Rights and responsibilities – seeking a sustainable balance
Nick Joseph writes: “Miene damen und herren, segnore e signori, mes dames et messieurs, ladies and gentlemen.” Those are the words that greeted me to the finest dinner I ever ate. Later that evening, I was asked for confirmation of which sauterne I would like to pair with my foie gras. A prominent Russian sitting in proximity to me asked for clarification. Not a problem for the Portuguese waitress, who, in addition to conversing easily in German, Italian, French and English was able to assist in near fluent Russian.
I was in Switzerland, and it was 10 years ago.Â
“Would y’all like a Bud with your burger?” was not part of the repertoire.Â
Upscale. Sophisticated. Exclusive. Expensive. It was memorable and like most things of the highest quality, it was worth it.
The waitress was a professional. Her training had taken years. She was a migrant worker, and like her Swiss colleagues, well paid for her expertise. Gstaad is nice. Not her forever home though. One day she was to return to her native Portugal. The cost of living demanded it.
In any event, she could be more content with her sardines and occasional presunto iberico and port. Never a Bud and a burger.
But beneath the surface, all may not have been perfect. Had I asked for some scotch bonnet on the side, some stew conch, callaloo or a rundown, I am confident the waitress would have had no idea what I was talking about.
This is my company’s logo, developed to represent aspects of our home. Do you see the conch? The catboat? The stingray? Something else? It is all a question of culture and perspective. We each have a vantage point. A perception.
I am a Caymanian, but my origin, literally, is Jamaican. An analysis of the law surrounding my birth could also lead to the conclusion that I was also born Iranian. Not terribly helpful.
I have lived my life in Cayman but have seen much of the world. My background, education, training and experience give me a unique perspective — and so do each of yours. My age and position now give me the confidence and ability to say what I see, as I see it, whether that be convenient or popular. We are here to share vantage points, perhaps even to reassess our perspectives.
Cayman is my home. Whilst I acknowledge we are sometimes demonstrably “a work in progress”, we have the potential to be superb.
My bias for Cayman (and our people) is perhaps apparent, but large numbers of discerning businesspeople and families from around the world, including Gstaad, are coming here and staying here. The resulting investment and development are all around us, the potential benefits significant. Â
We feed our rapidly expanding economy with labour from all around the world. That labour, often highly skilled and of the most exemplary character, is invited on a journey. The initial stage is for nine years.
Those who wish to remain can qualify for permanent residency under a points system. Thereafter, most permanent residents (under our existing regime) will advance to become Caymanians. Our workforce and our ability to attract and welcome and retain the best is key to much of what we have achieved. Â Â Â
But we face a risk that, from my vantage, must be addressed. Our successes, as individuals, as businesses, and as a country, must be and remain relevant to the people of these Islands — if it is to be sustained.
Like all countries, we have an economy that requires balance. The government needs income to provide for the needs of the people. The needs, like the population, are growing.
Two of the most useless (and expensive) things on earth are a newborn human baby and a newly qualified lawyer. They are filled with immense potential, but first must be fed, medicated, educated, clothed and housed. Eventually, they are destined to become contributing members of society.
Even the lawyers.
We eventually create, earn, pay fees and duties (just don’t call them taxes), and contribute to government’s coffers. As we retire, we will hopefully have saved enough, but the trajectory is that many of us have not and will run out of funds, ending our time as most of us started, reliant on government for support.
For the system to be sustained, our collective cost to government cannot ultimately become more than our collective contribution. But Cayman has a secret weapon: expatriate labour.
We do not have to medicate, educate, or feed foreign workers in their formative years. That obligation falls to their homelands.
Expatriate labour usually arrives here fully prepared. It serves us and contributes to our coffers (including through the payment of work permit fees) and consumes nothing. Even its healthcare is paid for by private insurance. Its children are expected to be educated in private schools. Traditionally, it would leave these Islands and return “home” in retirement, never becoming a corresponding burden on this society while advancing in years.
We took that resulting dividend and invested it in many things, including our airline, our civil service, and our turtle centre. But we changed the rules of the game. Â
Today, we find ourselves spending on all the things we have traditionally spent on — and more. The realities of underfunded pensions and healthcare liabilities are dawning on us. They have been there for a while. We are only now fully taking notice. Â
We continue to attract investors and, indeed, must to maintain an appropriate balance.
However, we are not paying 35 Swiss francs an hour for most of our imported labour, no matter how skilled — a least not as a guaranteed base. We serve foie gras and sauterne at prices like those in Gstaad, but no one seems to be sent from here to hotel training school in Lausanne, and few benefit from multi-year apprenticeships.
While our burgers remain good and we are gaining excellence in patisseries, fewer and fewer of our newest chefs have mastered breadkind or even know what it is.
My reference to the culinary industry is convenient. The principles apply across all industries. We achieve world-class things at world-class standards, but is the pace of our advancement and sophistication pulling too far ahead of our own people’s ability to service it? Â
Our commercial aspirations and ambitions cannot become disconnected from our permanent population. Dreams of betterment, advancement, and opportunity cannot be allowed to become cast as unattainable illusions. Â
If the Caymanian people are left behind, our march forward risks trampling our future.
The warm welcome of the Caymanian people is ultimately the foundation on which our economy stands. There should be no hesitation in answering: “Who are we developing for?”  Â
We also risk pricing ourselves out of our own homes that many have toiled for generations to build.
I believe we collectively have a duty to protect our legacy. With our great privilege and opportunity comes responsibility. Access to labour from overseas carries a reciprocal obligation to not only employ where possible but also to train and mentor local people in meaningful ways. A culture of compliance is preferable. Enthusiastic participation optimal.
We must take steps to empower the Caymanian people. In our quest for exclusivity, Caymanians are the one demographic that cannot be excluded. Â
Handouts do not generate a return. My encouragement, instead, is for more of a hand-up. A hand-up can bring multi-generational returns.
It is my hope that every Caymanian will be equipped with the opportunity and, through their toil and with the support of many gathered in this room, be enabled to achieve their maximum potential and to participate more fully, deservedly, and sustainably in all that our economy and community can offer.
We ultimately need to ensure that we have a secure place, going around the dinner table, for our customers, our neighbours, and ourselves to be asked: “Y’all want a Caybrew with your burger, a sauterne with your foie gras, and… some swanky with your turkle?”  Â
We need to get this right. If we do not, in a generation or two, those who choose and have the wherewithal, born here or otherwise, may feel it necessary to retreat to a more affordable retirement in Portugal if that lovely country will have them. Â Â
I don’t really like sardines, and my Portuguese is lousy.
I am not planning on going anywhere.
The above is the text of a presentation given by Nick Joseph at the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce 2025 Economic Forum on 17 January 2025.
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Category: Viewpoint
Once again Mr. Joseph, thank you for a poignant matter-of-fact commentary. I’m one of many who would like to see you as a candidate in our General Elections but I can also understand why you would not want to be directly involved in our political swamp.
However, I encourage the more level-headed of our declared candidates to seek your advice and guidance.
“Nicolas’ Viewpoint: A Great View… But the Foundation is Crumbling”
Balancing rights and responsibilities is indeed vital for sustainability, but the conversation must also include some uncomfortable truths about the state of the island today.
Education, for instance, is far from what it needs to be to meet the sophisticated demands of a competitive global economy.
Without significant investment in education reform, the prosperity of the island is at serious risk.
There is also a dire need to separate completely church from state, practicing exorcisms of young people because of their questioning their sexual orientation is downright ridiculous and traumatic to them!
Maintaining the educator in question in function isn’t the hallmark of a functioning educational system, it’s a symptom of a situation that just shouldn’t exist in the 21st century!
Her reinstatement is something I leave the readers to ponder.
Sources :
https://caymannewsservice.com/2024/05/sen-teacher-cleared-in-primary-school-exorcism-case/
https://caymannewsservice.com/2021/05/exorcist-head-teacher-under-investigation/
A poorly equipped workforce cannot fulfill the high expectations of industries like finance, tourism, or even public service, leaving Cayman struggling to remain relevant in an increasingly competitive world.
The cost of living is another major factor. With purchasing power rapidly eroding, fewer expatriates—especially highly skilled, experienced, and dedicated professionals—find justification to stay.
They are understandably drawn to high-growth, high-productivity locales where their salaries stretch further and opportunities abound. As the cost of living skyrockets, Cayman is becoming less attractive, even for those who once viewed it as paradise.
Housing is also a glaring issue. While there is much talk about the lack of affordable housing, the truth is that much of the problem stems not from a lack of skilled labor or quality construction but from the overbearing red tape that pervades every corner of the system.
Whether it’s inefficient customs processes or island-wide bureaucracy, the delays and costs compound, driving up prices and leaving residents with fewer options.
Take solar panels as a prime example. A permit to install panels on your home shouldn’t take six months for approval, nor should you have to submit multiple permits if your installation combines the CORE program and self-consumption.
Why are such sustainable practices being bogged down in endless paperwork?
Similarly, something as simple as building an extension to your parking lot on your own property becomes an exercise in frustration, thanks to the incredible amounts of back and forth required for planning submissions.
To make matters worse, inspectors frequently contradict one another on the same regulatory framework. How can anyone expect to get something done in these circumstances?
The result is delays, additional costs, and a disincentive for anyone—local or expatriate—to invest in or improve their property.
Lastly, the government’s reliance on emergency credit lines to cover its running costs is a clear symptom of deeper issues.
Yes, overstaffing plays a role, but at its core, this is a reflection of an administrative system more focused on preserving privileges than providing equal access to its services. Instead of addressing inefficiencies, the system seems more inclined to protect its status quo—even as the cracks in the foundation grow wider.
If sustainability is truly the goal, then these issues—education, cost of living, housing, red tape, and government inefficiencies—cannot be ignored. Cayman must address these foundational problems before the â€great view’ becomes little more than a fading memory.
“With our great privilege and opportunity comes responsibility. Access to labour from overseas carries a reciprocal obligation to not only employ where possible but also to train and mentor local people in meaningful ways. A culture of compliance is preferable. Enthusiastic participation optimal.”
Professional services firms bend over backwards to train young Caymanians, but we can’t work miracles.
The population is very small, and the work is not just sometimes very demanding, but – let’s be blunt – often VERY BORING. Understandably, many young Caymanians rapidly decide that they have absolutely no interest. If I didn’t have a family to pay for, I would choose differently myself!
Most expats coming on to the island through WORC have at least 5-6 years’ experience. Not only does that mean that they have no illusions about how glamourous the industry isn’t, but more importantly many of their friends and colleagues who they began training with, years earlier, have fallen by the wayside.
A huge amount of ‘weeding out’ has taken place before people get on island: the people who, after 3-4 years in e.g. London didn’t like audit or accounting, did something else. By the time the self-selected survivors are left standing, and apply to WORC to work in Cayman, you therefore get a more mature cohort who are a lot more realistic than young 20-somethings.
TL;DR. We can only do so much. Most young people, in any country, aren’t suited to financial services, and therefore don’t go into it, or change their minds in their 20s. It’s unrealistic to expect otherwise in Cayman.
Spot on. Can someone answer who are we developing for
[Summary. Financial services fund Cayman, including the amorphous CIG/World Class Civil Service/NAU blob. Therefore , the only people who matter are financial services firms’ CLIENTS. 60% of Caymanian kids leaving school are functionally illiterate and innumerate. Accounting firms, etc. simply cannot employ such people, and even when they do CLIENTS get to choose who they instruct.]
Good article. As Nick notes, expats in professional services firms fund Cayman, and pay for everything here. These are ferociously competitive industries, and clients have freedom of choice as to who they instruct. Mutatis mutandis as to in which jurisdiction those clients choose to invest. Therefore, in that free market, CLIENTS’ preferences are paramount:
(1) Caymanians are free to compete with non-Caymanians to sell their services, and clients have the freedom of choice as to who they instruct.
(2) Qualifications and overseas experience are however vital, both substantively and presentationally (e.g. such people are both objectively superior and look superior to clients), and this is why clients choose to instruct them.
(3) The reason Cayman is the most successful Caribbean territory is specifically because Cayman has commendably not indulged in xenophobic, self-sabotaging economically suicidal rhetoric and protectionism. The exception is at election time, e.g. in articles such as these.
Almost everything the author writes is high-emotion, low-intellect nonsense. For example, it is inconceivable that accounting firms would survive much less thrive if their employees (a) were forced to leave after several years; and (b) were not able to secure permanent residence (PR), and in due course status. Even Hong Kong, home of the evil CCP, grants PR after 7 years. That’s because they know that, if they don’t, people will work elsewhere, such as Singapore or Dubai. Cayman’s golden goose, financial services, is not guaranteed to keep the money flowing, if the islands decide to self-immolate in a frenzy of protectionism.
Competitor locations compete by employing both expats, and highly-skilled locals. Cayman is therefore utterly dependant on highly-qualified expats, unless Caymanians perform better. How’s that’s going, after Roy Bodden’s famous Caribbeanisation of the Cayman education system? ⬇️
“Premier Wayne Panton has said the civil service headcount cannot continue to grow… Panton said that the government must move away from “social hiring”” https://caymannewsservice.com/2023/09/premier-says-civil-service-must-stop-growing
“It’s the duty of communities all over the world to give their children an education to a standard that enables them to become full members of their home communities. It takes a village, as they say. By that measure, Cayman’s government has failed, and continues to fail. Some of our Islands’ children succeed, but most don’t…” https://www.caymancompass.com/2016/01/21/barlow-education-versus-protection/
“Cayman’s current representatives have their knickers in a twist, trying to resolve the consequences. An uncomfortable number of the tribe’s members are coming up short in the following respects:-
· Unschooled beyond a minimal level
· Unemployable because of an anti-work attitude
· Untrained and undisciplined in the management of their personal finances
· Intolerant towards foreign ethnic groups
Those deficiencies have steadily worsened in recent years; the drift to full dependency on government handouts has passed the point of no return. There is no apparent solution on the horizon. It looks as though, in time, our “native” citizenry will become overwhelmingly dependent on welfare.” https://barlowscayman.blogspot.com/2015/05/caymans-entitlement-culture.html
If Caymanians want better jobs, they must perform better. That starts early. See:
(1) 2021: “Almost 60% of Year 11 students miss 2021 exam targets …according to the Data Report for the Academic Year 2020-21, just 40.3% of Year 11 students achieved the national standard target of five or more Level 2 subjects including English and maths.” https://caymannewsservice.com/2022/04/almost-60-of-year-11-students-miss-2021-exam-targets.
(2) 2023: “A data report released by the education ministry reflects a decline in external exam results…with standards in mathematics dropping back to 2017 levels… despite the significant investment that has been made in public education… Only 27% of all students at Key Stage 2, when they leave primary school, had reached the expected standards in all three core subjects of reading, writing and maths.” https://caymannewsservice.com/2023/05/report-shows-school-leaver-results-drop-from-peak/
(3) 2024: “…only 26% of children leaving all government primary schools achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, according to a data report published last month by the Department of Education Services and the Ministry of Education. This is 1% down from the [previous] academic year.” https://caymannewsservice.com/2024/04/education-data-report-reflects-poor-school-results/
Also:
https://caymannewsservice.com/2019/09/school-standards-gap/
https://caymannewsservice.com/2018/12/2018-year-11-exam-results/
https://caymannewsservice.com/2017/05/education-results-fall-in-2016-data-report/
Businesses are not welfare schemes for the unemployable (that’s the “World Class Civil Service™” AKA ‘Shadow NAU’). The equivalent of the obsessive navel-gaving about Caymanian affirmative action, and whinging about expats, is the Black Economic Empowerment legislation in South Africa. As with all attempts to impose racial preferences/unmeritocratic tribalism, it has been a failure: https://theconversation.com/only-south-africas-elite-benefits-from-black-economic-empowerment-and-covid-19-proved-it-189596.
If Cayman wants to regress to being a handful of fishing villages, then quasi-Jamaican politicians can have hissy fits about expats. If not, keep quiet, knuckle down, and focus on educating Caymanians kids so that in due course they can compete for clients to further develop Cayman. Compete on merit: not skin color. There will be limits to this, though. An island of only 30,000 so-called “multigenerational Caymanians”, with the record of educational achievement documented above, seems unlikely to be able to rapidly generate any more that a tiny % of competent, internationally competitive, white collar professionals necessary to fulfil the wide range of roles here – without which, the island collapses into bankruptcy.
Other islands have demonstrated what happens if you indulge in lobotomised protectionism, rather than improving educational standards. See:
https://cpsi.media/p/jamaica-is-not-doing-ok
https://cpsi.media/p/why-does-barbados-underperform
https://cpsi.media/p/colonialism-and-progress-fb9