Bermuda needs to face the facts about itself — even the ‘ugly’ ones — if it is to develop a culture of business development.

That was the message from Bermuda Business Development Agency’s (BDA) new chief executive officer Stephen Lund, who was the keynote speaker at the Association of Bermuda International Companies (ABIC) annual general meeting yesterday.

Mr Lund said the Island had “not been in the game” when it came to connecting with corporate decision makers who might bring their business here.

He said solutions for Bermuda’s international business sector include: “One: get back in the game. I don’t think we’ve been in the game — I don’t think we’ve been front and centre for the decision makers for the last five to 10 years.”

In addition, there should be a single point of contact for people who are coming to Bermuda to investigate business opportunities, and during those visits, everything must go smoothly. “It’s curtains if you don’t have it,” he said. “It only takes one slip-up to lose a deal. We’ve got to have our act together.”

Noting this was “a marathon and not a sprint”, it was important to talk to companies already here about what it would take for them to add people to their employment roster. “Let’s try and grow the base we have, and let’s also try and grow international business.

“We need to get Bermuda in the game — we need to enhance our reputation.

“It’s very clear to me we have to leverage the skill-sets we have in Bermuda — we’ve got to make these connections. I’m worried if we don’t do this. We need to make it happen.”

BDA is a new name for the Bermuda Business Development Corporation, a change that was announced about a month ago.

Mr Lund worked in Bermuda early in his career, but notably was CEO of Nova Scotia Business Inc (NSBI), the Canadian maritime province’s business development agency, from its creation in 2001. He spoke to an audience of Bermuda’s leading international business executives during their lunchtime meeting.

Returning to Bermuda after 20 years to take on the CEO’s role of the Island’s equivalent agency, he said he has discovered the facts about Bermuda as an international business centre can be divided into ‘good’, ‘bad’ and ‘ugly.’

The ‘ugly’ facts encompass international business — which drives the economy — is down, and that people have left the Island. The ‘bad’ facts includes that Bermuda doesn’t have a culture of business development. In other countries, he said, business development is built into their culture.

Mr Lund said: “A lot of the companies are doing great things, but they don’t have a culture of business development.” He pointed to complacency as an issue, and said plans for regrowth of the international business sector are “disjointed”.

In the ‘good’ column, Bermuda has a solid reputation, the Government is supportive of international business and people like the Island.

“When I was in New York, the comments were: ‘We like Bermuda, but haven’t seen anyone in 10 years.’ In London, they say: ‘Jersey’s here, twice a year.’ ”

He said at BDA, he wants to expand on what NSBI did for Nova Scotia.

Before he left Nova Scotia, the NSBI had just completed drawing up their second five year plan, after meeting all the goals and objectives of their first five year plan.

NSBI has helped attract some of the top companies in the world including IBM, BlackBerry, CITCO, Marsh and Lockheed Martin to Nova Scotia. The organisation also helped generate $800 million in direct client payroll between 2007 and 2012.

Mr Lund told the ABIC audience: “You’ve got to have a value proposition — you have to have something to sell. You have to think outside the box.” Today, Nova Scotia has had the fastest growth in businesses as diverse as IT and hedge fund administration, and Nova Scotia can also boast the lowest unemployment rate in Canada.

“Nova Scotia has just been recognised as the best jurisdiction in North America for investment, he added.

“We were proactive — very proactive,” explaining the process is “all about relationship management,” adding: “One-on-one short meetings are far more successful than big conferences.”

However, the process which led to locating a business in the jurisdiction took time to build. Frontier, the biggest gaming company in the UK, has just opened a game development studio in Nova Scotia. “It took four years to get,” he said. IBM also has an office in the province. “That took three years of meetings and plane trips. CITCO was a three year process.”

Mr Lund described how a meal in New York with the top executives of Cayman-based Admiral Financial Group — which provides services for some Bermuda companies — led to five years of meetings and relationship building. “And they brought the entire operation up to Nova Scotia,” he said.

“The most important thing I learned is, we had to have a real red carpet service — we did it better than any place in the world,” he said.

“From a to z, it is how to take care of the company — we are there to take care of the customer.”

Mr Lund said NSBI had their own taxi drivers who collected potential clients at the airport, and the organisation also worked with the province’s hotels. “We made sure the experience was second-to-none.” The people who came to explore doing business in Nova Scotia could count on seeing anyone with whom they needed to have a meeting, often within 24 hours — including the Premier, he said.

Connects was an important part of their equation in the Canadian maritime province. The ConnectNS website explains: “Anyone and everyone interested in growing Nova Scotia’s economy can participate. If you are a proud Nova Scotian, expat or alumni, please join the ConnectNS network and stay connected to what’s going on in Nova Scotia’s business community and receive ideas on how you can connect opportunities to the province.”

In Nova Scotia this has resulted in 60 CEOS and 2,000 people signing up from all over the world. “There are lots of people from Bermuda, who like or love Bermuda, but they live somewhere else,” he said.