On Tuesday night at the AC Marriott Hotel in Kingston, a reception and farewell was held for the founder and Chairman of Digicel, Denis O’Brien.

It was well attended bringing out many who have helped to build Digicel into the dynamic pan-Caribbean telecoms player that left a footprint in markets across the world. Thirty-two to be precise.

There is no other entrepreneur in the twenty-first century that has connected the Caribbean ( English, French, Dutch and Spanish Speaking) so emphatically and with such daring and aplomb.

In Jamaica, the FINSAC era in effect killed the entrepreneurial spirit for a generation many opting to take refuge in Government Paper. 

If it is not financial services, construction or imports, investors are not interested in taking a chance on industries they are not au fait with. Jamaica will not produce a Denis O’Brien , a Mark Zuckerberg an Elon Musk for sometime. Men of that vision and daring are deemed to have Icarus qualities for those who prefer to have their feet firmly planted on the ground.

Denis O’Brien came into Jamaica, taking on an incumbent giant and played to win. Such competitiveness has never been seen in Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean. In fact Denis arrived in Jamaica at about the same time Pirates of the Caribbean and Jack Sparrow became known to the world. Jack Sparrow and Denis O’Brien are both bold, audacious adventurers. Both were based in Jamaica. Both established franchises and brands worth billions. Both changed the game. 

The Irishman rode into town, an unknown with a US$47 million telecoms licence in his back pocket which he acquired from the Government of Jamaica and turned it into a multi-billion dollar corporation that bestrides continents.

He infused the belief “who dares wins” into his teams and Digicel made it big, redefining marketing in the Caribbean.

Denis made the mobile phone both affordable and necessary. It’s hard to imagine life without it today. A quarter of a century ago, the mobile phone was a luxury. Denis O’Brien made it a utility for everyone in the  Caribbean.

Like Alexander the Great, O’Brien braced back his shoulders and said the world is mine. Many would tremble in trepidation and couldn’t countenance going up against Carlos Slim, and his telecoms company Claro, a subsidiary of the telecoms giant, America Movil  At that time, Slim was one of the world’s richest men – Denis O’Brien took him on in his own back yard.

Investing in the Caribbean is fraught with risks. One has to contend with currency fluctuations, low income per capita, poor infrastructure, high taxation, and lack of professionalism. O’Brien laughed in the face of fear and saw opportunities many didn’t. That makes him unique, a businessman not encountered before or since.

But his vision was grander than simply corporate glories. He leveraged those to make a mark with investing in sport, supporting and sponsoring track stars like Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. He sponsored the West Indies cricket team when many of the Caribbean’s top companies gave it a pass, with its glory days in former decades not taken into consideration. He invested in other businesses, building out SportsMax, forming Loop News, still the largest pan-Caribbean digital news platform, acquiring Paymaster,  forming Digicel TV and going into the cable and content game before Netflix became the behemoth that it is today. He located Digicel’s world headquarters in downtown Kingston, leading the charge for other companies to move into what was once a derelict forgotten part of town.

He has remained a loyal friend to Haiti and has extended a helping hand where others would have reasoned it more prudent to withdraw it.

The Digicel Foundation under the stewardship of Jean Lowrie Chin and Maria Mulcahy became one of the best of its kind in the Caribbean, leaving an indelible mark on Jamaica. 

Denis O’Brien has helped many with little fanfare. He can be a generous guy not just with money but with his advice, his time, and his insight.

Many executives have gone on to have great careers, working with Denis O’Brien while sometimes taking a bollocking from him. You got to be made of sterner stuff if you are to cut it in his camp.

Inside the Phillips Chatrier stadium at the French Open is a quote attributed to Napoleon, “ Victory belongs to the most persevering.

Denis O’Brien embodies that spirit.

Below is the full text of his farewell address at the AC Marriott on Tuesday night: 

• I would like to thank everyone for coming this evening, particularly those who have travelled huge distances to be here.
• I am of course fearful I will forget to mention someone who has made a significant contribution to Digicel but please bear with me.
• Thank you to Peter Lloyd, a master of detail, Antonia Graham, and the committee who organised tonight’s reception.
• It is difficult to summarise the last 25 years that we have worked together…… in these few minutes. 
• Everybody in this room, and many others not here, has had a major role in the creation of what Digicel is today
• In 2000, our Founding Directors and shareholders, Leslie Buckley, Lucy Gaffney and Seamus Lynch, did not flinch with their initial investment nor in the huge contribution they made to the business in every way.
• I am sorry my partner and former Vice Chair, Leslie Buckley, is not here tonight.  He has been an immense pillar and influence over many years and was one of the architects of our strategy across the region.
• Our first CEO, Seamus Lynch, also deserves a huge amount of credit for his role in creating the initial culture and operating zeal of our first operation here in Jamaica.  He was outstanding.  Harry Smith was our Jamaican marketing Chief and knows the pulse of Jamaica. I would also like to thank Tony Chang for his guidance as a board member of our Jamaican business.
• Seamus recruited the best and brightest Jamaican managers and was joined by a 30-strong “gang” that came from ESAT Telecom in Ireland and nearly all of you have come back to Jamaica for tonight. 
• On the last count, I think there are over 80 former managers who have travelled tonight. Thank you for your huge contribution to the business. It’s brilliant to meet up with everybody and I am sure the party will go on late tonight
• Seamus always described our staff as high jumpers because every time we gave them a target, they cleared it and raised the bar again. But the bar tonight may be a liquid one!
• The opportunity to invest in this great country, Jamaica, came about when I sold ESAT and was unemployed in early 2000. I saw an ad in the London Financial Times that Jamaica was going to auction two new mobile phone licences.  It was an intriguing opportunity. At the time, only 3% of the population had a mobile phone.

• Prime Minister PJ Patterson and Minister Phillip Paulwell were the architects of the telecoms liberalisation in 2000 in Jamaica.  I don’t think the then Minister Paulwell expected that he would raise close to US$100m for the Jamaican exchequer for the two licences. We can only blame Frank O’Carroll for constantly raising his hand at the auction.
• Jamaica’s inspired liberalisation policy was then copied by nearly all countries in CARICOM and regionally.  This created a huge opportunity but had to be funded and taken on all in one go.  So many of you here tonight played a major part in rolling out these operations in 15 Countries very quickly.
• All these successful licence applications were led by Frank O’Carroll along with Ken Mason, Lisa Lewis, Aidan Heavey and many others.  Ultimately we ended up in 31 markets in the Caribbean and the Pacific.  Frank also got us licences in Iran, North Korea and Libya but we didn’t take them up!
• At one stage we were launching a new market every 3 months. Our network rollout teams were led by Donal O’Shaughnessy, Stephen Curran, Rohan Pottinger, Mario Assad, Jean Marc Castera and Krishna Phillipps along with many more. In the middle of this mix, Kevin White and a great number of others worked on the commercial launches, helped all the way by Lucy Gaffney.
• Tonight is my opportunity to thank Prime Minister Holness and previous Prime Ministers for allowing us the opportunity to invest in Jamaica over the last 24 years. The encouragement you gave us to become a Jamaican multi-national with its Global HQ here in Kingston was unwavering.  I also want to recognise Minister Audley Shaw who persuaded me to invest in a new Group HQ in the downtown area of Kingston.
• Our Jamaican staff and management have played an immense role in building the business throughout the Caribbean and also bringing their management talents to other markets.
• PB Scott and his late grandfather, Desmond Blades as well as Pat Scott, have been long-term partners together with our shareholders in the region including Ralph ‘Bizzy’ Williams in Barbados, Kelly Glass in the Eastern Caribbean and Conor O’Dea in Cayman.
• At the outset, we also got great support and encouragement from the late Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, Chris Blackwell and Neville Calliste. Adam Stewart is here tonight and is a remarkable force in modern Jamaica.
• The Jamaican economy and Government’s finances have gone through a rapid transformation in fiscal terms. Both political parties and their leaders have had to take hard decisions.  Incredibly, debt to GDP has fallen from 130% to less than 80%. No other country in the Caribbean has done this.
• This is also a chance for me to recognise and thank Prime Minister Holness for his key role in persuading CARICOM, the UN Security Council and Kenya to successfully bring about a UN resolution to deploy a multi-national security support mission in the coming months in Haiti.
• I welcome our Haitian team, led by CEO Jean Philippe Brun, Chair and interim Group CEO Maarten Boute, Luca Sebastiani, and Sophia Stransky who operate in the most challenging environment. It’s also a great pleasure to have Ghada Gebara, our first CEO in Haiti, back with us this evening.  She travelled 42 hours straight to be here.
• The six countries in the Pacific business turned into a hugely successful operation and we were sad to sell it two years ago to Telstra and the Australian Government. Our first Pacific CEO Vanessa Slowey did an outstanding job initially in Samoa and also the start-up of the other five islands. PNG was our largest and most challenging market.  Seamus Lynch also oversaw the business from a Board perspective.  Thank you to both of you.
• The current team, Colin Stone, Shally Jannif, Lorna McPherson, Ketan Mehta, Serena Sasignan and all the Pacific team deserve great credit for what they have achieved. They are now working for Telstra which I understand is very different……….!
• The Digicel Foundation led by our lightening conductor Maria Mulcahy has been one of our proudest initiatives that started in 2004 with a focus on Education and Special Needs. We have four outstanding CEOs in Sophia, Charmaine, Penny and Serena.  A special thanks also to Jean Lowrie-Chin, Josefa Gauthier and Desha Clifford our Chairs.
• After the tragedy of the devastating earthquake in 2010, almost fourteen years to the day, we worked hand in hand with President Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative in helping Haiti recover from the devastating impact of the earthquake when 300,000 people lost their lives. President Clinton’s mantra was always ‘Build Back Better’ and we worked with Greg Milne to apply this to all our initiatives in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative.
• The late Colm Delves took over from Seamus and led the business through its extraordinary growth phase and we remember him tonight.  Colm was much loved across the region.  We also remember PJ Mara, Heather Moyston and the 53 staff and 11 contractors we lost in the intervening years.

• Over the last year we have had to restructure our balance sheet. Our Vice Chair and former long standing CFO, Lawrence Hickey, together with Dermot Hayes and a small team undertook this difficult work successfully.
• Lawrence has been of great support to me in his role as Vice Chair. Thank you Lawrence. I hope we can work together on another adventure in the future.
• The Telecoms industry is in a difficult place right now and investors are pulling back. This is because the industry is being forced to meet higher and higher investment demands in network capacity both in LTE and fibre network to carry traffic for OTT’s such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, YouTube and Netflix and many others. This traffic carried free of charge represents 70% of network throughput. The 9 largest Caribbean operators have come together to put forward a cost recovery plan to CANTO and CARICOM to force big tech to pay their way.
• Until the OTT’s start paying, I have a fear that the outlook for our industry is going to be bleak. Facebook generates US$12 ARPU per month per user but has no network costs.
• Digicel’s cost of capital, in other words, the interest we pay on loans, is 15% and we are also spending between 16-18% of revenues on capital expenditure every year with no increase in revenues. This makes our industry unviable. We pay taxes, while OTT’s don’t.
• Thank you also to the Honourable Minister Daryl Vaz for his leadership and support at a CARICOM regional level, in drawing other government’s attention to this serious issue with OTT’s.  I look forward to continuing to work on this ‘Fair Share’ initiative and to achieving a successful outcome to help change our industry.
• Our outgoing Group Chief Executive, Oliver Coughlan, retired a week ago to return to Ireland with his wife Ger.  Over the last 3 years, Oliver was an outstanding CEO of our business in the mould of the late Colm Delves. We have had a great relationship and I want to thank him for his huge work. Oliver loves everything Jamaican and led his group team from the front. 
• We are really fortunate to appoint a new highly talented Chairperson in Rajeev Suri.  Rajeev brings new ideas and a proven international track record from his time as CEO of Nokia and Inmarsat. 
• I am delighted to welcome Rajeev and I am delighted to hand over the baton for what will be another exciting new period for Digicel.

• I wish Rajeev every success and you know you will have my full support.
• Having a business in nearly every Caribbean country has given me a healthy perspective of the economies and outstanding talents of all these nations. For 300 years they suffered the absolutely dehumanizing brutality of Chattel Slavery.  When it all ended in the mid-19^th Century the Plantation owners of the enslaved were the ones that were compensated. The colonizing nations Great Britain, France, Holland, Spain and the EU owe their vast wealth and economic well-being to Caribbean countries.
• When Jamaica got its independence in 1962 the new Nation State was left with a bare cupboard to build its economy and society, while Great Britain had the benefit of all the wealth that was plundered from Jamaica.
• Great Britain alone borrowed 40% of GDP in 1838 to compensate the owners of the enslaved and only paid off the remaining debt in 2015. France forced Haiti to pay half of its government budget in compensation all the way into the 1950’s. 
• This is why we have started the Repair Campaign, just over a year ago, so that negotiations take place with the UK and EU Countries in order for them to recompense for a shocking period of history. 
• The Repair Campaign is in keeping with the 15-nation CARICOM ten-point plan for reparatory justice.  We are working with all 15 governments and Civil Society on individual socio-economic reparatory justice plans. These will be ready to be considered by each government and CARICOM in the coming months.  These plans include the cost of health, education, infrastructure, green energy, agriculture and memorialising what happened.
• I would like to thank Minister Grange for her ongoing advice and support and Sir Hilary Beckles who is the chair of the CARICOM Reparations Committee for coming this evening.  We have also been working closely with the Chair of the Jamaican Reparations Commission, Laleta Davis and also Sydney Bartley. I would also like to acknowledge Professor Verene Shepherd for her invaluable guidance. The Repair Campaign for Reparatory Justice will take a number of years….. but it has my absolute commitment.
• On a more personal level. I have taken the time to reflect on the sacrifices that my wife Catherine and family made in order for me to work as hard as I have had to.  Catherine, in my absence because of my work and travel, did an outstanding job with our 4 children, Jack, Paddy, Alva and Isabel.  The home fire was always kept burning.
• Thankfully, at the same time, she also brought all her commercial and management skills to our other businesses, particularly our two resorts in Portugal and Spain.
• Catherine thank you for just about everything
• Finally, nothing goes on forever, either in life or in business.  The great memories of the last 25 years will keep me going. 
• Hope you all have a great night.