Hug an ex-pat a day

(CNS): Ex-pats on island need to feel like they are wanted, in order to remain on island and be prevented from feeling the need to flee to another country where they can end up working as competitors to Cayman, according to Theo Bullmore, retired senior partner with KPMG. “Metaphorically speaking, Caymanians need to hug an ex-pat a day, and vice versa,” he said, during a panel discussion at this year’s Cayman Business Outlook conference. Bullmore was responding to the question as to how Cayman ought to be increasing its population to fuel consumption and therefore expand the economy, posed by moderator Austin Harris, talk show host with Rooster 101.

The panel discussion was provocatively entitled: “Things Tough! So Don’t Cut My Pay, Tax Me Less & Give Me More Free Services … And Do Something About Crime … Education … and Jobs. And What About Those Expats?” with panelists UCCI President Roy Bodden, Work Permit Board Chairman Sherri Bodden-Cowan, Admiral’s Managing Director Canover Watson, Burns Conolly Group Managing Director Burns Conolly and businessman Tom McCallum joining Bullmore for frank discussion of issues facing Cayman.

Bullmore said that there were only two ways to grow the population from within – get Caymanians to procreate more or, alternatively, get more ex-pats on the island. This would then bring the population up to where it was before the island lost around 10 per cent of its residents. Bullmore suggested ways to increase the ex-patriot community on island by perhaps paying a $1,000 bounty to Caymanians for every person that they bring to the islands from overseas.

“If we don’t make up that 10 per cent that we lost we will never be able to get back to where we once were,” he said.