. this is always controversial because like all small caribbean states we have been taught that ttaxation is our way of life. unfortunately our infrastructure is still one of the poorest in the caribbean and consumption is dropping like a stone. its a double whammy we dont need. by leaving vat and corporate tax and eliminating base income tax, we can sell the perception of a tax free jurisdiction which frees up everyone mentally. The population needs to dream.
4. engage in community planning. for too long new communities in dominica have developed organically without any support or guidance from government. the nightmare in picard is evidence of what happens when you leave a population and new arrivals to simply make their way.
thats a decent start.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Marijuana
There is something fundamentally wrong with the criminalisation of a whole heap of young people for smoking small quantities of herb when we have a serious social problem caused by alcohol in the Caribbean.
That is not to say we want wholesale smoking everywhere but marijuana is the least of our concerns.
Incest, child abuse, domestic abuse, corruption, political victimisation.
Yet there are kids in jail for being so idle as to have the time to smoke a plant. A social problem it is yes...but not a criminal one.
That is not to say we want wholesale smoking everywhere but marijuana is the least of our concerns.
Incest, child abuse, domestic abuse, corruption, political victimisation.
Yet there are kids in jail for being so idle as to have the time to smoke a plant. A social problem it is yes...but not a criminal one.
The Tip
WIll be returning. Its going to be more interesting this time round actually. And it will still be free.
Cant say much more except that I am tired of people asking me about it :-)
Cant say much more except that I am tired of people asking me about it :-)
Tough times
These are tough times for anyone in advertising. In a region where the idea of the value of an advertising agency, is just below that of a photographer (or picture take outer).
We are pitching to more accounts than ever though because tough times brings about a need to differentiate, or die. Therefore we are talking to people who would traditionally skip over us.
Its interesting. In a market where distributors and wholesalers have cannibalised marketing and advertising and have created the standards of cheap n dirty that allow any con man with a few dollars to appear to be doing so much, we need change.
Long live introspection and fear. It creates a need to think.
We are pitching to more accounts than ever though because tough times brings about a need to differentiate, or die. Therefore we are talking to people who would traditionally skip over us.
Its interesting. In a market where distributors and wholesalers have cannibalised marketing and advertising and have created the standards of cheap n dirty that allow any con man with a few dollars to appear to be doing so much, we need change.
Long live introspection and fear. It creates a need to think.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Perspective
In a meeting of our ad agency network in Miami, everyone was trumpeting new wins in 2009. The consensus is that small independent agencies will do generally well this year because for the first time companies will look beyond cushy relationships and actually start questioning how much they spend on marketing.
Of course the numbers are relative to markets. My indian counterpart, Atul from Ignitee was talking about a huge account with the Indian Board of Tourism. Kinda humbled any thought of relative success some of the other agencies had.
But anyway, listening to some of the agency stories gives perspective on success or failure. Its always funny to return to Dominica after those meetings. Love it more than ever though.
Of course the numbers are relative to markets. My indian counterpart, Atul from Ignitee was talking about a huge account with the Indian Board of Tourism. Kinda humbled any thought of relative success some of the other agencies had.
But anyway, listening to some of the agency stories gives perspective on success or failure. Its always funny to return to Dominica after those meetings. Love it more than ever though.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Dont touch the Pastors Rod
The name of a Dominican calypso which satirises a pastors role in screwing the wife of a colleague who he helped counsel, along with the same wife he was peppering, about rescuing their marriage.
Its a funny story because of course being human, there is something very scandalous about a man of the cloth being that devious.
The truth is pastors and priests screw around. Very much like their congregation and most often with them. Its normal and its good for calypso. And ultimately if it helps people have some Jim Jones eureka moments before they drink the koolaid, then great.
The pastor screws, you get saved.
Its a funny story because of course being human, there is something very scandalous about a man of the cloth being that devious.
The truth is pastors and priests screw around. Very much like their congregation and most often with them. Its normal and its good for calypso. And ultimately if it helps people have some Jim Jones eureka moments before they drink the koolaid, then great.
The pastor screws, you get saved.
CSME
A region distrustful of itself.
Trinidadians empowered by resources and feeling proudly first world in their wealth even as they murder and kidnap themselves into third world paranoia. And even when they are poor. Nothing like a man who can declare his country to be on a better path even as he himself struggles to eat.
Bajans who drink caffe lattes and play golf even as they have to serve the traditional masters to earn their daily bread. But all the indices point to an ordered society....except for those damn Guyanese. Nothing like an S&P report which declares you to be a stable nation.
Dominicans who declare independence and strength as they travel to superpowers like Anguilla to be able to have a decent job.
Jamaicans who declare that they belong to a Caribbean that they dont know or never travel to.
My experience of CSME is leaving Dominica having taken a security check and then coming off the plane to have the same check done in Antigua. Distrust.
My experience of CSME is of travelling with my Dominican passport and being asked what I am doing in Barbados, and travelling with my UK passport and being asked where I am staying in Barbados.
My experience of CSME is being asked by a Jamaican if Dominica has cellphones.
The issue of Caribbean ness is of a deeply fractured people. lacking in confidence, suspicious of each other, and desperate to mimic the same people who they wanted to grow up from.
There is a ground of comfort. Those who went to UWI, to Lodge , to the same boarding school, the middle class who see the same goals for themselves in their....we are better than this way, the merchants who share the same skin tone even as they sit in this unhealthy state of belonging only to those they do not really like.
It is why LIAT cannot produce anything of substance. The people dont really like Caribbean people even as they are Caribbean people. It is why the immigration and freedom of movement only worked during World Cup 2007. Because foreigners needed it. Once it became only about Caribbean peiple, it became irrelevant because of course we do not like each other that much.
I am dissapointed because this region has gone from slavery to freedom without actually experiencing freedom.
Abandon this mistaken game and call it failed so we can salvage it.
Trinidadians empowered by resources and feeling proudly first world in their wealth even as they murder and kidnap themselves into third world paranoia. And even when they are poor. Nothing like a man who can declare his country to be on a better path even as he himself struggles to eat.
Bajans who drink caffe lattes and play golf even as they have to serve the traditional masters to earn their daily bread. But all the indices point to an ordered society....except for those damn Guyanese. Nothing like an S&P report which declares you to be a stable nation.
Dominicans who declare independence and strength as they travel to superpowers like Anguilla to be able to have a decent job.
Jamaicans who declare that they belong to a Caribbean that they dont know or never travel to.
My experience of CSME is leaving Dominica having taken a security check and then coming off the plane to have the same check done in Antigua. Distrust.
My experience of CSME is of travelling with my Dominican passport and being asked what I am doing in Barbados, and travelling with my UK passport and being asked where I am staying in Barbados.
My experience of CSME is being asked by a Jamaican if Dominica has cellphones.
The issue of Caribbean ness is of a deeply fractured people. lacking in confidence, suspicious of each other, and desperate to mimic the same people who they wanted to grow up from.
There is a ground of comfort. Those who went to UWI, to Lodge , to the same boarding school, the middle class who see the same goals for themselves in their....we are better than this way, the merchants who share the same skin tone even as they sit in this unhealthy state of belonging only to those they do not really like.
It is why LIAT cannot produce anything of substance. The people dont really like Caribbean people even as they are Caribbean people. It is why the immigration and freedom of movement only worked during World Cup 2007. Because foreigners needed it. Once it became only about Caribbean peiple, it became irrelevant because of course we do not like each other that much.
I am dissapointed because this region has gone from slavery to freedom without actually experiencing freedom.
Abandon this mistaken game and call it failed so we can salvage it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
