During a meeting of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce Central Bank governor John Rolle spoke to members about the Bahamas’ digital currency, the Sand Dollar. Photo: Vandyke Hepburn
By DENISE MAYCOCK
Tribune Freeport Reporter
dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
GRAND Bahama Chamber of Commerce President James Carey is “totally convinced” the economic resurgence of Grand Bahama is inevitable and calls for everyone to be ready to do their part.
However, he stressed the level and quality of service in Grand Bahama has to be improved.
“We need to pay some attention to the level and quality of our service,” he said during the Chamber’s monthly business luncheon meeting on Wednesday at Pelican Bay Resort.
Central Bank governor John Rolle was present and spoke on the Sand Dollar, a digital iteration of the Bahamian dollar.
“We hear a lot of the investments that are coming; all of us are waiting with anticipation and hope for economic resurgence for GB. I am totally convinced that it is coming,” Mr Carey said.
“We want to encourage you to do your part. And all of us have a part to play - every business house, every resident, there are things we can do to contribute to what is coming.”
He urged small and medium-sized enterprises to continue to equip themselves for what is likely to come.
On digital currency, he said: “It is here, and the way we did business in the past just would not work in 2023 and beyond.”
Mr Carey said service is a serious mantra of the Chamber this year.
He said that service in “our city, island, and country is not of a standard conducive to the development of good business”.
“It is so easy to do, but we fail to do it,” Mr Carey said, sharing his encounter with an employee at a fast-food establishment.
“This morning, I went on line to a fast-food establishment. There was a young lady outside taking orders; she never looked in my direction; she never said ‘good morning’; she never said ‘thank you’ when I placed my order; she said to drive up to the next window.
“How difficult it is to offer some level of service, but that is what we are dealing with, that is the norm we come to expect.
“We have forgotten what it means to give service. We talk about Bahamians being nice people. I believe we are, but service is a key ingredient to what we need to do.”
Comments
birdiestrachan 1 year ago
Good service is not common I often say some folks should be in the kitchen and not dealing with people , and too many of them work for the Government , It seems a government job gives them a right to be rude,
ThisIsOurs 1 year ago
". I am totally convinced that it is coming,” Mr Carey said. We want to encourage you to do your part. And all of us have a part to play - every business house, every resident, there are things we can do to contribute to what is coming.”
This cant be the level of economic advice we should expect, "I'm convinced it's coming". The last time I heard this type of loose non-visionary talk it was the issue of homeporting. Everybody was convinced this was it Bahamians were urged to put their ideas together and get ready!
Nobody knows the future with any certainty, luck could have been on our side. But looking objectively at the situation, the cruise ships only came to Nassau because the US govt asked them to enforce stronger COVID restrictions! It was bizarro world. Those people came to us to avoid checking their passengers for COVID at the height of the Delta variant that was killing thousands within weeks and we rejoiced. They told us what they thought of us. The next thing to consider, pandemics don't last forever. And sure enough within about four months they were gone.
When we speak about economic resurgence, we could have a miracle in the works, maybe one of the decades talked about projects gets off the ground, but let's use facts and trends please. The US just reported weak economic growth of ~1%, not encouraging
ThisIsOurs 1 year ago
The next thing we need to do is stop people from depending on these foreign investors for sustenance. Our greatest asset is our brain and we've been brainwashed into thinking that it can't produce anything of value except for trinkets for tourists
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