Andrew Brathwaite, President of ICAB; Donville Inniss, Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development; and Reginald Farley, Executive Director of ICAB at the Annual Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB) Student Conference, at Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
A section of the audience at the Annual Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB) Student Conference at Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
“The desire to serve must remain at the heart of the transformation necessary in this economy as we chart the course and embrace new opportunities.” This was the word coming from Donville Inniss, Minister of Industry, International Busi-ness, Commerce and Small Business Development.
He was speaking on the occasion of the Annual Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB) Student Conference at Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre. He told the budding accountants , “I ask that you see the provision of services as an opportunity to serve, and this is the springboard form which I would like each of you to plunge when you think of charting career paths. It is this mind-set which I believe will drive the expansion of Barbados’ value proposition to the world. We must move away from thinking of how a job can benefit us and look at how best we can contribute to the goals of our organisations and Barbados as a jurisdiction.
“We must take a critical look at how Barbados as a country is serving the world. This is imperative as it will dictate the quality of service we are able to provide. It will also ultimately drive the transformation of our economy to one able to sustainable contribute to the development of our people and our nation.
“The ingenuity of our people, the ability to think creatively and to respond proactively to global change will be necessary to push this transformation. We are capable of finding domestic solutions to pressures we currently face. Indeed we have done this before, when the need to diversify the economy from one based on sugar production to one based on tourism and the provision of international business and financial services was vital.”
The Minister continued, “These challenges confronting us today require no less commitment or dedication to the task. Rather a greater urgency and passion in charting the course and exploring the possibilities that young creative minds bring to the market place. For it is the recourse, and the use of technology that will foster the continued development that we seek.
“The creation of new products, new services, and new business strategies must however be generated from a space of creating opportunities to serve others, for it is within that space of service through which new ideas and possibilities and strategies to ensure sustainability will flow. This is a challenge to you, to become innovators, flexible and transformative in your thinking and actions. I invite you therefore to become a renewed type of business professional that welcomes shifting global trends and a demanding global environment as opportunities.
Inniss advised the students, “I wish to stress on the word ‘professional’, for that is going to be key to your success in life and in business. You cannot compromise and take shortcuts when it comes to building and retaining your reputation as a professional accountant. Your reputation ultimately is all you will have to make you successful in your career, whether you are self-employed or otherwise engaged.” (NB)