Placing an Emphasis on Humanitarian Causes at CANTO 2023
At the CANTO 38th Annual Conference & Trade Exhibition, Denis O’Brien touches on telecommunications topics and human rights initiatives.
The CANTO 38th Annual Conference & Trade Exhibition was held at the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry for four days, taking place from 16 July 2023 to 19 July 2023. This year’s theme, “Fostering a Resilient Datasphere For All!” encourages a digital ecosystem that is safe, growth-oriented, innovative, resilient and secure. More specifically, CANTO is a charitable institution that looks to tackle information and communication (ICT) problems in the Caribbean. Some of its working committees include the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee and Women in ICT (WICT) Committee.
These same values are what drives Digicel, which provides award-winning LTE, home fibre network, apps and digital services to 25 markets internationally. Because of this shared vision, not only was Digicel a sponsor of the event, but founder Denis O’Brien was invited to talk to the Loop News team about the broader telecommunications industry. In his interview with Laura Dowrich-Phillips, Regional Lifestyle & Culture Manager, Denis elaborates on a new vigour at Digicel following the COVID-19 pandemic. Afterwards, he explains how Big Tech and services like Netflix, Facebook, YouTube, Amazon and Apple TV profit millions off of the Caribbean without fostering a mutually beneficial relationship with Caribbean operators, paying taxes or hiring local people.
On the other hand, Denis weighs in on international human rights issues in the Caribbean with the Loop News team, focusing on creating a safer community for children and parents in Haiti. This passion for Haiti is also echoed by Sophia Stransky, CEO at the Digicel Foundation Haiti, during the morning session of the conference on day two. In her presentation, she narrates the Foundation’s journey of building 192 schools (to date) in its 16 years, which averages out to one school per month. She continues on by discussing that for sustainable outcomes, the Foundation then began upskilling teachers with professional development and backing community engagement/participatory structures. For Stransky, the keys to sustainability include good governance, focus, community/stakeholder engagement and partners.
In conclusion, Denis O’Brien initially spotlighted many of these same concepts at the CANTO 2022 conference and exhibition last July, which embraced the theme “Enabling the Digital Evolution.” There, Denis shared staggering statistics and potential solutions in both his Loop Booth interview and keynote speech, and he will work to continue to do so moving forward.