How Bermuda Has Successfully Navigated The Global Pandemic (And How Entrepreneurs Can Live and Work From The Island Worry-Free For A Full Year!)
Glenn Jones is the interim CEO of the Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA). He's also a former Press Secretary for the Government of Bermuda and veteran in the media and tourism industries.
For those of you who’ve followed me and/or Meeting of the Minds for a while, you’ve likely heard me talk about Bermuda.
Back in 2017, I was invited to keynote for Bacardi and spent a few days in Bermuda working and playing.
About a year later, I returned (initially as a tourist!) to run the Bermuda Triangle Challenge (which included 1 mile, 10K, and marathon distance road races in three consecutive days). In advance of that trip, however, I was also asked to speak again, this time at a nonprofit called the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI).
I was also introduced to leaders at the Bermuda Business Development Agency (or BDA, responsible for attracting international businesses to the island) and the Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA). And the rest is history…
Glenn Jones is currently the interim CEO of the Bermuda Tourism Authority, and below I’ve shared the interview we recorded on August 7th regarding the current economic outlook on the island, how Bermuda has been able to essentially become “virus free” when much of the world is still struggling to handle the pandemic, and why the Government of Bermuda has created a new “Work from Bermuda” certificate allowing entrepreneurs to work remotely on the island for a full year, worry-free.
Fast forward to today and we’ve hosted two Meeting of the Minds summits in Bermuda with sponsors and partners including the BDA, BTA, Bermuda Economic Development Corporation (BEDC), the Fairmont Hamilton Princess, Goslings, Harbourisde Holding’s Ltd (which owns and operates various restaurants on the island), and other organizations.
I’ve also personally given free talks to public schools in Bermuda, hosted seminars at City Hall, and co-organized the first-ever Bermuda Entrepreneurship Summit (BES) last November during Global Entrepreneurship Week.
Because of the relationships we’ve established on the island, and my desire to get back there as soon as possible, I was excited to chat with Glenn and get a sense of how Bermudians are coping with the pandemic.
In our interview, we discussed:
How Bermuda has been able to contain the spread of COVID-19 and currently has both known active cases of the virus and total deaths in the single digits!
What the Government of Bermuda has done to support local businesses who rely heavily on tourism and may not see a “return to normal” until middle of next year or beyond…
“Pivots” that many of the local businesses have been forced to make, including building digital e-commerce platforms and proactively reaching out to the global marketplace.
Why Bermuda is a great place to work from during the next year if you’re an entrepreneur or small business owner who doesn’t want to worry about getting sick and would prefer warmer weather as we enter Fall.
How the “early days” of the Work From Bermuda” program have gone and the BTA’s hopes for the new initiative.
Glenn’s predictions on how the island will innovate between now and 2030 as we all look to put this global pandemic behind us.
…and more!
For Bermudians who may find themselves reading this post, I think you’ll enjoy my back-and-forth with Glenn as I tried to ask him different questions than other media outlets or locals have surfaced in response to the new Work From Bermuda program.
And for those of you from the United States, Canada, and Europe, hopefully this conversation with Glenn gives you some insight as to why I’ve spent so much time, money, and energy investing in the Bermudian community, and why Meeting of the Minds is planning TWO virtual events centered around Bermudian entrepreneurship.
If you’re interested in learning more about those experiences, whether you’re in Bermuda or reading this from somewhere else in the world, reply to this email or comment below! You can also reach out to me directly at jaredkleinert@gmail.com.
Special thanks to Rosemary Jones at the Bermuda Tourism Authority for helping me set up this interview with Glenn. And, if you’d like to learn more about the Government of Bermuda’s new “Work from Bermuda” certificate, visit: www.gotobermuda.com/workfrombermuda.
Thank you,
-Jared
Jared Kleinert is the founder of Meeting of the Minds (motm.co), as well as a TED speaker, 2x award-winning author, and USA Today's "Most Connected Millennial".
Meeting of the Minds curates "super-connectors" and subject matter experts as invite-only attendees to 3 day summits in places like Napa Valley, Bermuda, and elsewhere, as well as “deep dives” such as this Marketing and Biz Dev strategy & implementation workshop. Members of the MOTM network include CEOs of 7, 8, and 9-figure businesses, creators of globally-recognized brands and social movements, New York Times bestselling authors, founders of pre-IPO tech unicorns, c-suite execs from Fortune 500 companies, and others.
Jared's career began at 15 years old when he started his first company, and took off at 16 while working as the first intern, and then one of the first 10 employees, for an enterprise SaaS company called 15Five, which today has raised over $40M and has almost 2000 forward-thinking companies as monthly recurring clients.
Later, Jared would become a delegate to President Obama's 2013 Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Malaysia, write multiple books including the "#1 Entrepreneurship Book of 2015", and speak at TED@IBM the day before he turned 20.
As a highly-sought after keynote speaker and consultant, Jared’s clients range from organizations like Facebook, Samsung, Bacardi, Estee Lauder, IBM, Cornell, Berkeley, AdAge, and the National Speakers Association. His insights on entrepreneurship, networking, marketing, and business development have been featured in Forbes, TIME, Harvard Business Review, Fortune, NPR, Entrepreneur, Mashable, Fox Business and more.
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