Business View Magazine
        
        
          
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          crisis, which began in 2007.
        
        
          “When the housing market had its big bump in the
        
        
          States back in 2007 – they say when the U.S. sneezes,
        
        
          the Caribbean catches a cold. And we definitely caught
        
        
          a cold,” recalls Oran. “It was a very trying time. We had
        
        
          to take a look around us and see what was most im-
        
        
          portant, and in that case, we thought it was preserving
        
        
          jobs in our company. And we took a long-term approach
        
        
          investing and stayed our course… I guess they’re clear-
        
        
          ing up in the States now in the housing market, and
        
        
          we’re looking forward to something similar down here.
        
        
          So again, you try to not give in to those pressures, but
        
        
          invest smartly, and set yourself on a path so when re-
        
        
          covery does take place, you’ll be able to capitalize on
        
        
          it.”
        
        
          Looking ahead, he says, “I hope things will continue
        
        
          to improve, and we’ll get some growth down here, and
        
        
          you’ll see a lot of the islands kind of come out of the
        
        
          slump that we’ve had over the last few years.
        
        
          “There’s a lot of investment that needs to take place in
        
        
          the Caribbean,” he says. “Everybody needs to do their
        
        
          part – companies need to invest, companies need to
        
        
          take risk and grow, they need to invest in their employ-
        
        
          ees, and employees need to understand productivity.
        
        
          The government needs to facilitate that. And should
        
        
          all those things come together, and we can all work
        
        
          together, then we’ll see a good result in 2020, I think.”
        
        
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