Q&A: Chamber of reflections... Business leaders look back (Part 1)

Wednesday 24 February 2021

Ranging from reflections on the high street conundrum to licensing rows and UK consultants…Some of the island’s top entrepreneurs have spoken out about life at the helm of Jersey's key business lobby group and what policy decision they would make if they had the chance.

100 editions (and nearly 10 years) have now passed since Bailiwick Publishing launched Connect magazine in April 2011 - always independently owned and edited, it was originally (and is again now) endorsed by the Jersey Chamber of Commerce.

To celebrate this milestone edition, we asked the Chamber Presidents covering the lifetime of the magazine so far, to give us their take on the last decade, which has seen the way we do business change so much.

Pictured: Express is asking former Chamber presidents to give their insights into the evolution of island business.

We'll be sharing their answers across this week, starting with Ray Shead and Cooper and Co's David Warr, who responded to the following questions:

1. We’re presuming your predecessor in the role didn’t leave a note in your desk drawer with a message on it (maybe they did?) - but if they had done that…what would it have said?
2. Going into the role, you must have had a shortlist of ‘must-tackle’, ‘mission-critical’ issues - what was it?
3. All senior public roles have their highs/lows, triumphs/frustrations - but if you had to pick a defining image from yours, what was it, and please describe it?
4. Looking in from the outside, what do you think the public would be most surprised about, if they knew it?
5. You have two gifts to award - a gag and a loud-hailer. During your term of office, who would you give each to, and why?
6. Imagine you have a free rein to produce and implement just one policy decision. What is it (today) and what will it achieve?

Here's what they had to say...

Ray Shead - Chamber President, 2009 to 2011

Pictured: Ray Shead asked why we need to import civil servants from the UK rather than using our own.

1. “Good luck. For the next two years, remember you speak on behalf of the membership.”

2. Retail strategy, how retailers should respond to the competition off-island from the internet to make sure there was good communication between the media and Chamber to improve our image and ensure that the public is aware of the businesses, large and small, who we represent.

3: To explain to Economic Development - our sponsoring department - that we were both on the same side, we were not the opposition.

4. The actual amount of day-to-day contact, especially in the form of consultations, that we were involved in. Also the number of requests from the media for Chamber's comments/views on various issues of the day.

5. I would gag anyone who says we must follow English solutions to everything (see below). With regard to the loud hailer, I would give it to David Warr, my then Vice President, whose opinions I respect... mostly.

6. Why do we have to import consultants and senior civil servants from the UK rather than using the expertise already in the island? Why must we have Rolls Royce solutions to everything when perhaps a Ford Sierra solution would actually be more than adequate?

We seem to slavishly follow the UK way of doing things, but in reality we are quite capable of dealing with it ourselves.

David Warr – Chamber President, 2011 to 2013

Pictured: David Warr said his ideal policy to implement would be the greening of St Helier.

1. “Don’t let the b*stards get you down.”

2. At the time, we came up with the idea of a ‘Chamber Manifesto’. I think it was a five-point plan. Its purpose was to set a direction for Chamber. I’m not sure we ultimately changed anything, but at least it started a conversation.

3. Business licensing laws.

I got so many calls from frustrated business owners, who couldn’t employ the people they needed to operate their business properly. It seemed finance could get whom they wanted, but the local hair salon couldn’t.

I had many a conversation at the time with Philip Ozouf, the then Economic Development Minister to try and get a positive outcome. The problem was always centred around population growth to the detriment of small businesses. Plus ça change!

4. How a few people were working their backside off for the membership without being paid and for purely altruistic reasons.

5. I would happily have gagged the then Senator Philip Ozouf. His heart was in the right place, but he was hugely divisive and played politics like no one I’ve ever known.

Loud-hailer – sadly no one really comes to mind politically. Self-preservation was the motto of the day. Kevin Keen was very helpful as a provider of ammunition and had a contact list like no other!

6. My policy would be “the greening of St. Helier”.

The pandemic has for me demonstrated the need for a massive overhaul of our public spaces as well as the need to integrate the whole of town in such a way as to be able to walk / cycle without clashing with motorised vehicles. ‘A town within a park’ mentality.

This pandemic will no doubt have caused huge mental health issues for people living alone and with no family to support them, it’s therefore of paramount importance that we create great public spaces that links together all parts of the capital.

The Parish of St. Helier should become the custodian of all public spaces to ensure a coherent plan rather than the piecemeal approach currently experienced as a result of too many departments sticking their proverbial oar in and thereby obstructing real progress.

With the decline of the high street, more people working from home and the development of the Waterfront, there is a real chance of ghettos being created in and around St. Helier, as its original ‘raison d’être’ is redefined. We need a new vision.

Follow Express tomorrow for reflections from Editor of Express and Connect, James Filleul (Chamber President from 2015 to 2017), and aMaizin' Adventures' Kristina Le Feuvre (2015 to 2017)...