Future of TCI: Beyond Tourism Takeaway

On the agriculture side,

after extensively testing our soil, Marius of Sunshine Nursery has found it’s simply not nutrient-dense enough to sustain the nation. Knowing this, our opportunity lies in growing “above ground”—investing in hydroponics is where we might begin to establish food security. Taking this further to utilizing our Caicos Banks —one of our biggest resources—an opportunity lies in investing in establishing nurseries for conch, snapper and lobster. We must choose not to export these food resources, but rather ensure their populations are plentiful and sustainable within the country first.

In terms of farming, there also exists an opportunity for a poultry farm. As a means to collaborate with the hotels, there are tons of daily food scraps that could be reused to feed poultry rather than being wasted.

On the topic of waste management, an immediate opportunity lies in sorting waste. Several of the containers that arrive in TCI filled with goods leave the country empty. A simple solution? Collaborating with the shipping companies and recycling companies abroad to send back sorted waste to recycle.

And finally, we should be leveraging more trade with the Dominican Republic for produce, to alleviate our heavy dependency on the US.

On the energy side,

Matt of Renu TCI shared that we can all live more sustainably in self-powered homes, businesses or resorts in as little as five to 10 years, with greater energy security and resilience (with little or no need for diesel-powered generators). A major opportunity exists for a new kind of utility sector powered by clean, low-cost, renewable energy. This sector should incentivize all development to be sustainable from the get-go.

For this sector to thrive and be accessible by all, we must establish a more collaborative approach to power generation and transmission. Working together with local power company Fortis, a solution that benefits both sides is key to making the industry sustainable and long-lasting. In a place that produces 320 days of sunlight a year, we can easily live at a lower cost with less carbon emission by utilizing solar energy.

Solar power could alleviate many of the expenses that businesses of all sizes face on a monthly basis, allowing them to shift their focus where it’s most needed and to spend more time on innovation.

On the mobility side, several opportunities exist in electric vehicles, with spin-off business opportunities for rentals. For example, villa owners could monetize their vehicles as part of their home package in 10 years. When it comes to renewable energy, TCI has a unique opportunity to become the poster child of how to harness green energy effectively and sustainably in the Caribbean.

All these opportunities come down to the financial side of things,

which is where Benji from TCBC shed some light on our current financial system. Our main opportunity lies in modernizing our current banking system and its inefficiencies to make life easier. We can’t move forward if we’re stuck using old systems such as checks, three-day lags to transfer money across local banks, or getting access to capital. Some solutions include introducing an automated clearing house for inter-bank transactions to make money transfer quick and easy, as well as the implementation of e-wallets to make ecommerce more accessible to small businesses. Finally, we must improve financial education for our youth through the banking companies to give them a firmer grasp on how our financial system works. These everyday problems must be addressed before we can look at larger, more lucrative opportunities. 

All in all, this discussion was a starting point for some, a pickup where we left off for others, or one that sparked new inspiration. If there is one takeaway from the evening, it is one expressed so eloquently by a member of the audience, Darron Hillaire:

“When I talk about inclusion, I mean this collective delight in shared ideas, experiences and expertise from people who share a space and have the ability to form and help us add to this vision.”

So we must ask ourselves: What can we do on the front end collectively? We are the people who live and love the Turks and Caicos, we’re all working toward a common vision—”to make life easy for everyone,” as Benji expressed.

A practical example of how this type of change happens over time might be through these small, intimate conversations. The more we come together to engage in these conversations, the more we can learn from each other, allowing us to combine our ideas to align a collaborative vision.