DIGICEL’s Chief Executive Officer and one of Europe’s most successful businessmen Dennis O’Brien has said that he believes that Guyana is one of the best locations in the region for investment. “As a foreign investor you are treated properly, you are treated the same. There is a progressive government here, there’s a reasonably good tax regime and it’s a safe place to invest. More than that Guyana is the gateway to South Ameri-ca,” O’ Brien added.
The DIGICEL CEO told Stabroek Business that he believed that doing business in Guyana would become even easier with the advent of liberalization of the telecommunications industry. O’Brien said that liberalization of the sector would bring new investment to Guyana including 10,000 jobs in the ICT sector alone.
And O’Brien told Stabroek Business that Guyanese and Carib-bean companies need to look out onto the global market if they are to secure a greater measure of success.”If we can come from Ireland a Guyanese company can come to Ireland as well, O’Brien told Stabroek Business.
“The world is a little pond and the way to develop a multi-national business is to take a different view of the world. Air travel is not expensive now and to open a new market for goods and services is not as expensive as it was ten years ago.”
The DIGICEL CEO who is among a number of regional and international entrepreneurs scheduled to attend next month’s 2-day Caribbean International Business Summit in Barbados told Stabroek Business that success in business can also be derived from making and implementing decisions quickly. “A lot of companies are slow to make and implement decisions.”
DIGICEL currently has investments in more than 23 countries in the Caribbean and is currently pursuing investments in several countries in the Pacific including Papau New Guinea and Samoa. The company is also pursuing licences in Fiji, Vanuatu and Kiribati. “We’re not afraid of risk,” O’Brien said.
