“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” – Proverbs 27:17
In personal as well as national growth and development, partnerships can play an important role in many ways, including improving quality of life, combining skills and resources, cultural interaction, human resource development, international travel, accessing new opportunities, driving innovation, sharing risk, increasing customer satisfaction, improving communication, enhancing products and services, and reducing costs.
I have been involved with and benefited significantly from professional partnerships throughout my life.
In 1995, I was invited by the late Dr. Michaela Smith, CEO of the Commonwealth Partnership of Technology Management (CPTM) headquartered in London, England, to join CPTM.
CPTM had its origins in the Commonwealth Secretariat, UK and the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) in the days when Mahathir Mohamad was Prime Minister of Malaysia, on his first occasion.
CPTM was more familiarly known as the Smart Partnership Movement and Michaela was its driving force. If partners can take pride in tenets such as a Shared Vision, Cultural Diversity, a Code of Ethics, Longevity, Loyalty, Transparency, Equity, Fair Play, Trust, and Values, then the relationship was defined as a Smart Partnership.
The nucleus of CPTM was a group of international volunteers who convened annual international dialogues hosted in Malaysia, and several Eastern and Southern African and Caribbean states over the period 1995 to 2013.
Many Caribbean volunteers participated in these dialogues, the themes of which varied over a range of national development issues which are still relevant today.
The volunteers all benefited significantly from the international exposure but the synergy of their interaction also contributed to and stimulated national development dialogue in these countries.
Two of these dialogues were hosted in Barbados – in 1996 and 1999 by the Central Bank of Barbados and Caribbean Development Bank, respectively – and I had the honor to be the local convenor on these occasions.
CPTM also contributed to a national vision for St. Lucia early in the new millennium.
Since Michaela’s passing in June 2022, CPTM’s board has undergone a revisioning process which is captured in its updated website, www.cptm.org, to make a worthy reflection of both CPTM’s proud past and its plans for the future, including partnerships with Caribbean countries.
Many successful countries, especially latecomers in export diversification and enhancement, have not relied solely on spontaneous market forces. Rather they have developed public-private alliances to build consensus about long-term strategies. They have proactively established specialized public institutions to support the innovative, entrepreneurial and investment activities that are needed to stimulate national export sectors.
In 2010, I was invited by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to tell the story of the relative success of Barbados as an example of a country that has employed public-private alliances.
Other country cases which have also been studied by ECLAC include Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Malaysia, and Singapore. Barbados is the only case in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Barbados has evolved over the past 60 years from a colony, through adult suffrage and internal self-government, to independence in 1966. Its economy has undergone radical transformation from being based on commodity exports, such as sugar and rum, to becoming a high-value services exporter. GDP per capita was less than US$200 in the 1950s and is now just under US$24,760.
The country has the third highest rank of the Western Hemisphere on the Human Development Index, after the United States and Canada. This success has been due to a sound post-emancipation educational system, a stable political system, an effective trade union movement, positive benefits from the colonial administration, a dynamic public-private partnership, and an effective NGO movement.
Smart partnerships, such as CPTM (as it is revived) and Barbados, provide a strong foundation for building and fostering economic growth in 2025.
Happy New Year!
(Dr. Basil Springer GCM is a corporate governance adviser. His email address is basilgf@marketplaceexcellence.com. His columns may be found at https://www.nothingbeatsbusiness.com).