It is not often that one has the opportunity to be a witness to history.
On March 28, a few days after the Caribbean and Britain had marked the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Sagicor, one of the Caribbean’s oldest but now most forward-looking companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Of course there is no comparison between the nature of the two events, but their juxtaposition in timing highlights just how far the region has travelled.
The launch – the first ever of its kind by a Caribbean company on a major international exchange – was indicative of the profound changes that are taking place in the region and in its global relationships.
What was apparent to everyone who attended Sagicor’s London event was that the company, its early and more recent history and those who now run its operations, stand as a metaphor for where the Caribbean has come from and where ambition can lead.
Founded in 1840 as Barbados Mutual Life, Sagicor, as it became known on demutualisation in 2002, reflects the broad current of Caribbean economic history. It was an early pioneer of expansion and regionalisation. Much later, but still ahead of its time, it invested outside of the region – in the US, Argentina, Japan and elsewhere. Socially the company became a focus of attention in the late 1980s when it and others in the region came under pressure to restructure the composition of their boards to better reflect the racial composition of Caribbean society. Financially its performance and profitability has been startling. Demutualisation has enabled it to move from an asset base of US$876M in 2001 to a figure of US$3.2 billion in 2005, the last full year for which audited figures are at present available. Its stability and capital standards are highly rated.
Today its board has plans to expand internationally and within the region while broadening its range of products. Its directors make clear that its values and vision come from the region, but if it is to grow it has no option but to be a willing but thoughtful participant in process of economic globalisation.
The launch was understated and human and as such quite unlike other similar events taking place in the City of London. While it was clearly about money, development and adding value for the company’s share and policy holders, it also reflected a quiet but growing confidence about the Caribbean’s place in the world.
Listening to the positive personal experiences of those present from the company and hearing the many different ways in which they had participated in the growth of one of the region’s most successful organisations, it became apparent that they represented a microcosm of all that is good about modern Caribbean experience and personal development.
Barbados’ Prime Minister, Owen Arthur believes that the company’s decision to list represents the future face of the Caribbean and Barbados economy. Speaking about this in London, he observed that there had been more change in Sagicor in the past 10 years than over the first one hundred. “When Sagicor started on this particular endeavour, I expressed my doubts but I have come to be taken by the certainty of what it is doing,” he said. The decision to seek a London listing was, he suggested, a model that Barbados society should adopt in the world.
More generally, it pointed to the future of new Caribbean economy: “The single economy will come to be manifest in the new companies
