Huff: Where Bermuda is going to be in two to five years depends on how it can capitalise on the global economic opportunities in front of us. The opportunities are around risks for us: pandemics, climate, cyber. The cyber market will quadruple in the next three years, and we are well positioned in that market.

Then there is retirement security, of course, as the population globally gets older. If we can stick to our knitting and then grow those opportunities, Bermuda will be well placed.

Laframboise: Our sector was already growing driven by the robust risk-based regulatory framework, as well as macro factors such as low interest rates and a flat yield curve. These things have attracted a convergence of asset investors to insurance.

The ageing population presents a unique opportunity for Bermuda in terms of risk management, and Bermuda has the talent to manage it. Companies are looking for innovative solutions to those macro issues. All of this is driving growth in our sector.

Wilson: Our economy is going to be in a recovery mode and growing for some time now. Our reputation is very high globally, and we’ll need to maintain that reputation. If you look at some of our competitors and where they are positioned, I would say that they are not in a strong position compared with us.

Bermuda has always been on the right side of international trade and regulations. International pressures around regulations will continue but we are always on the right side of that and it will create opportunities for us.

We need to address certain challenges in the retail and hospitality sectors but overall, I think Bermuda is going to be well placed because of our nimble approach to governance. The government is open for business and it’s definitely listening. So I’m optimistic. Yes, it has been a pretty tough period, but it has been a tough period globally.

In five years’ time, when we’re having this conversation again, we’re going to be looking back and saying the decisions that we made now were for the benefit of the future.

Jeffers: It is a lot easier to do business with us as a country now. But I can’t emphasise enough how important that is. Everything from opening a bank account to getting cash from an ATM machine needs to be easier.

I want us to be ready for our visitors. Another example is the electric vehicle industry. If we went back to 2019 levels of visitors, they could service about 2 percent of our visitors. And that means that there’s a lot of frustrated people and that’s because the government has put regulations and limits on the number of the rental vehicles.

Things like that may seem small to some, but from a visitor perspective, that’s very frustrating. We as a country need to be ready for our visitors and be able to service their needs. I’m here to roll up my sleeves and work with anyone to make that happen.

Neff: This will be an interesting point in Bermuda’s evolution. Historically, our economy has always migrated from one wave to the next to power itself. We clearly need a lot of things to come together to grow the economy again—but I also believe we have more pillars now.

Some growth will come from innovation, which we’ve proved our ability to do. We have to remain open-minded on seizing those opportunities. We need a collective plan between the public and the private sectors to seize the opportunities that are out there and at the same time address some of the significant challenges we face.

We face debt and deficits in the public sector like the Island has never seen. They will have to be managed or we will struggle to execute on the international stage. We must also do something about the increasing inequality on the Island.

There are big challenges out there. But Bermuda has proven again and again that it can innovate and grow the economy. That will be key to our success in the future and ability to create a viable plan. The good news is we do have a history and tradition of being able to achieve those things.

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