Amcham ESG conference: Calls for more diversity, equity, inclusion in companies

Business heads have been asked to address the implementation of more diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) that will result in cultural change in their organisations.

This was the topic of a panel discussion at this week's Environmental, Social and Governance Conference hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham).

On the panel were Gregory Hill, managing director of Ansa Merchant Bank Ltd, John Hadad, co-CEO of the Hadco Group, Mark Loquan, president of the National Gas Co of TT Ltd, and Bill Shireman, president and CEO of US-based non-profit consultancy firm Future 500.

Hadad said the Hadco Group is a family-owned business and while on a family retreat abroad, a similar discussion arose.

“You really can’t filter into your organisation that flavour of diversity and inclusion unless it starts with the family, for family businesses. So there are simple things that we have to look deep within ourselves and answer.

"For instance, are we creating, as a family, equal opportunities for the females in gen two? Because there are three men at the top.”

He said the three men have to look at whether they are creating enough opportunities in terms of ownership and executive membership.

Diversity is only one part of the equation, he said.

“Inclusion is really the critical thing, because we can tick a lot of boxes around diversity, and I want to make this point: all-around psychological safety, because with psychological safety comes execution and productivity.”

He said an example of this would be looking within the company, knowing there are many members of the LGBTQ community, and working around insurance that does not allow same-sex partners under its policies.

“We discovered that if you go the normal route, the law states that an insurance company that offers that cannot essentially include a partner...

"So what do we do? We come out of the normal system and we go self-managed and we hired a company that can help us self-manage insurance and offer it to our employees.”

For Ansa Merchant Bank Ltd, Hill said, “We focus on hiring and retaining the best talent for the organisation, and to achieve that we can’t discriminate against age, sex, identity or preferences.”

He said diverse opportunities come from having diversity in thought and leadership style and practices.

Hill said, “Therefore, we have embedded very clear guidelines in our HR policy...that we should have no discrimination.

"I think from a business standpoint, better decisions are made with diverse people who have very diverse thoughts, and so we are 100 per cent behind ensuring that we have a very diverse organisation.”

The oil and gas industry has been predominately male-oriented, and Loquan said he has noted that improvement is needed, especially on the board of the NGC.

“Our leadership team is, like, one-third female, and I think this is where we need to incorporate the vision, values and inclusivity.

"So rather than just responding to the vacancy now, I think we are getting into a whole system of succession planning, high potential, diversity and inclusion.

“I would say it starts with having a very deliberate focus in these areas and even reporting in our sustainability report. So we’ve started with the gender, but I think if we start to expand, you’ll see some of these things happening more and more.”

Loquan added that he believes that thinking should take the NGC where it wants to be in terms of diversity and inclusion. He said the NGC has started on this journey already and no longer has a human-resource department, but a People, Leadership and Culture (PLC) department.

The issues of financial accessibility and other tangible means of promoting sustainable growth were brought up during the discussion. Promoting sustainable growth falls under the inclusion aspect of DEI policies.

Hill said Ansa Merchant Bank Ltd has already started looking at assessing all its lending opportunities and creating a digitally-enabled commercial bank.

He said in terms of being more inclusive, “We plan to shake up the way our process is driven, so that it’s more risk-based so it’s more inclusive. Doing that will (allow) younger borrowers, young entrepreneurs and small-to-medium enterprises without the very stiff and historically intensive amount of documentation and compliance required to get access to financing in a more decentralised way.”

He said this means Ansa Merchant Bank Ltd will also be revising the way it assesses risk, so that it is more inclusive. To make this a reality, Hill said the bank will work with the Bankers’ Association and the Central Bank to reshape the regulations.

As for accessibility, Hill said, “We are making it more accessible to the banking community. We will not be focusing on multiple branches, but rather some physical touch points enabled by a digital application, so that a wider cross-section of TT will have access to their banking services on their devices.”

On project financing, as it falls under lending, Hill said these projects must meet local regulations, environmental and government criteria, as government would be able to put structures in place for the organisation to follow.