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A five-year contract changed a country
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Ah, Fiji… what a wonderful place! Almost one in three people here is Indo-Fijian. That did not begin with a migration strategy. It began with sugar. The British, those guys that always do things right and say the Spaniards are the devil, needed cheap labour for the plantations. Not in the XVI century… not, in the XIX and XX… So, between 1879 and 1916, they brought around 60,000 workers from India under a system of indentured contracts known locally as girmit. Five-year agreements. A temporary solution to an economic problem. Almost 150 years later, their descendants remain a fundamental part of Fiji’s population, language, economy and culture. As in infrastructure… The contracts ended. The consequences didn’t. I am not comparing PPP contracts with almost-slavery. Of course not… Calm down. My point is simpler. The people who draft long-term decisions rarely remain long enough to live with their full consequences. A sentence written today can decide: Who carries the risk. Who pays when things go wrong. Who approves a Change. And who spends the next 30 years arguing about what somebody meant. Most expensive project mistakes do not begin with concrete. They begin with a sentence somebody thought was “good enough”. That is why I created Vilentia Access – Before You Send. An experienced second pair of eyes before you send the letter, approve the strategy or take the position everyone else will have to live with. Because the email may take five minutes to write. The consequences may last longer than your career. The link is below. Use this information at your own risk. Time for some drinks. ​WAITING LIST - Retainer / BEFORE YOU SEND​ PD 1: If you liked this email, don't keep it in secret and forward it to a friend. They will thank you enormously one day. PD 2: If somebody has sent you this email and you want to receive emails like this yourself, visit vicentevalencia.com PD 3: If you want unsubscribe, click the link below. |
Vicente Valencia
Weekly insights on how to perform when it matters | High-stakes decisions. Real situations. No BS. | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
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