Senior Reporter
geisha.kowlessar@guardian.co.tt
The calm of the Caribbean is being disrupted by a perfect storm of global volatility, says Group CEO of Guardian Group Ian Chinapoo while speaking at the inaugural Private Sector Forum on Tuesday, as he also issued a stark warning to the region’s business leaders: the era of insulated growth is over.
The instability is not confined to the Americas.
Coordinated military strikes in the Middle East have led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil and 20 per cent of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) transit.
For the Caribbean, a region heavily dependent on imported fuel and global supply chains, the economic math is brutal.
Chinapoo argued that in this globally interconnected economy, disruptions in one region reverberate through every local balance sheet.
Referencing the theme of the event, "Accelerating Growth Through Sustainable Business" Chinapoo said, "It captures the very tension leaders are navigating today: How do we move faster, expand further and compete harder, while ensuring that what we build is resilient, responsible, and built to last?"
Chinapoo added that the question before is not about the relevance of sustainability, nor about the resolve to lead.
"The real test is whether we are prepared to resist the gravitational pull of short-term earnings pressure, to look beyond quarterly optics, and invest today in ways that may not maximise next quarter’s results, but will strengthen performance over the next decade," he explained.
In a collaboration among Guardian Group, MD Medical Consultancy Ltd, T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the UN Global Compact Network for the Caribbean, the forum highlighted the critical role of policies, regulatory reform, and long-term planning in creating enabling environments for public-private partnerships to achieve sustainability in this country.
CEO of the T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce Vashti Guyadeen, who also spoke at the forum, said sustainability must be treated as an economic imperative rather than a branding exercise if T&T is to remain competitive in a rapidly shifting global environment.
She stressed that sustainability must improve productivity, reduce risk, attract capital and open markets. If it fails to achieve these outcomes, she cautioned, “we are approaching it incorrectly.”
Guyadeen emphasised that access to financing, export markets and international supply chains increasingly depends on how well firms manage environmental exposure, governance practices, labour standards and transparency.
Noting that the chamber views sustainability as a socio-economic strategy, not a compliance checklist Guyadeen outlined three pillars central to the organisation’s approach: competitiveness, resilience and global alignment.
On competitiveness, she noted that companies that manage energy efficiently reduce costs, and firms with strong governance systems mitigate operational risk.
Measuring and reporting performance, she added, boosts credibility with investors and partners.
