The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

The Chamber of Commerce has launched its own Digital Transformation Committee (DTC) to ensure the private sector’s needs are met by the government’s technology transformation efforts.

Formally unveiling the new committee, the Chamber said it will work with the government’s digitisation efforts as well as the Central Bank’s digital Bahamian dollar initiative, Project Sand Dollar.

Royann Dean, the new chamber committee’s chair, said: “I believe that this is a very important committee, and a step forward not just for the chamber, but also for The Bahamas as a country and, I would say, as a region.

“It is very important for us to stay in step with what is happening in the rest of the world in terms of digital strategies for technology, and it is a very important role for the chamber to support the government’s efforts to make sure that their policies are put in place to support the development in the private sector.”

Speaking to the committee’s performance, Ms Dean said: “The committee is meant to follow through on the mandate of the chamber and be an advocate of the private sector. To that end that means we will understand the needs of the private sector as it relates to the digital transformation, and to work with the national digital transformation committee.”

She added that it was her role to “understand the needs of the private sector, and be able to articulate those needs to the national committee and to make sure that the private sector is able to understand their own needs as a collective”.

“In terms of the role of the chamber, we want to make sure our membership and the private sector of The Bahamas sees the importance of digital strategy and digital transformation in order to stay competitive,” Ms Dean said.

“It’s a very important committee, not just for the chamber. It’s is a very important committee for the business community in general, because on a global scale, both global and regional, there is disruptive technology that’s changing the way that companies do business.

“It is important that the Bahamian private sector stays up-to-date or in lock-step with changes that are happening around the rest of the world and affecting business.”