Digicel Motives in Improving Haitian Lives

Digicel's share of consumer users in Haiti is 4.8 million, nearly 50% of the island's population. This is a remarkable accomplishment in a country where the government of Haiti (GOH), and local development banks have been lax in courting private investment.

In December 2012, O'Brien held an awards event for small business owners, "Entrepreneur of the Year". President Martelly acknowledged O'Brien's enormous contributions.

Digicel generated revenue of around $2.5 billion during the 2011-2012 fiscal year, Haiti's contribution being $439 million. O'Brien sees the potential of small business owners in Haiti, having re-located Digicel's call center from monied Martinique to Haiti.

O'Brien is planning to offer mobile phone banking to poorer Haitians, as low as seven dollars a handset. The problem, though, is a majority of them don't have money to put in a bank account. O'Brien, if he really wants to better the lives of Haitians, should be pressuring the GOH to attract more private investment.

Reply to this article

Read more: Digicel, Investment, Denis O'Brien, Entrepreneur, Mobile Phone, Technology

Main | Sales for Digicel Haiti dropped 11 percent for past 3 Months »

Return to Articles List

Our objective is to share with you news and information about Haiti and the people of Haiti. Traditions, habits and the way we were  or  grew are alive in this site. We highly recommend that you Subscribe to our Newsletter and also share with us some of the things that are memorable and made us unique people.