British businessman- help those who lead

British hedge fund manager, Ian Wace is asking that people understand the burden of leadership, especially in times of disaster.

Wace, who is credited with spending US$25 million to aid in the reconstruction process in the Southern Grenadines, including the building of ferry terminals on Canouan and Mayreau, said on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 that Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has displayed tremendous leadership skills in the wake of the devastation by Hurricane Beryl.

He was speaking at the opening of ferry terminals in Grand Bay, Canouan.

Wace said that Dr Gonsalves’ leadership skills were used to move him (Wace) from his original pledge of US$5 million to aid in the aftermath of the damage by the hurricane to US$25 million.

“…I was sitting at my desk in London, and I watched your hurricane. I watched it like a big cotton wool ball descending on the Southern Grenadines and I thought, oh, my God, can you imagine being in that? What must it be like? And you were all in it.

“I was just imagining it and a couple of days later, I knew, I had to come down, and I went to the airport, and I met Ralph only the second time I’d met him, and I know that to lead is incredibly difficult,” Wace related.

“To lead, you have the responsibility of power. You have the responsibility for all of your people. You have the responsibility for your finances, for your administration, whatever, never ever underestimate the burden of power, the burden of responsibility.

“This is a man who likes to think he’s young, but is not so young. This is a man who is unbelievably capable and unbelievably erudite,” Wace said.

The businessman said he is unbelievably proud of what he was able to achieve through collaboration with the government as he didn’t come with a firm idea of what he should do.

“I didn’t have the view that we should redevelop this area here… or we should build shops,” Wace, who assisted with the repair of many houses on Union Island and Canouan said.

He said as well that what has been done so far in the Southern Grenadines is “unbelievable”.

“We have got the… strongest recovery of hurricane ever, anywhere in the world. And the reason it is so extraordinary is because we did it quickly,” the businessman stressed.

“When you do it quickly, you don’t waste money, you don’t waste time. It was done so quickly, so well, and because it was coordinated with the government, everybody worked together.”

Wace said that while some persons were speaking about division, others were working together and this must never be forgotten.

“We must never forget together. We must never forget the amount of time that there were people on the poles, we must never forget the number of boats that ran… the number of meals that were cooked, the number of roofs that were put on, the number of trucks that came through, the number of everything, more and more and more and more and more,” he said at Thanksgiving and Commemoration ceremony.

“So, everybody, everybody did something. This is everybody’s recovering. I had a little part to play, but we all had that part to play. I just did my part. Everybody else you all did your part, and you can ask for nothing more than that and we’ve done it together… and we’ve done it in conjunction with the whole of this country,” the Briton told the gathering.

He said that there is more work to do and if his name means anything to people, he wants them to understand what it is like to be a leader.

“…please, if my name means anything, understand the burden of leadership. It is, as I said earlier on, the most lonely place, especially in a crisis, and what we all have to do is to lean in and help the people who have to lead….”