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JEAN LOWRIE-CHIN | Jamaica Observer column | Monday, July 06, 2009
"If you had a business, wouldn't you want someone like Douglas Orane to be working for you?" asked Sushil Jain. "Well anyone can - you just have to buy shares in GraceKennedy!" The financial analyst was explaining the power of the ordinary shareholder and urging more Jamaicans to invest in local companies. "It is a good time to invest," says Jain. "Many Jamaican blue chips are now priced below book value."
Ever since the global economic meltdown, I had been promising myself to share the wisdom of Sushil Jain in this column. I had occasion to hear him give sound advice on investment in the past, and I knew that if such a man had been in charge of those Wall Street giants, they would not have fallen so hard.
"There was failure of the regulatory authorities
in the US, failure of corporate governance, excessive leveraging, failure of the system in allowing such high levels of corporate compensation, failure of the rating agencies - everybody failed to play their role," commented Jain.
"It is a crime against humanity, a tragedy that has affected the lives of billions, and yet the offenders have not been punished. I applaud the efforts being made at reform, but even now the lobbyists are trying to block them."
