Duggan Consulting Limited

NAME OF FEATURE | THE GLEANER | MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2020 12 DUGGAN CONSULTING LTD 50TH ANNIVERSARY MESSAGE FROM RESIDENT PARTNER I N 1970, I was a junior partner of the UK actuarial firmof RWatson & Sons (nowWillis Towers Watson). The firm, which I had joined seven years earlier, was then primarily a provider of actuarial services to major UK pension plans and was situated in a market town 20 miles south of London. It was, however, the oldest actuarial firm in the UK (founded in 1878) and probably the largest at that time. In the mid-1960s, the firmwas ap- pointed to advise a large Trinidadian life insurance company. The senior partner of the firm responsible for the overall advice given to the com- pany was John Martin and I assisted him. John used to visit Trinidad reg- ularly and as a result he acquired over the next few years a number of other Caribbean clients, including the Carp Corporation in Jamaica, which managed and advised a number of pension funds. Early in 1970, the partners of the firm took a somewhat surprising decision, considering that it had at that time no other branch offices, to open a branch of the firm to service its fledgling Caribbean clientele. I volunteered to start this venture. The first question was where to locate the new office. The choices were Trinidad or Jamaica, as these were the largest of the English- speaking islands. From a client perspective, Trinidad would have been the natural choice. However, there was one actuary resident in Trinidad, Mervyn De Souza, who had recently qualified and had started a small actuarial consulting practice, in addition to working for Government. On the other hand, at the time the decision was taken, there were no actuaries resident in Jamaica. So I was sent to Jamaica in 1970 to establish a branch of the firm. The first Jamaican to qualify as an actuary was Daisy Coke, who returned to Jamaica on qualification as an actuary shortly after my arrival on the island. My wife and I arrived on the island by sea in July 1970, with three small children, knowing few people. I had, however, one signif- icant client on the island, the Carp Corporation. They kindly provided me with office space and clerical assistance. The first year that I spent in Jamaica was occupied in establishing an office and edu- cating potential clients why they needed the services of an actuary. By the second year I was in need of help with the growing workload and I recruited my first actuarial student. At the start of 1972, the firm in the UK requested that I return home as two senior partners were seriously sick and they needed extra hands to look after the firm’s UK clients. Somewhat reluctantly I agreed to return, as I had hoped to spend four years in Jamaica; the first two years establishing the office and the sec- ond two years on building up the firm and enjoying the fruits of my labour. During my two years in Jamaica, I managed to acquire sufficient cli- ents on which to build a long-term actuarial consultancy, based on high professional standards. Onmy return to the UK, I still kept an interest in the office and was for many years the UK partner responsible for the office. It was always my hope that in the longer term the office would be run by a Jamaican qualified actu- ary. It was, thus, a great pleasure to me when Astor Duggan took over the running of the office, eventually acquiring the business, when it be- came Duggan Consulting. I am pleased to see that under Astor, the Jamaican firm has con- tinued to prosper and is still going strong after 50 years. Quite an achievement. I wish Astor and his colleagues all the very best on reach- ing this milestone andwish the firm every success for the next 50 years. MICHAEL BELL Resident partner 1970-1972 50 years is quite an achievement I am pleased to see that under Astor, the Jamaican firm has continued to prosper and is still going strong after 50 years. Quite an achievement.