Lockdown diaries: CaribbeanMGT’s Roger Southam

Roger Southam is a property entrepreneur and chief executive of CaribbeanMGT, a real estate agency which also provides professional coaching, biogas and PPE. He shares a day on 23 July in lockdown at his home in the Cayman Islands. My days starts at 5.35am with reading for 30 minutes. Long ago, I realised if I wanted to make time to read books I could just get up 30 minutes earlier and gain seven and half days a year. I found keeping a routine during the pandemic essential to mental wellness and I am currently reading John Bolton’s The Room Where It Happened. Our apartment has a splendid bay view and it is a delight to wake up to each morning and watch the sunrise. I can’t complain as it’s not a bad place to suffer lockdown. I’ve been living in the Cayman Islands for 18 months now and it has felt like home from day one. The pandemic has had a fundamental change on me and my life. I was asked to move to Cayman run a property management company that was in dire straits. Last July, I quit and planned on setting up my own company, CaribbeanMGT, which was just starting to get up and running as coronavirus hit. Cayman locked down early and hard, with tough curfews and breaches punishable by 12 months in prison and a CI$3,000 fine (£2,800). The clarity and strictness from the government meant there has been only one death from Covid and no positive cases since 1 July. We were confined to our apartment 23 hours a day from mid-March through to early June. Our first meal dining out was on my wife Roberta’s birthday last month. Today, we are pretty much back to normal on the island, which is great but scary in equal measure. What will happen when the borders open up? The pandemic created unexpected opportunities and adaptation for business. Using contacts in China and elsewhere I have been able to help with PPE supplies in Asia, Europe and the Americas. I start working at 7am, actioning the UK emails that have been coming in overnight. I check that the orders for our branded face coverings are complete and passed over to the factory in China. CaribbeanMGT was due to sign a biogas deal in March which is on hold pending the lifting of travel restrictions (Cayman’s borders are due to reopen in September 2020), so the PPE served a vital role contributing to society and giving a personal sense of purpose. We also recently acquired the licence on an air filtration system, which comes as standalone units or can be fitted in to air conditioning ducts, cleaning the air and surfaces of all pathogens. We launched in Cayman last week and have already sold 50 units. From 9am, I spend an hour putting plans together for attending the UK Apartment Association virtual trade show next week and presenting this product to multifamily operators in the UK. I then review reports and plans for tomorrow’s client meeting to secure an instruction to sell luxury ocean front villas. One of the consequences of lockdown has been the ability to engage with clubs and societies in London. Each week there is a range of after-work socials. Unfortunately for me, that’s actually lunchtime. Moving to Cayman reduced my involvement with the City of London substantially; the pandemic has enabled me to play an active part via Zoom in a way that was impossible or unimaginable six months ago. It is great to catch up and get the real perspective on day-to-day life rather than rely on social media and the news channels’ portrayal. The ease of island living hits home as I head to the golf course to meet a coaching client to guide and give tools to improve the mental side of his golf game. An hour later I leave him satisfied and the session has him putting smoothly. I may regret this on Sunday when we are due to play a match. I dial into my weekly Zoom call with multifamily industry friends from the US and South Africa at 5pm. It is fascinating to chat about the reality of how different countries are handling the pandemic, how the multifamily industry is faring and to catch up on the week’s activities and personal stories. Next, at 7.30pm I log in to Facebook for the weekly broadcast Colour Outside the Lines. Black Lives Matter brought me up short and made me take a long hard look at me, my life and systemic racism. The series was launched by three people from the US multifamily industry who wanted to start inter-racial conversations on the feelings and effects of systemic racism. I would recommend them to everyone to watch. At 11pm, I head to bed and reflect on another day in a strange world that is offering despair, challenge, hope and opportunity – all in equal measure. I hope that out of the pandemic and the unrest it has stirred that we all wise up to creating a society that is open and just for all. Everyone has to work at this, not just leave it to others.