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Last month the Irish Cricket Team made its first ever appearance in the Cricket World Cup. With Jamaica in the headlines, Accountancy Ireland took the opportunity to talk to one company with strong Irish connections that is making a name for itself in that part of the world. There are no prizes for guessing we’re talking about Digicel, the largest and fastest growing telecommunications company in the Carribbean.

Think of Jamaica and you probably think white sand, reggae, pina coladas, and a laid back lifestyle, Like Ireland, Jamaica is an island, a former colony with a history of emigration, a country recognised internationally for its people. And the parallels don’t end there. For more than a century Cable & Wireless was Jamaica’s dominant telecommunications provider. Prices were high, the service was generally considered poor, and few people had mobile phones. Then, in April 2000, Digicel Limited acquired a licence. A year later the company launched with 119 retail outlets. Within 100 days of starting service it had 100,000 subscribers. Today, that number has grown to in excess of four million. Less than six years on from getting that initial licence, Digicel currently has operations in 22 markets across the Carribbean and employs more than 3000 people.

One of those people is Irish Chartered Accountant, Lawrence Hickey (35), who moved to Kingston in December 2002 to take up a post as Financial Controller of Digicel Limited.

A graduate of the University of Limerick, Lawrence had qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG. Post-qualification he joined Grafton Group Plc as Group Management Accountant. From there, he moved to Esat BT as Finance Manager and was responsible for all the financial management and financial reporting requirements of the Esat Group. He also played an instrumental role in the consolidation of the company’s business and consumer divisions following the sale of Esat to British Telecom. That experience was to stand him in good stead when he made the move to Jamaica in 2002.

“The opportunity to move to Kingston came up out of the blue and it was too good an opportunity to pass on. I thought about it and I knew that the downside was limited. I was young enough to take a chance and I’d always wanted a stint of international experience. The opportunity to get that experience working with an Irish company in an interesting part of the world was very attractive.

“When I came out initially I was just responsible for Jamaica. It was a start up situation and it was very hands-on -- putting in controls and systems, getting the financials right, budgeting, pricing, cap-ex and so on. When people think about Jamaica they think of sun and sea and a laid back way of life but I was under no illusions about the work ethos when I came out here. We work very hard, and the work is interesting and it is great to be part of this company. It’s a work hard, play hard mentality.”

Within a year of moving to Kingston, Lawrence had been appointed Financial Director for the Jamaica operation, a position he was to hold for the next three years.

“My experience at Esat was extremely useful but this is a step beyond that. Here we have 22 countries. Demand for our products and services is phenomenal in this part of the world. We recently acquired an operation in El Salvador and, for a time, we were opening in a new market almost every month. It has been so interesting over the last five years and a great story to be part of.”

Lawrence was appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the entire Group in February 2006. One year on, in February 2007, Digicel Group Limited announced it had raised US$1.4 billion in capital through a corporate bond offering to acquire 100% ownership of Digicel Limited by its founder and Chairman Denis O’Brien. The transaction - representing the largest bond offering in the Caribbean – was five times over-subscribed.

As Group CFO, Lawrence is responsible for driving Digicel’s financial goals and objectives through its dynamic growth. Asked how his role has changed over the last five years, Lawrence says: “The challenge for the finance function is to keep up with the growth of the company and to make the sure the proper controls are in place. We try to coordinate the teams in all 22 countries … One minute you’re working on a US$1.4 billion bond issue, and the next you’re working on a detailed operational budget – it’s a very hands on environment."

And was the Denis O‘Brien factor a help in raising that US$1.4 billion? It was, and “the fact that we were able to close the deal in such a short space of time is testimony to the international standing of Digicel,” Lawrence adds.

So what is next for Digicel in the Carribbean in 2007?

“We expect the growth prospects in the 22 markets including Guyana, El Salvador, Haiti and Trinidad & Tobago to enable us to achieve the growth consistency that has been evident since we started operations in Jamaica less than six years ago.”

And, in case you’re wondering about the cricket, Digicel is the proud sponsor of West Indies Cricket …