Francis Wade | Growing with a grand strategy

As a business leader, you are tired of Jamaica’s lack of GDP growth. You are also committed to solving this apparently wicked problem, but just haven’t found the right conversations. Here’s a helpful point of view.

Recently, I watched a YouTube video from a UWI Research Day featuring biopharma innovator Michael Lopez. He happens to be a cousin, so I thought I knew his story, but in this presentation something new clicked.

In brief, he is a former executive with considerable Canadian and South Korean experience. He advocates the Caribbean as a place where a biopharma manufacturing industry could be born, using proven practices.

While a facility could be built anywhere in the region, he wants Jamaica to lead the way. Setting aside his Jamaican citizenship, he explains that we have the infrastructure, location and talent which put us ahead of contenders such as Barbados or Guyana.

Unfortunately, this particular opportunity is no short-term, quickie project. It involves US$80 million within five years. Like many breakthrough initiatives, it takes time.

Consequently, some see the endeavour as impossible, even though it could add a game-changing 5-10 per cent increase in annual GDP.

Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana have both seen hyper-growth, courtesy of oil and gas booms. Jamaicans aren’t as lucky.

Instead, like The Bahamas, we rely on tourism.

But that’s where the comparison ends. The average Bahamian tourist spends some 120% more per visit. Also, their economy is streamlined to support the industry.

This awful calculus means that there is no credible way for Jamaica to achieve much growth in the short-term. Instead, we should be looking forward to a decade or more of uninterrupted, focused investment. A grand industrial strategy.

As you consider this idea, you may recall Vision 2030 Jamaica, our most recent attempt at large-scale change. While it didn’t include a detailed industrial policy, it was still intended to vault us to the economic status of a developed country.

Unfortunately, it’s quite popular to be sceptical. But abandoning hope now would only guarantee continued disappointment.

As a leader who appreciates history, you must confront what Apple’s Tim Cook calls: “The long arc of time”. From this rare and unconventional point of view, we are closer to a breakthrough than ever before. This is no time to surrender.

Brutal truths

If so, here is what the brutal truths tell us, and the history they teach.

Truth 1: As a nation, we need to think in decades of achievement. Like the success of Grace Kennedy’s 25-year GK 2020, we can’t expect big things to happen without a continuous effort over long stretches of time.

Truth 2: Our politics make it difficult. We are about to enter another electoral competition where the people of Jamaica are likely to be the biggest losers. In other words, even if the contest is conducted peacefully, there remains no growth policy which can supersede the electoral battle.

Truth 3: We have occasionally cooperated to achieve significant milestones, e.g. our independence. And more recently, the reduction of our debt to GDP ratio.

Truth 4: there are important things we must commit to which are above politics. No politician likes to hear this, as the tendency in political battle is to place oneself at the centre of every gain.

Accepting these truths means supporting leaders who seek to expand the areas of agreement among political parties, the public and private sectors, small businesses, civil society, churches, and other key stakeholders. In other words, we need to learn from the way Vision 2030 Jamaica was crafted.

Over a period of six years, the 15-year plan actively engaged thousands of committed Jamaicans across the spectrum of society. While it’s not lived up to its earliest heady days, it produced a remarkable level of alignment which persists even today.

Now, we need to pick up what we learned and shake off our cynicism. A great way to start is to treat the upcoming election as an opportunity.

In the coming months, we can begin to craft a multi-decade successor to Vision 2030 that is bigger than any party, industry, or company. As such, biopharma is an important example of what we can and must do, to escape the grasp of economic under-performance, and rut of zero per cent GDP growth.

Making this kind of commitment means that you’ll be putting country above self, even if you may not be alive to see the final victory, as stated by Dr Martin Luther King Jr. If so, embrace the four truths and act boldly for the next generation.

You probably won’t be designated a National Hero, but your sacrifice could still make all the difference.

Francis Wade is a management consultant and author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity. To search past columns on productivity, strategy and business processes, or give feedback, email: columns@fwconsulting.com