Chaguanas Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CCIC)

November 28th, 2022    |   Related To: The Chaguanas Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CCIC)

For the last two and half years, businesses in Trinidad and Tobago and around the world had to combat and adapt to the culmination of the pandemic and the many problems that ensued from the war in Europe. Economic headwinds came in the form of supply chain disruptions, increasing inflationary pressure at the pump and the groceries, inefficient institutions, and ineffective government decisions.

When businesses found a glimmer of hope through pharmaceutical breakthroughs, mass vaccination, and the ease of restrictions on business sectors, the evolution of the Ukraine-Russia conflict brought yet another form of turbulence with which they had to wrestle. Indeed, the economic forecast for global growth remains dampened by various institutions as the vicious reality of the war looms large.

For a long time, businesses in T&T viewed themselves as immune and far removed from global shocks and pressures. However, a new day has dawned where political and economic instability (in developed nations that contribute heavily to providing major inputs) has far-reaching consequences in other parts of the world.

As we proceed along the second half of 2022 and look to 2023, businesses will not only have to be adaptable and agile to survive, they have to be antifragile. According to Nassim Nicholas Taleb, “Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; antifragile gets better.”

Leaders cannot continue to do business as usual. Their decisions must be strategic and this means from procurement to capital budgeting, everything must be evaluated with rising inflationary pressures and supply chain disruptions at the top of mind.
This is also why digitization and the need for innovation can no longer be a luxury in T&T. It is a necessity. Embracing digitization not only allowed companies to lower their rental costs for physical space, but also enabled access to a wider market across the country and region.

You can innovate or wait until things go back to normal. Unfortunately, there were many businesses during the pandemic that were inflexible and did not want to adapt to the pace of change. Some of which had to close their doors permanently.

In sum, the businesses could not have imagined that Covid-19 would have caused so much disruption. Nevertheless, those who anticipated and adapted won. In the marketplace from 2022 to 2023, the companies that become antifragile will survive this period while the rest of the business world will be equipped to deal with a trade environment that no longer exists.

17 Cumberbatch Street
Chaguanas, Trinidad
Tel: (868) 671-2242, 272-2242
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.ccictt.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Chaguanaschamber