Yesterday marked the official end of the two-year term of Clinton Urling as President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (GCCI). Last week, as the Chamber busied itself with preparations for its Annual General Meeting, Urling sat down with Stabroek Business to reflect on his presidency of the GCCI.
Stabroek Business: What were your two most significant accomplishments as Chamber President?
Clinton Urling: I have seen the Chamber’s national profile rise as one of Guyana’s most visible, active and efficacious civil society organisations. Much of this has been achieved through the many advocacy positions taken by the Chamber. Many of these positions were chronicled in the Chamber’s publication, “The Top 20 Barriers to Competitiveness” and advanced through the media and other public fora. This exposure has opened doors to opportunities for the Chamber. Many members, stakeholders, investors, policy makers, civil society members are reaching out to the Chamber to share or receive information or to act as partners for hosting activities and events. Moreover, the steady streams of publicity and attention have reinforced the perception for members that the Chamber will always work on their behalf. This has made it easier for the Chamber to obtain member-based support and funding for many new events.
Secondly, we have increased the Chamber’s programme of activities and expanded its revenue base. We are able to achieve our goals while accumulating funds to provide for long-term sustainability.
SB: What are two things which you wish you had accomplished?
CU: We had set sights on building a stronger, expanded Chamber Secretariat. This was curtailed amidst competition for resources between current expenditures and the reconstruction of the secretariat building. We allocated a large percentage of our surplus to the reconstruction project, restricting our capability to hire staff, including a legal advisor to draft policy positions, a researcher to gather and analyze data important to the private sector and a support officer to help small and medium-sized enterprises. In the end, it was a small sacrifice to pay because we were still able to achieve much. Going forward we will have a modern, world-class facility with a stronger secretariat.
We had hoped that the Chamber would have received donor financing to set up trade facilitation and capacity building grants for export-oriented companies and micro and small businesses. We applied to Caribbean Export during my first term for a facility to help small businesses but while the application was successful, we were informed that the agency did not have sufficient funds to move the grant forward.
I’ve spent most of the past year trying to persuade donor and the international representatives in Guyana to allocate loans, grants or matching funds to the Chamber to help build local private sector capacity.
SB: What two things would you most like to see the Chamber accomplish during the tenure of the next executive?
CU: The first would be for the Chamber to access donor funding for the purpose I mentioned in my previous response. I hope that the Chamber adopts a multi-pronged approach to determining whether private sector companies are willing to provide the necessary funding through sponsorship agreements.
Second, I would hope to see the construction of the long awaited new Secretariat building completed. The current facility is inadequate to keep pace with the organisation’s increased, more extensive, and complex work demands.
SB: What are your views on the way in which the political culture impacts on the country’s social/economic development?
CU: In the time since independence our political culture has come to be dominated by ethnic insecurity at the electoral level and distrust at the political leadership level. Over the course of our history this combination of distrust and insecurity has led to politically motivated disturbances and, in some cases, violence. The occurrence of Guyana’s politically unstable environment also has coincided with periods of negative economic growth. The times where Guyana has recorded its highest growth rates occurred when the political environment was stable.
The current political environment where the combined opposition parties control the legislature and the government controls the executive requires enormous negotiations and compromises for moving the country’s economic and development agenda forward. Unfortunately, after two and a half years, compromise in critical instances has proven to be elusive, resulting in an unstable political environment that has negatively affected the country’s economic prospects. If the situation persists, we will eventually have to face costly early general elections along with the concomitant fears and economic slowdown that accompany it.
SB: What would you say are the major impediments to private sector development in Guyana?
CU: My positions on these issues have been repeated elsewhere and reaffirmed in the Chamber’s many surveys over the years. The most pervasive concern is that of finding and retaining good employees, especially highly skilled individuals. The reliability of utilities such as electricity and high costs, crime and security, political discord and the country’s excessive dependence on primary products that are vulnerable to external price shocks round out the most harmful challenges facing our economy.
SB: Anything you would do differently?
CU: I would focus a bit more on motivating my private sector colleagues to become involved in formulating and executing the Chamber’s activities and events.
SB: What are the critical lessons learnt during your tenure?
1) Objectivity and impartiality are important prerequisites when articulating advocacy positions and dealing with stakeholders. This may not win you popularity all the time and occasionally will offend and criticise a stakeholder at one point while praising it at another. However, this approach ensures in the end that the same stakeholder respects you for your objectivity and is more likely to trust and work with you during your tenure.
2) Political issues take up a tremendous amount of a private sector leader’s time and energies because of the fragile and unstable nature of our politics.
3) The combined private sector associations and the Private Sector Commission play an important role in advancing Guyana’s development and are the most vocal of all the civil society organisations. Much of the work is done behind closed doors’ view and organisational interventions over the years have resulted in net positives for Guyana’s social and economic stability.
4) Political issues are sexier for media operatives who give a disproportionate amount of coverage to politicians and political commentary as compared to business, social, cultural, and human interests represented in the most pertinent issues. This leads to a situation where private sector advocacy positions do not get the level of front page publicity they rightly deserve.
5) The interests of the whole – or, more specifically, the country – should always take eminence over individual or partisan interests. This mantra has served me well when contemplating the advocacy positions for the Chamber to consider.
SB: How would you rate your performance as Chamber President?
CU: While I would remit obvious bias and rate my performance as exemplary, I believe the undisputable record of activities and achievements, history and time will be the most formidable judges regarding my contributions and legacy during the time that I served as Chamber President.
SB: Immediate and medium-term personal plans?
CU: I hope to return to my academic studies so as to further empower myself to make a meaningful contribution to Guyana’s development either through civil society or direct political participation. However, I’m not fixed on that position and I have a few months to make the best decision depending on the circumstances as they unfold.
