Business View Caribbean | November 2020

14 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN NOVEMBER 2020 POWER QUEST ION hospitals, providing them with meals; we’ve done some initiatives in providing healthy living and wellbeing with local organizations; we partnered with the local YWCA as a title sponsor of the Race Against Racism; we took a very public stance on the social justice movement; we provided scholarships to the Young Black Leader Society at the University of Texas, El Paso in order to support diversity, among other things. Whenever there’s adversity, it’s an opportunity for organizations to continue to lead and not retreat into their ivory towers or their safe space.” Greg Lillegard – COO - A & D Instruments (San Jose, California) “We produce blood pressure monitors that the Veterans Administration use in what we believe to be the world’s largest telehealth program; we also sell our product to companies that focus on providing telehealth to employers. We are in the process of updating our blood pressure monitor portfolio because of the explosive growth triggered by the pandemic. And I don’t see telehealth receding. Once you’ve made the leap and you’ve set up your system that’s working, there’s no need to go back. And the benefits of telehealth are so great that no one’s going to say, ‘That’s got us through the period of COVID-19, but now that it’s over I can make my elderly patients drive to a clinic so I can take their blood pressure.’ So, our medical business, due to this telehealth opportunity, has seen growth through these otherwise dark times. It’s been a silver lining in a very dark cloud.” Paul Williams, Managing Director, Complete Development Solutions Ltd (Kingston, Jamaica) “The unexpected positive we’ve realized is that most businesses will have to retool and reset, which provides a lot of opportunities for development in different ways. In the construction industry, it is for us, as practitioners, to start preparing ourselves to capitalize on the opportunities that will come in 2021 and 2022 to this industry.” Chris Premock, Managing Director, Bahamas Builders & Development (Nassau, Bahamas) “During October, our office has seen a lot more activity with future work. So, I feel that people are still gung-ho and ready to move on to their projects and invest – which is great. It’s what the economy needs, worldwide. Instead of people clamming up and taking the “hold on and wait” routine, they’re pushing forward a little harder than they were six months ago. And I think we’re all coming out of this knowing we can get through it if we all stick together, be responsible, protect ourselves, and know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.” Patrick Chouinard, President & CEO - Element5 (Toronto, Canada) “As a result of COVID-19, we’ve begun to reconnect as human beings. When you see countries coming together to help each other overcome the problem, I’m envisioning that the impact of COVID going forward is it will bring us back to humanity, where we value life and each other and try to work together towards common goals. I was pleasantly surprised when, in the heart of the first wave, you saw people in Italy opening windows and blaring music into the streets and singing from the rooftops. And I’m hoping that COVID has been an incentive for us all to come together better than we had been previously – that there will be a renaissance in music, and arts, and culture as a result.”