This was said by Kim Bodie, executive administrator of The Bahamas Institute of Financial Services.
In an interview with The Guardian, Mrs. Bodie, who has worked at the institute assisting workers in financial services achieve their educational goals for over 23 years, shared her unique insights into the industry.
She said that compared to the late 80’s and early 90’s, the number of banks and trust companies operating in The Bahamas has seen a significant decrease. A fact the institute, which derives the bulk of its revenue from the sponsorship of corporate members, is painfully aware off.
According to Central Bank statistics, over the 10-year period from 1992 to 2002 the number of licensed bank and trust companies operating in The Bahamas decreased 25 per cent – from 404 to 301.
Mrs. Bodie also sees the lack of employment availability in the frustration of job seekers who contact the institute for job leads almost on a daily basis. “I am bombarded from week to week with resumes from persons who are looking for jobs and can’t find any. These are qualified people,” she said.
She continued that before, the requests came mostly from recent high school graduates and associate degree holders, but recently the trend has expanded to include people with postgraduate qualifications.
“I don’t know if we can say the market is saturated with too many masters degrees and we’re not requiring them anymore or institutions are afraid to hire people (with masters degrees) because of their expectations of salary,” Mrs. Bodie said.
She predicted that as more and more graduates flock to the financial services sector for job opportunities there will be an even greater over-saturation of the market which can only be remedied by an expansion of the industry or a development of additional industries to provide additional employment for the growing labour force. “I often say to my husband when I see the children coming out of the schools in droves: where are these children going to be employed?” Mrs. Bodie said.
Through her job of running the educational arm of the financial services sector in The Bahamas, Mrs. Bodie has her finger on the pulse of the industry and enjoys every minute of it, but she freely admits that despite the two-decade long love affair, financial services was not her first love.
After completing her last two years of high school at the Hawksbill High School in Freeport, Mrs. Bodie enrolled at the College of The Bahamas intent on pursuing her love of cooking and baking with the aim of sharing this love through teaching with others. However after a few months, the Home Economics programmes she was pursuing at COB were discontinued, forcing her to look at other options.
She chose secretarial science, because by this time she had achieved the position of secretary at the institute which was then known as The Bahamas Institute of Bankers.
In her years at the institute, Mrs. Bodie ensured that her educational pursuits kept track of her growing job accomplishments; so now as the lady in charge she is currently wrapping up a degree in management at Nova Southeastern University. “Wherever I felt I needed to improve my skills I took courses,” Mrs. Bodie said.
Despite the time constraints placed on her by her total involvement in her work, Mrs. Bodie has not allowed her first love to die. A budding entrepreneur, she has been running a mini-bakery from her home kitchen for the last 15 years. She sees herself committing fully to her love of baking once she leaves the fast-paced world of financial services.
Moving with the institute through a name change and four location changes, Mrs. Bodie is a sage bursting with the knowledge she has acquired over the years and the personal stories of others who through blood, sweat and tears were able to achieve their goals.
Mrs. Bodie intimated that in her time at the institute, what she has found most inspiring is the enthusiasm of industry participants in their drive to improve themselves. She added that although, as a woman she has a bias, she saw the personal sacrifices of the many women in the industry intent on developing their skills heart-rending.
“Once they get into the industry they get their foot in the door and they know what programmes are available they register for them religiously,” she said. “We have graduated pregnant mothers so you can imagine how tough it is. We have had students who are in their last trimester of pregnancy sitting in here writing very extensive examinations.”
Having personally experienced the difficulties of working and going to school while taking care of a family, Mrs. Bodie observed that hundreds of young married and single mothers have done and continue to do this and are emerging successful.
Noting that it’s the internal drive to succeed that motivates the majority of the graduates passing through the institute, she added that: “Very few people walk through these doors who are not serious about coming here and completing their programmes.”
The executive administrator of BIFS also credits the support employees receive from employers as playing a big part in the motivation of the graduates to succeed. “The majority of the persons who come through these doors, they are supported by their employers who pay for tuition, who pay for the textbooks, who once (they) pass give them an incentive bonus for passing. There is a lot of encouragement from the member banks in support of their employees,” Mrs. Bodie said.
The most recent location change has brought the institute full circle, bringing it back into the financial hub of New Providence. “We want to be in the heart of the financial centre. This is where our members and our students would like for us to be,” Mrs. Bodie said, adding that along with the location change, the institute has also had to restructure internally as legislation changes and increasing competition from other post-secondary education providers threaten to marginalize its existence. “We are now competing with other institutions that have evolved over the years…so our focus had to change because employees in the industry can go anywhere to train. We want to address their specific training needs and hopefully be their primary provider of training,” she said.
The bundle of financial legislation passed in 2001 has expanded the previously narrow definition of financial services in The Bahamas to now encompass insurance, real estate, and accounting among others. The institute has also aligned itself locally and internationally with other financial organizations such as The Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB), The Bahamas Association of Compliance Officers (BACO), the Caribbean Association of Banking and Finance Institute (CABFI) and Institute of Bankers London.
With her easy personality and ready smile, Mrs. Bodie is excited about ongoing and future plans to propel the institute forward. She firmly believes in the ability and talent available in the pool of local industry practitioners and hopes to be able to display this talent on an international stage. “I love my job. I really do and that’s why I think I stayed here as long as I have,” she said.
Martella Matthews, The Nassau Guardian
