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Vol.18 No.1 – <strong>April</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
The Voice of Business in Trinidad & Tobago<br />
Transforming<br />
Trinidad & Tobago<br />
Settling disputes | Letting go of fossil fuels<br />
Digital revolution | The art of rejuvenation
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine 01<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce
Vol.18 No.1 – <strong>April</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
Contents<br />
ON THE COVER<br />
Joseph, Robert and John Hadad,<br />
joint CEOs of the HADCO Group,<br />
which is moving beyond imports<br />
and distribution to manufacturing<br />
and exports<br />
04<br />
The President’s<br />
pages<br />
Chamber President Ronald<br />
Hinds on transformation<br />
THE CHAMBER IN ACTION<br />
06<br />
10<br />
14<br />
The Chamber in action<br />
Digital revolution, business<br />
insights and coming events<br />
Lange Trinidad to supply<br />
the Caribbean’s battery<br />
needs<br />
Innovator profile by Natalie<br />
Dookie<br />
HADCO invests $35m in a<br />
new ice cream plant<br />
Innovator profile by Natalie<br />
Dookie<br />
18<br />
It starts right<br />
here, with you<br />
Jonathan Charles asks who should<br />
lead the urgent transformation<br />
ahead<br />
TRANSFORMING T&T<br />
22<br />
28<br />
30<br />
32<br />
35<br />
Making things new<br />
Pat Ganase on the art of<br />
rejuvenation<br />
Why is it taking so long?<br />
Kevin Baldeosingh wonders<br />
how T&T has dodged the<br />
transformation challenge for<br />
so long<br />
Do we really like it so?<br />
Sunity Maharaj on Dr Terrence<br />
Farrell’s 2017 study: are we too<br />
fond of things as they are?<br />
Desperate for change<br />
Hillary Young wonders whether<br />
current plans can bring Tobago<br />
the transformation it sorely needs<br />
Can we let go of fossil<br />
fuels?<br />
David Renwick on the<br />
transformations needed in the<br />
energy sector<br />
02<br />
Trinidad<br />
and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine
Vol.18 No.1 – <strong>April</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
The Voice of Business in Trinidad & ToBago<br />
Published by<br />
The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of<br />
Industry and Commerce<br />
Transforming<br />
Trinidad & Tobago<br />
Settling disputes | Letting go of fossil fuels<br />
Digital revolution | The art of rejuvenation<br />
38<br />
40<br />
THE STATE OF THE NATION<br />
A return to growth in<br />
<strong>2018</strong>?<br />
Economic outlook: with luck,<br />
back in the black this year<br />
Oil, gas and<br />
petrochemicals<br />
Statistical profile: how is the<br />
energy sector faring?<br />
Columbus Circle, Westmoorings, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago<br />
PO Box 499, Port of Spain • Tel.: (868) 637-6966 • Fax: (868) 622-4475<br />
Email: chamber@chamber.org.tt • Website: www.chamber.org.tt<br />
Tobago Division:<br />
ANSA McAL Building, Milford Road, Scarborough, Tobago<br />
Tel.: (868) 639-2669 • Fax: (868) 639-2669<br />
Email: tobagochamber@chamber.org.tt<br />
Produced for the Chamber by<br />
MEP Publishers (Media & Editorial Projects Ltd)<br />
THE CHAMBER AND ITS<br />
MEMBERS<br />
6 Prospect Avenue, Maraval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago<br />
Tel.: 622-3821 • Fax: 628-0639<br />
Email: info@meppublishers.com • Website: www.meppublishers.com<br />
Chamber liaison Halima Khan<br />
Editor Jeremy Taylor<br />
Page layout & design Bridget van Dongen<br />
Design template Christophe Pierre<br />
Advertising Halcyon Salazar<br />
Production Jacqueline Smith<br />
Editorial assistant Shelly-Ann Inniss<br />
44<br />
47<br />
How to settle a dispute<br />
Niall Lawless on the work being<br />
done at the Dispute Resolution<br />
Centre<br />
Welcome to new<br />
members<br />
DISCLAIMER<br />
Opinions expressed in <strong>Contact</strong> are those of the authors, and not<br />
necessarily of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and<br />
Commerce or its partners or associates.<br />
CONTACT is published quarterly by the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and<br />
Commerce (TTCIC). It is available online at www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine.<br />
© <strong>2018</strong> TTCIC. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any<br />
form without the written permission of the publisher.<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine 03<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce
the chamber in action<br />
The President’s<br />
pages<br />
Welcome to the new-look <strong>Contact</strong>!<br />
As you can see, we have made some substantial changes to the<br />
Chamber’s magazine. We have given it a new look and feel, a new<br />
design. We have re-thought and re-angled the editorial. The result,<br />
we hope, is something more like a general-interest business magazine than a<br />
corporate statement.<br />
In fact, we’re thinking of <strong>Contact</strong> as a forum, a meeting place where members,<br />
and business readers generally, can discuss and debate business issues and ideas.<br />
So please treat the arguments and ideas in these pages as the views and<br />
opinions of the respective writers, not necessarily of the Chamber itself. Just<br />
as a debates commission can host and preside over an election debate without<br />
necessarily agreeing with anything the candidates say, so the Chamber can host<br />
and preside over a lively business discussion in <strong>Contact</strong>.<br />
Please make use of the magazine as a forum. We welcome your feedback on<br />
this new-look version. We welcome your ideas and suggestions for future coverage.<br />
We welcome your letters, whether about material in <strong>Contact</strong> or about general<br />
business issues (just mark letters “<strong>Contact</strong> – for publication”).<br />
We also welcome your advertising support, whether for informing members<br />
and readers about your goods and services, or as a corporate presence in the<br />
Chamber’s own magazine.<br />
The main theme of this issue of <strong>Contact</strong> is national transformation,<br />
appropriately enough, and we make no apology for returning to that vexed<br />
question.<br />
As it happens, the Chamber is very much in agreement with the broad<br />
argument running through the articles about how to implement change in Trinidad<br />
and Tobago.<br />
We all know that our economic situation is dire; virtually every social and<br />
economic sector is crying out for change and rejuvenation. But the problems are<br />
so complex that many people feel overwhelmed, open to change but not knowing<br />
where to start.<br />
We want to intensify the national debate about that: where are we, where<br />
do we need to go, what can each of us do about it? Large-scale change requires<br />
large-scale buy-in, and that can’t develop until the nation has a clear idea of what<br />
it needs to do.<br />
Each one of us, therefore, has a patriotic duty to embody the change we<br />
want to see. Every one of us is either a problem or a solution. But if, together, we<br />
can develop clear goals, and all pull in the same direction, is there anything that<br />
Trinidad and Tobago could not do?<br />
<strong>Contact</strong> magazine is just one of the services and connections the Chamber<br />
provides for its members and for readers further afield. In these pages, for<br />
example, you will find a first-hand story written by a veteran mediator about<br />
the experience of mediating an industrial dispute at the Dispute Resolution Centre.<br />
04<br />
Trinidad<br />
and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce<br />
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The DRC is a fully autonomous<br />
organisation. Opened in 1996, it was<br />
first developed by the Chamber, and<br />
we continue to enjoy a very close<br />
relationship with it. I hope the story<br />
will remind readers of the services<br />
offered by the DRC in preventing and<br />
settling conflicts and disputes in the<br />
workplace.<br />
Among other services is our<br />
MVA (Membership Value Added)<br />
programme, under which our partners<br />
offer attractive discounts on services<br />
ranging from insurance and couriers<br />
to hotels and restaurants. There’s good<br />
value here waiting to be taken up, and<br />
I urge all our members to get with the<br />
programme!<br />
I would also like to remind<br />
members of our Business Insight<br />
facility, which offers “training for<br />
business by business”. It provides<br />
remote access to live events and to<br />
video recordings on business issues, as<br />
well as hooking up entrepreneurs with<br />
consultants and mentors.<br />
There are video sessions, for<br />
example, on economic transformation,<br />
surviving the recession, and financing<br />
innovation, not to mention an export<br />
toolkit, all subjects very relevant to our<br />
current theme. Make the most of them.<br />
Ronald Hinds<br />
President, Trinidad and Tobago<br />
Chamber of Industry and Commerce<br />
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Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce
the chamber in action<br />
Be a part<br />
of the digital<br />
transformation<br />
WORDS By: Derrick Villeneuve<br />
We stand at a fork in the road,<br />
and the direction we take<br />
will determine Trinidad and<br />
Tobago’s future. We can be<br />
idle spectators and watch the downward<br />
spiral, feeling helpless about crime, jobs<br />
and the government; or we can choose to<br />
make a difference.<br />
The road to a better future must<br />
include a plan to diversify the economy<br />
and make us competitive on the world<br />
stage. The Economic Development<br />
Advisory Board (edab.org.tt) has identified<br />
seven industries that will lead us from our<br />
current state – where non-energy exports<br />
are a mere 15 per cent of the total – to<br />
40% by 2030. A key enabler in exporting<br />
these goods and services is information<br />
and communication technology (ICT). This<br />
demands a digital transformation in our<br />
businesses and government.<br />
customers and trading partners more<br />
easily. It allows us to get things done<br />
without having to spent three hours<br />
in traffic or waiting in a line at the<br />
bank. It helps prevent crime and catch<br />
criminals. We have been exceptionally<br />
successful at digitally transforming our<br />
personal lives with the use of Facebook,<br />
LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and other<br />
social media platforms. Now we need to<br />
bring that level of digital expertise to<br />
business and government. In our focal<br />
areas we need to be the best!<br />
This transformation begins with<br />
The committee is a group of<br />
volunteers from leading local companies<br />
who are passionate about ICT and are<br />
working towards a vision of Trinidad and<br />
Tobago as a digital society. Committee<br />
members have already organised seminars,<br />
network events and webinars; now this<br />
signature event can bring together the<br />
ICT community and business leaders to<br />
advance our digital transformation.<br />
The Canadian government has<br />
assisted us with a keynote speaker, Peter<br />
van der Gracht, a serial entrepreneur with<br />
global experience who has participated<br />
We will offer a choice of 50<br />
different breakout sessions<br />
Keeping up<br />
The world is moving ahead of us, while<br />
we remain constrained by institutions<br />
and habits that undermine this future.<br />
Our government agencies are still<br />
fundamentally manual and burdened with<br />
bureaucracy. We lag behind our Caribbean<br />
peers in passing legislation to enable<br />
digital business. We are still mostly a<br />
cheque-based society, and our vendors are<br />
still expected to collect their cheques in<br />
person. Many of our institutions straggle<br />
significantly behind the firms we will be<br />
competing with in North America, Europe,<br />
China, India and, significantly, even in the<br />
Caribbean.<br />
Digital transformation is about<br />
enabling a better and more efficient<br />
way of doing things. It allows us to<br />
share information with our associates,<br />
education and information exchange.<br />
Your managers and ICT departments<br />
need exposure to what is available for<br />
them to move your business from where<br />
it is today to where it needs to be in the<br />
digital age. This is a journey we will all<br />
have to undertake on a continuous basis<br />
as the world and its business evolves in<br />
disruptive ways all around us.<br />
The ICT conference<br />
We all know it is tough right now, and it will<br />
probably get harder before it gets better.<br />
This is why ICT Pro TT, a committee of the<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry<br />
and Commerce, will host the conference,<br />
“Ignite Your Digital Transformation”, at<br />
the Hyatt Regency on May 15-16, <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
in diversification strategies in other<br />
countries. Other presenters will include Dr<br />
Wayne A.I. Frederick, President of Howard<br />
University; Marla Dukharan, Caribbean<br />
economist with the financial technology<br />
company Bitt; and other notable business<br />
leaders.<br />
To top it off, we will offer participants<br />
a choice of 50 different breakout sessions<br />
to expand your digital knowledge, in topics<br />
including analytics, business applications,<br />
IT-enabled services and social media.<br />
So please join us, and join Trinidad<br />
and Tobago’s digital transformation!<br />
The author is chairman of ICT Pro TT, a<br />
committee of the Trinidad and Tobago<br />
Chamber of Industry and Commerce<br />
06<br />
Trinidad<br />
and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce<br />
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Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce
the chamber in action<br />
Business Insights<br />
sessions at the<br />
Chamber<br />
January 16<br />
Restructuring Options in the Current<br />
Economic Climate<br />
Given today’s tough economic environment, the T&T Chamber<br />
hosted a Business Insights session to address issues of corporate<br />
restructuring. As CEO Gabriel Faria noted: “It is important<br />
to understand and identify the early warning signs of financial<br />
troubles ... Should businesses fall into difficulty, it is important<br />
that you have an efficient debt-restructuring plan.”<br />
Feature speaker Maria Daniel pointed to the danger of<br />
ignoring the signals of difficulty ahead – worsening cash flow,<br />
rising costs and declining revenue – and failing to change<br />
current practices. She proposed solutions for business owners<br />
who may run into difficulty.<br />
A group panel discussion followed, featuring Jeremy<br />
Bridglalsingh (Chief Financial Officer/Executive Director,<br />
Trinity Exploration and Production), Karen Yip Chuck (General<br />
Manager, Corporate and Investment Banking, Republic Bank),<br />
Richard Beckles (Principal Consultant, The Legal Consultancy),<br />
and Maria Daniel (Partner, Transaction Advisory Services,<br />
Ernst & Young).<br />
This session is available from our Business Insights ondemand<br />
library at https://chamber.org.tt/paid/restructuringoptions-current-economic-environment/.<br />
Left to right: feature speaker Maria Daniel, panellists Richard<br />
Beckles, Karen Yip Chuck and Jeremy Bridglalsingh<br />
Left to right: Dr Ronald Ramkissoon, Allana Steuart,<br />
Joe Pires, Sheivan Ramnath, Arun Seenath<br />
January 29<br />
Insights into the Agricultural and<br />
Agro-Processing Industry<br />
Agriculture is a sector with enormous potential for<br />
diversification. This Business Insights session aimed to increase<br />
awareness about the incentives, opportunities and impediments<br />
for anyone operating in the agricultural sector.<br />
The feature presentation was by Senator Avinash Singh,<br />
Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Land<br />
and Fisheries. He focused in detail on government incentives<br />
and programmes.<br />
An interactive panel discussion followed, which allowed<br />
the audience to pose questions and make comments to the<br />
panellists: Senator Singh, Sheivan Ramnath (CEO, Agricultural<br />
Development Bank), Joe Pires (Managing Director, Caribbean<br />
Chemicals), Allana Steuart (Managing Director, Bertie’s Pepper<br />
Sauce), Arun Seenath (Tax Partner, Deloitte), and Ronald<br />
Ramkissoon (Economic Development Advisory Board).<br />
This session is available on demand from our BI library<br />
at https://chamber.org.tt/paid/insights-agricultural-agroprocessing-industry/.<br />
08<br />
Trinidad<br />
and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine
March 12<br />
Firing Up the Food Industry<br />
The food industry attracts plenty of attention in<br />
Trinidad and Tobago, and attracts tourists as well as<br />
locals. This session aimed to assist existing operators<br />
and anyone interested in starting up a business in this<br />
sector.<br />
The feature speaker, consultant Kami Jerome,<br />
shared her international and local experience in the<br />
industry, and explored areas that must be considered<br />
in order to create and sustain a successful business in<br />
the food and hospitality sector.<br />
In the subsequent discussion, panellists Richard<br />
Ramjohn (Big Rolph Food Truck), Aka Ali Kerr<br />
(Hyatt Regency Trinidad), Suzanne Daniel (Beautiful<br />
Buffets), and Christian Stone (More Vino) shared<br />
their industry experience.<br />
Left to right: Richard Ramjohn, Kami Jerome, Suzanne Daniel,<br />
Christian Stone, Aka Ali-Kerr<br />
This session is available on demand from our BI<br />
library at https://chamber.org.tt/webinars/foodin/<br />
For partnering with us on the BI series we thank our platinum sponsors The JMMB Group and The Guardian Group; diamond sponsor<br />
C&W Business; and key sponsors One Caribbean Media and Lonsdale Saatchi & Saatchi.<br />
Coming events<br />
ICT Pro TT Conference<br />
• When: May 15-16, <strong>2018</strong><br />
• Where: Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain<br />
• Who for: Regional ICT and business professionals<br />
• Rationale: Deepening ICT knowledge;<br />
understanding ICT technologies,<br />
trends and services in business and<br />
government; networking with ICT<br />
professionals and business partners<br />
• Register: http://ictprott.com<br />
Taste of the Caribbean<br />
• When: June 22-26, <strong>2018</strong><br />
• Where: Hyatt Regency, Miami<br />
• Who for:<br />
Food and beverage professionals,<br />
aspiring and established chefs; lovers of<br />
Caribbean cuisine<br />
• Rationale: Celebrating and showcasing Caribbean<br />
culinary arts; developing professional<br />
skills; gathering practical information;<br />
sampling, purchasing, strengthening<br />
established supplier relationships,<br />
meeting new vendors; innovative and<br />
exciting educational sessions<br />
• Tel.: 786-476-8623<br />
• Email:<br />
• URL:<br />
events@caribbeanhotelandtourism.com<br />
www.chtataste.com<br />
Global Business Travel Association Convention<br />
• When: August 11-15, <strong>2018</strong><br />
• Where: San Diego Convention Center, California<br />
• Exhibition: 400+ companies<br />
• Conference: 100+ education & professional development sessions<br />
• Attendees: 7,000+, representing over 50 countries. Nearly 1,300<br />
business travel buyers making purchasing decisions<br />
• Email: conventionreg@gbta.org<br />
• Phone: 888-574-6447<br />
• URL: convention.gbta.org/new<br />
China’s International Import Exposition<br />
• When: November 5-10, <strong>2018</strong><br />
• Where: National Exhibition and Convention Centre, Shanghai<br />
• Who for: Government officials, business communities,<br />
exhibitors and professional purchasers<br />
• Exhibits: GOODS: high-end intelligent equipment; consumer<br />
electronics & appliances; automobiles; apparel,<br />
& consumer goods; food & agricultural products;<br />
medical equipment & medical care products<br />
SERVICES: tourism; emerging technologies; culture &<br />
education; creative design; service outsourcing<br />
• Info: China International Import Expo Bureau, National<br />
Exhibition and Convention Center, 333 Songze<br />
Avenue, Shanghai, China<br />
• Tel.: +86-21-67008870/67008988<br />
• Email: info@sinoexpo.cc<br />
• URL: www.shanghaiexpo.org.cn/zbh/en/<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine 09<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce
INNOVATORS<br />
Lange Trinidad<br />
to supply the<br />
Caribbean’s battery<br />
needs<br />
WORDS By: natalie dookie<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY courtesy: LANGE TRINIDAD<br />
Astalwart in the automotive industry since 1957, Lange is one of the<br />
leading battery distributors in Trinidad and Tobago. With 80 employees<br />
and four departments – automotive, batteries, industrial and insurance –<br />
the firm was one of the first companies in Trinidad and Tobago to earn an<br />
official “SME 2000 certification for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Quality and<br />
Environmental Management System”.<br />
Today, Lange is building on that track record of success by establishing its first<br />
manufacturing venture, through its subsidiary LTL Manufacturing Limited.<br />
Lange carries a wide range of battery products, including Premium, E-Series,<br />
Heavy Duty, 6-Volt, Traction and Gel Batteries for light and heavy duty automotive<br />
application. It also supplies the construction and marine sectors’ needs.<br />
Steven Blanc, Chief Operating Officer, Lange Trinidad Limited, notes that the<br />
locally produced TRACK battery brand, established in 1987, is a household name<br />
with consumers. “In 2014, we began looking at new export markets and decided to<br />
source an international supply that would be able to compete on quality globally.<br />
“Eventually, we found a manufacturer in Turkey, which met our needs of being<br />
strong on quality, and research and development. We began importing from them<br />
with the goal of setting up a plant in Trinidad and Tobago.”<br />
From importer to manufacturer<br />
Blanc believed that, as Trinidad and Tobago was heavily reliant on revenues from<br />
the oil and gas industry, there was a shortage of export-oriented manufacturing<br />
businesses generating foreign exchange. “We saw this opportunity as a member of<br />
the private sector, to help improve the economy, through diversifying our business<br />
into manufacturing. As a distribution firm, we had been experiencing foreign<br />
exchange challenges, and wanted to reduce our import bill. Now, as an export driven<br />
manufacturer, we will become a net positive US dollar earner.”<br />
The Ministry of Trade and Industry came in for high praise from Blanc, who<br />
credits their team with providing excellent support to first-time manufacturers,<br />
especially one like Lange, whose product is sophisticated and requires significant<br />
engineering and research and development services. The Ministry also assisted with<br />
obtaining the necessary certifications, and with the preparations for export. The<br />
Environmental Management Authority (EMA), the Customs and Excise Division and<br />
exporTT were also helpful in getting Lange to this point.<br />
10<br />
Trinidad<br />
and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce<br />
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Stephen Blanc, COO, Lange Trinidad: “As an<br />
export driven manufacturer, we will become<br />
a net positive US dollar earner”<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine 11<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce
INNOVATORS<br />
batteries with Calcium Shield<br />
Technology, which basically means<br />
that you never have to worry about<br />
maintaining your battery as the<br />
structure and composition of the<br />
materials and chemicals minimise<br />
water loss, extending the overall life<br />
of your battery.”<br />
Technology modernises<br />
battery production<br />
The new TRACK plant is located at e<br />
TecK’s Industrial Park, Arima, on 44,000<br />
square feet of land, and will have the<br />
capacity to supply the Caricom market.<br />
The new factory has cutting-edge<br />
technology with a modular design,<br />
allowing for ease of expansion in the<br />
future. The equipment is state-of-theart,<br />
and the manufacturing process<br />
will be fully automated, with quality<br />
control stations at every stage.<br />
The first phase of configuration<br />
will allow for the production of<br />
automotive and heavy-duty batteries,<br />
which will supply Lange’s current<br />
local and regional export markets.<br />
The plant will provide employment<br />
for 20 to 50 people at its maximum<br />
capacity by year-end, creating highly<br />
technical jobs for a different class of<br />
manufacturing.<br />
The TRACK brand has three<br />
differentiating points of value,<br />
according to Ibrahim Abdool,<br />
Marketing Manager, Lange Trinidad.<br />
The new factory has cuttingedge<br />
technology with a<br />
modular design, allowing<br />
for ease of expansion in the<br />
future<br />
“VR Guard Technology protects your<br />
battery against the rigours of driving<br />
in harsh conditions. Secondly, Power<br />
Plus Technology ensures that the<br />
battery is able to start all modern<br />
vehicles which carry more components<br />
and features than in the past.<br />
“We are also developing the<br />
Targeting one million<br />
units<br />
Blanc is keenly looking to the future.<br />
“Once the plant is up and running,<br />
we will be ready to export. We have<br />
already commenced negotiations with<br />
partners in the Greater and Lesser<br />
Antilles, as well as South and Central<br />
America. From our early interactions,<br />
they are very impressed with where we<br />
are going, and with the product and<br />
operations of the company. Our goal<br />
is to manufacture one million units<br />
within the next five years. We want<br />
TRACK to be seen as an international<br />
brand with the ability to compete on<br />
quality in the international market.”<br />
In the medium to long term, Lange<br />
plans to add renewable energy, and<br />
industrial traction batteries for fully<br />
electric equipment, to its product line.<br />
Blanc explains: “As vehicles become<br />
more automated, with increasingly<br />
complex electronic systems and<br />
equipment, we will monitor changes<br />
in the market, and we have set up<br />
the plant so it will be easily adaptable<br />
to manufacture batteries of any<br />
specification.<br />
“Our mission has always been<br />
to provide high quality products<br />
at competitive prices, so this move<br />
into manufacturing will allow us<br />
to focus on quality control and<br />
competitiveness, while adapting as the<br />
industry evolves.”<br />
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epublictt.com<br />
email@republictt.com<br />
625-4411
INNOVATORS<br />
Hadco invests<br />
$35 million<br />
in new ice<br />
cream plant<br />
WORDS By: natalie dookie<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY courtesy: hadco ltd<br />
The HADCO Group is the largest importer and distributor of ice cream<br />
products in Trinidad and Tobago, representing premium brands such<br />
as Häagen-Dazs, Breyers, Nestlé, and Ben and Jerry’s. So it comes as no<br />
surprise that the Group is adding ice cream manufacturing to its list of<br />
achievements, with the development of a $35 million ice cream production plant.<br />
Started in 1992 by three brothers, Robert, Joseph and John Hadad, the Group<br />
Co-Chief Executive Officers, the HADCO Group now consists of five divisions and 12<br />
subsidiaries, representing 154 different brands. Employing more than 800 people,<br />
the Group has a wide reach, exporting across 12 Caribbean markets from its base<br />
in Trinidad.<br />
No stranger to manufacturing and innovation, HADCO recently bought and<br />
expanded a local recycling plant which converts used cooking oil into a feeder for<br />
biofuel; and its subsidiary, Imanex Limited, is already the largest manufacturer of ice<br />
cream cones in the Caribbean. Having successfully produced the Happy Time wafer<br />
cone for the past 20 years, HADCO is adding new machines to produce sugar and<br />
waffle cones. It hopes to secure 50 per cent of the regional ice cream cone market<br />
with the introduction of these new products.<br />
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Above HADCO Group co-CEOs: Joseph Hadad, Robert Hadad, John Hadad<br />
Right Creamery Novelties partner, Paul Gabriel<br />
Foreign exchange needed for survival<br />
“About five years ago we did a gap analysis,” John Hadad<br />
explains, “as we had built our business around distribution,<br />
and it was heavily reliant on foreign exchange. As a result<br />
of this, we decided to get involved in manufacturing,<br />
because we needed foreign exchange earnings within the<br />
Group for the survival of the structure of the business. We<br />
needed to generate our own foreign exchange as well as<br />
take the foreign exchange we have and create a valueadded<br />
multiplier effect.”<br />
So the Group began looking for manufacturing<br />
opportunities in any part of the business where it was<br />
strong, “around our core competencies and what we<br />
already know, which is distribution.”<br />
Hadad also notes that getting involved in the<br />
manufacturing of ice cream was a huge benefit to the<br />
Group, as it already sells 80 per cent of all imported ice<br />
Employing more<br />
than 800 people, the<br />
HADCO Group exports<br />
across 12 Caribbean<br />
markets from its base<br />
in Trinidad<br />
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INNOVATORS<br />
hlphoto/shutterstock.com<br />
cream in Trinidad and Tobago. “Having<br />
an understanding of the distribution<br />
side means that we can go to market<br />
with ice cream products a lot faster,<br />
because we have the infrastructure of<br />
cold storage, trucks, and a knowledge<br />
base of frozen products.”<br />
Creamery Novelties is<br />
established<br />
A few years ago, businessman Paul<br />
Gabriel approached the HADCO Group<br />
about distributing a local ice cream<br />
he wanted to produce. He had already<br />
completed a lot of research and<br />
development on the manufacturing<br />
process for a new brand. After much<br />
discussion, a 50 per cent partnership<br />
was born, Creamery Novelties.<br />
Located on the e TecK Diamond<br />
Vale Industrial Estate, the new plant<br />
consists of two buildings, of 10,000<br />
square feet each. One will house<br />
the ice cream, and the other the ice<br />
cream cones. Production starts in<br />
May, creating 25 new jobs at startup.<br />
The plant machinery was sourced<br />
from China, while the manufacturing<br />
process is uniquely designed to have<br />
very few touch points, from mixing<br />
to freezing, in keeping with a wellcontrolled<br />
sanitary environment. “A<br />
lot of work has gone into researching<br />
the equipment, and we have started<br />
creating recipes for the various<br />
flavours,” Hadad says.<br />
Taste testing and research and<br />
development were done locally,<br />
working with the Caribbean Industrial<br />
Research Institute, CARIRI. Product<br />
development, including packaging<br />
and design, was also sourced locally.<br />
“In addition, we will be collaborating<br />
with Caribbean CGA with respect to<br />
ingredient sourcing,” Hadad explains.<br />
The ice cream is initially in the<br />
basic flavours of chocolate, vanilla<br />
and coconut, with more endemic<br />
local flavours to be added as the<br />
product is rolled out. The firm will<br />
focus on bringing novelty products<br />
to the market such as an ice cream<br />
lolly called Creamee, as well as an<br />
old favourite, Choc Ice. Another<br />
innovative item will be a “Dairy<br />
Dainty”, which is five cubes of<br />
chocolate-coated ice cream in a box.<br />
This distinctive product was originally<br />
manufactured in Trinidad and Tobago<br />
by Paul Gabriel’s family more than 30<br />
years ago.<br />
The future of HADCO<br />
In the short term, HADCO is keen<br />
to see how the product performs in<br />
the Trinidad and Tobago market, and<br />
to understand consumer behaviour.<br />
“We want to start exporting as soon<br />
as possible, and will engage our<br />
distributor network across our 12<br />
export markets,” John Hadad says.<br />
“We feel positive that the product will<br />
sell very well throughout Caricom,<br />
and also in a few Central American<br />
markets.<br />
“Creamery Novelties targets the<br />
general consumer and affordability<br />
– we want to produce a good quality<br />
product at the right price. With our<br />
focus around novelties and flavours,<br />
the Group can become a dominant<br />
ice cream manufacturing force in the<br />
region within five years.<br />
“HADCO is owned by a<br />
Trinbagonian family, with Trinbagonian<br />
employees, and we want to continue<br />
to exist here, to grow our employee<br />
base and to grow our business. And<br />
we believe that the only way to do<br />
this would be to further diversify into<br />
manufacturing, in order to become<br />
self-sufficient with respect to foreign<br />
exchange earnings.”<br />
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transforming t&T<br />
It starts right<br />
here, with you<br />
Enough talk, enough evasion. It’s time to<br />
get serious about change<br />
WORDS By: jonathan charles<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY courtesy: trinidad express newspaper<br />
“<br />
Change is something we always say, / but every time we change things<br />
remain the same way,” sang the <strong>2018</strong> Calypso Monarch to the Savannah<br />
crowds back in February. “It won’t change despite all we do / if change<br />
doesn’t start with you.”<br />
It wasn’t a new message that Helon Francis was delivering. But the idea that<br />
each listener must become an agent of change was something of a novelty. Usually<br />
it’s the government which is supposed to change, or the opposition, or the business<br />
community. Someone else, anyway.<br />
But no matter who is urged to change, things have so far stayed the same.<br />
On the website of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) there is a scholarly<br />
paper which makes this point. Entitled “Diversification in T&T: Waiting for Godot?”<br />
(Khadan & Ruprah 2016). It refers mischievously to the 1953 Samuel Beckett play<br />
Waiting for Godot, in which two loquacious Irish vagrants wait for a mysterious<br />
saviour called Godot who never arrives. “Let’s go,” says one. “We can’t,” says the<br />
other. “Why not?” “We’re waiting for Godot.”<br />
So maybe Godot will come. Maybe the price of oil will get back to US$100.<br />
Perhaps the deepwater blocks will be teeming with recoverable resources. Perhaps<br />
Venezuelan gas will help us out. Perhaps everyone will start living within their<br />
means. But Godot never seems to turn up.<br />
In the world of economics, this seems to be quite a common view of Trinidad<br />
and Tobago’s progress in diversifying its economy. Another post on the same IDB site<br />
(Khadan 2016) says bluntly that “diversification away from the energy sector has<br />
largely failed”. It puts much of the blame, controversially, on “Dutch disease”: “the<br />
Trinidad and Tobago dollar has been consistently and substantially overvalued”. It<br />
might as well have blamed national complacency.<br />
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Helon Francis, <strong>2018</strong> Calypso Monarch: “It<br />
won’t change despite all we do / if change<br />
doesn’t start with you”<br />
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The idea that each listener<br />
must become an agent of<br />
change was something of a<br />
novelty<br />
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The<br />
problem<br />
We don’t really<br />
need to be told<br />
that the Trinidad<br />
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160<br />
and Tobago economy<br />
is over-dependent<br />
on the energy sector.<br />
Diversification is one of the<br />
buzzwords that have been in the air for<br />
decades. Plans and visions, speeches<br />
and policy briefs, have come and gone<br />
over the years. But somehow the latest<br />
energy pricing crisis, combined with<br />
falling oil and gas production, still<br />
managed to catch us by surprise and<br />
unprepared, still dependent on the<br />
wells and the rigs to pump out the<br />
national patrimony and monetise it, so<br />
as to keep us in the style to which we<br />
have become accustomed.<br />
The horror story that has unfolded<br />
in the last couple of years does not need<br />
detailing again here: the disastrous<br />
fall in energy revenue, the decline in<br />
output, the foreign exchange shortage,<br />
the gas shortfall, the budget deficits,<br />
the slashing of government spending,<br />
the erosion of savings, the piling up of<br />
debt.<br />
Once the severity of the situation<br />
became really clear, it was too late to<br />
avoid this crisis. Even if the recent<br />
cautious optimism about energy price<br />
gains and improved oil and gas output<br />
turns out to be justified, the<br />
risks of dependence have<br />
been demonstrated<br />
for all to see.<br />
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We’ve had the final<br />
warning. To continue with<br />
business as usual is too great a<br />
gamble. The nation has to adapt itself<br />
to sadly straitened circumstances,<br />
and quickly. It has to learn again to<br />
live within its reduced means. In the<br />
process, it will finally have to face up to<br />
the challenge of diversification; and to<br />
the larger issue of transforming itself<br />
– its economy, its society, its culture<br />
– into something more efficient, more<br />
rational, more productive and more<br />
sustainable, than it is now.<br />
Obstacles<br />
One hurdle is that these heavy abstract<br />
nouns have been around so long and<br />
have become so familiar that they no<br />
longer mean very much. They fly in<br />
one ear and out the other. They fall<br />
to the ground like hunks of dead wood.<br />
Diversification. Thud. Innovation. Thud.<br />
Transformation. Clunk. Lip service is paid,<br />
brows are duly furrowed, and then we<br />
return to business as usual.<br />
Another hurdle is that there is no<br />
clear definition of what these key words<br />
mean in our national context. Diversify<br />
what into what? Transform ourselves into<br />
who? What would a diversified economy<br />
and a transformed Trinidad and Tobago<br />
actually look like? There is as yet no<br />
common understanding, no shared<br />
vision, about what these<br />
words and ideas<br />
would involve<br />
if they<br />
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135<br />
132<br />
131<br />
were taken<br />
seriously: and no<br />
sense of what anyone<br />
should start doing about them.<br />
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124<br />
Plans and visions<br />
It is not that explanations are lacking.<br />
The planosphere is swimming in plans,<br />
policies, briefs, visions and speeches. There<br />
is Vision 2030 above all, aka the Draft<br />
National Development Strategy 2016-<br />
2030, which is available online, though<br />
few people seem to know what is in it.<br />
There is an array of documents ranging<br />
from a National Innovation Strategy and<br />
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Oil production 1980-2017 (bbl/day)<br />
1981<br />
1982<br />
1983<br />
1984<br />
1985<br />
1986<br />
1987<br />
1988<br />
1989<br />
1990<br />
1991<br />
1992<br />
1993<br />
1994<br />
1995<br />
1996<br />
1997<br />
1998<br />
1999<br />
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Policy to a National Environment Policy.<br />
There is even a Green Government<br />
Policy.<br />
The Economic Development<br />
Advisory Board (EDAB) that was set up<br />
after the 2015 election has produced a<br />
lot of material on these very issues. If the<br />
electorate is less than familiar with the<br />
intricacies of national transformation,<br />
it is not for lack of reading material.<br />
But that painful fact points to<br />
another difficult hurdle. It is very hard<br />
to imagine a Trinidad and Tobago<br />
transformed in the way the official<br />
literature urges, with its people<br />
enthusiastically adopting a new<br />
mindset and a new culture. What is<br />
economically sane and sensible is sure<br />
to be politically toxic. One commentator<br />
(wisely claiming anonymity) told<br />
<strong>Contact</strong>: “What we all want is high<br />
living with low productivity.”<br />
So there is the vision of<br />
transformation on<br />
one hand, while<br />
on the other is<br />
the way<br />
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125<br />
113<br />
134<br />
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things actually work in Trinidad and<br />
Tobago. Real change would threaten<br />
and trample on a vast web of entrenched<br />
interactions, systems, and processes.<br />
So much is invested in the status quo,<br />
both political and commercial, that it<br />
is hard to believe there is any scope for<br />
genuine change.<br />
Still, it must be done. The world is<br />
changing around us and is not waiting<br />
for Trinidad and Tobago to get its<br />
house in order. Even with a return to<br />
growth in <strong>2018</strong>, even with a pickup in<br />
the energy sector, the end is in sight for<br />
fossil fuels; their terminal decline may<br />
well be only a couple of decades away.<br />
Dodging the issue now simply means<br />
kicking the can down the road for a<br />
new generation to pick up.<br />
Private sector leadership<br />
In the face of these challenges, the<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of<br />
Industry and Commerce has<br />
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an unavoidable role to<br />
play in providing<br />
inspirational<br />
leadership.<br />
Which is<br />
to<br />
114<br />
107<br />
What<br />
is economically sane<br />
and sensible is sure to be<br />
politically toxic<br />
98<br />
92<br />
say, it has to entice the business<br />
community to go the whole length of<br />
the road. It cannot leave leadership to<br />
the government alone.<br />
The private sector will have to<br />
divest itself of business models and<br />
processes which no longer work to<br />
the national good. It will have to<br />
prioritise products and services which<br />
save or earn foreign exchange. It must<br />
innovate and diversify. It must develop<br />
a greater sense of global markets, and<br />
the external demand which Trinidad<br />
and Tobago can supply.<br />
Even so, without partnership and<br />
mutual support from the government<br />
and labour, the road leads straight into<br />
the desert. Somehow, the visions of<br />
the three partners in transformation<br />
must find a way to mesh. To have them<br />
pulling in different directions in pursuit<br />
of separate goals is a recipe for national<br />
deadlock and stagnation.<br />
All this is going to hurt. People<br />
are going to bawl. At every level of<br />
society, people will have to climb out<br />
of their comfort zones. We’ll need<br />
mutual support and encouragement<br />
to keep cheerful and optimistic. But<br />
we don’t really have a choice. There is<br />
too much work to do. We have been<br />
hanging around too long waiting for<br />
Godot to appear. We’ll be better off<br />
remembering the Calypso Monarch’s<br />
warning about what will happen<br />
“if change doesn’t start with<br />
you.”<br />
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1998<br />
1999<br />
2000<br />
2001<br />
2002<br />
2003<br />
2004<br />
2005<br />
2006<br />
2007<br />
2008<br />
2009<br />
2010<br />
2011<br />
2012<br />
2013<br />
2014<br />
2015<br />
2016<br />
2017<br />
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transforming t&T<br />
Making<br />
things<br />
new<br />
What can individuals and communities<br />
do to help transform Trinidad and<br />
Tobago? Perhaps we should all find out<br />
about rejuvenation<br />
WORDS By: pat ganase<br />
For everything under the sun, there are seasons of decline and seasons<br />
of renewal. Every Jouvay, every Panorama, every Carnival, every year,<br />
masqueraders and musicians play and renew themselves and their art. Every<br />
successful business knows cycles of downturn and rejuvenation. Now the<br />
pace of change in the world is quickening: can Trinidad and Tobago rejuvenate itself<br />
out of its present decline?<br />
As the downturn in our economy threatens our wealth and stability, it is wise to<br />
count blessings and achievements. Against the odds, we have had a national airline<br />
for over 75 years. We have a regional university and a national university. We have<br />
products known the world over: La Brea pitch, Trinitario cocoa, the sound of steel.<br />
Trinbagonians become stars wherever they find themselves. We are seen as a place<br />
with which to be strategically linked. We have festivals for every tribe that calls<br />
these islands home; and the foods and spices to match.<br />
Such things should give us courage. But we need to look again at other<br />
industries and enterprises that we have come to consider foundational, but which<br />
may now have to be replaced or rejuvenated; or which we may have thought to<br />
be beneath our status as an oil-rich nation. We need to consider the global forces<br />
shaping our economy, and whether we should not strengthen our sense of ourselves<br />
as full global citizens, who must share the responsibility for what is happening to<br />
our world.<br />
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olepeshkina/shutterstock.com<br />
Fresh produce is successfully being sold by Green<br />
Market Santa Cruz directly to the community<br />
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Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
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transforming t&T<br />
Left Cocobel Chocolates’ owner Isabel<br />
Brash is a chocolate-making pioneer,<br />
transforming locally grown cocoa into<br />
exceptional confectionery. Below left<br />
Adrian Foster is an award-winning<br />
designer, whose fashionable Caribbean<br />
lines have been exhibited at New York<br />
Fashion Week and on Project Runway<br />
courtesy cocobel<br />
Climate change<br />
More severe storms, prolonged wet or dry<br />
seasons, the flooding of low-lying areas,<br />
and sea-level rise: these are some of the<br />
challenges that we should expect to face<br />
as the world gets warmer.<br />
As a species, we must join with<br />
the other eight billion other people on<br />
our planet to keep the temperature rise<br />
below 2 degrees Celsius. As individuals,<br />
we can start community action. As<br />
an oil and gas nation, with one of the<br />
highest per capita carbon footprints in<br />
the world, we can reduce our carbon<br />
production, mitigate it, rejuvenate plants<br />
and processes, conserve.<br />
Is carbon dioxide from our major<br />
industrial plants (LNG, methanol, gas<br />
processors) reusable? Some of the<br />
practices we need to adopt – reduction<br />
of waste, recycling, conservation – may<br />
seem futile to the ordinary citizen. But<br />
it is up to corporations to lead in the<br />
wise disposal of waste, including the byproducts<br />
of industrialisation.<br />
Plastics<br />
More efficient use of resources is generally<br />
seen as one of the keys to profitability<br />
and sustainability. At the rate at which<br />
we consume goods and services on our<br />
two islands, the recovery and re-use of<br />
waste should be a viable enterprise. How<br />
might we be innovative in producing a<br />
continuous cycle? Products from recycled<br />
plastics now range from cottage-industry<br />
reusable bags and woven rugs to new<br />
fabrics for shoes and blankets, industrial<br />
faux lumber, construction and road paving<br />
materials. Are we up to that challenge?<br />
michele jorsling courtesy adrian foster<br />
New energy<br />
As the world turns to renewable sources<br />
such as wind, wave and solar energy,<br />
might it be a natural step for the<br />
national electricity company to expand<br />
its business into the installation of solar<br />
panels, tapping a new, clean and infinitely<br />
renewable source of electricity?<br />
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Sustainability<br />
We have heard the basic dictates of<br />
the UN Sustainable Development Goals<br />
charter: zero poverty; zero hunger;<br />
health, wellbeing, education and gender<br />
equality; clean water and affordable<br />
energy. Can we really say we are earning<br />
high marks for responsible, sustainable<br />
progress?<br />
Communities<br />
We need to tap the natural initiative of<br />
our small communities: for example,<br />
by negotiating partnerships instead of patronage to serve<br />
the corporate responsibility needs of large companies and<br />
multinationals. Community-based small business and nongovernmental<br />
organisations can contribute to the innovation<br />
and flexibility of big business. There are examples in many<br />
corners of our nation: we need to nurture and emulate them.<br />
Rejuvenative enterprise<br />
Rejuvenative enterprise depends on creativity and innovation<br />
that advances and updates sustainable industry and development.<br />
Below left Making a name for herself: Candice Caton, gospel<br />
singer/songwriter and granddaughter of Nelson Caton, one of<br />
the nation’s pioneer calypso composers. Below right Founder<br />
of the Plastikeep initiative, Rosanna Farmer is determined to<br />
build networks and educate communities on the importance of<br />
preserving the environment, recycling plastics, and making a<br />
lifestyle change towards sustainable living<br />
At the rate at which we<br />
consume goods and services,<br />
the recovery and re-use of<br />
waste should be a viable<br />
enterprise<br />
It will adapt systems and technology, but in the long run will<br />
reshape our very lifestyle and self-image, who we are and our<br />
place on the earth. Our future will depend on our willingness to<br />
relinquish what no longer serves us; and to embrace what serves<br />
not only humankind but the earth as a single ecosystem.<br />
Here are some areas of enterprise that are needed or<br />
trending today.<br />
Energy from the sun<br />
The cost of installing solar panels, for example, is falling as<br />
technology advances. Tobago might be the place where TTEC<br />
could introduce and promote alternative energy generation and<br />
supply, creating a model for a sustainable business of the future.<br />
The distribution system that has been installed over most of the<br />
country will facilitate the next step towards the use of renewable<br />
energy.<br />
Adam Mohammed courtesy CreativeTT/MusicTT<br />
abigail hadeed courtesy plastikeep<br />
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Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
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transforming t&T<br />
Janet Bloom Fabres created the monthly<br />
UpMarket as an outlet for cooks,<br />
artisans and vendors unable to rent<br />
store space<br />
courtesy janet fabres<br />
Trinidad and Tobago cocoa estates.<br />
But chocolate production does not<br />
depend on owning an estate, as<br />
many local brands demonstrate:<br />
Cocobel, Ortinola, Mariposa, Gina’s,<br />
Brasso Seco. This initiative is being<br />
led by the Cocoa Research Centre,<br />
the rejuvenated descendant of the<br />
Imperial College of Agriculture at<br />
St Augustine which grew into the<br />
University of the West Indies.<br />
Most TTEC meters are bi-directional, so it should be simple to develop a net<br />
metering system. There is nothing to stand in the way of TTEC organising, promoting<br />
and utilising an alternate supply, like solar. Consider too that electric cars, to be<br />
recharged on household energy, are within ten years of mass production. Are we<br />
thinking ahead?<br />
Wealth from waste<br />
Three policy documents support a new enterprise: The Beverage Container Bill (1999);<br />
the National Environmental Policy (2006); and the Integrated Solid Waste/Resource<br />
Management Policy (2012). Is the iCare initiative going to industrialise waste recovery<br />
and help clean up the waterways?<br />
As an example, Sustainable Barbados is a private-public sector partnership<br />
recovering materials for re-use in Barbados. Similar waste recovery centres could be<br />
set up at Studley Park in Tobago and landfill sites in Trinidad. Materials recovered<br />
could be the basis of new inventions.<br />
From plant to plate<br />
It’s probably the most stable industry – agriculture, agro-processing, agribusiness –<br />
with the greatest scope for growth at every step from field to fine dining. In addition<br />
to pepper sauces, condiments, beverages, baked goods and catering services, here are<br />
just a few examples of innovation that are working:<br />
• The Green Market Santa Cruz is an experiment in direct marketing of agri-products<br />
to specific communities. The example has been picked up by the NAMDEVCO<br />
weekend markets which now move produce into communities.<br />
The relationship between producers and consumers helps with appreciation<br />
of, and access to, healthy food. It teaches us about the use and value of specific<br />
crops, such as the role of local honey, honeybees, and honey farmers in agriculture.<br />
Innovations in food production and marketing, especially in areas with limited land<br />
space, can grow into one of the most productive areas of rejuvenative enterprise.<br />
• Our Moving Table – a pop-up feast made from local produce – is successfully<br />
demonstrating new ways with food, and finding dining rooms around the country<br />
in garden settings like Ajoupa Gardens and San Antonio Nurseries.<br />
Growers are experimenting with hydroponic and vertical systems as well as<br />
looking into the composition and health of soil, scientifically increasing yield and<br />
managing multiple crop cycles.<br />
• Cocoa. The demand and world price has stirred revitalisation of some of the old<br />
“Edutainment” tourism<br />
Visitors to Tobago and Trinidad in the<br />
“active tourism” sector learn something<br />
every time they visit, whether they<br />
are returning residents or first-timers,<br />
whether they are here for festivals or<br />
business.<br />
Ask the guides at the Asa Wright<br />
Centre who are constantly teaching about<br />
the birds, animals and plant life – and<br />
learning too. Ask the turtle protectors at<br />
Grande Riviere, the Main Ridge Rainforest<br />
guides, or Ali Baba’s Sea Breeze and Tours<br />
in Castara. Tobago’s more active visitors<br />
want to learn to dive and explore the<br />
ocean, to bicycle round the island, and to<br />
meet Tobagonians where they live.<br />
There is much scope for a visitor<br />
market that is curious about TT<br />
lifestyle, festivals, food and the natural<br />
environment. The Environmental<br />
Research Institute of Charlotteville (ERIC)<br />
is tapping in to locals and visitors who<br />
are eager to understand and conserve the<br />
marine reserves around northeast Tobago.<br />
Buccoo Reef has long been a site of active<br />
tourism, a source of revenue for fisherfolk<br />
and tour operators, in spite of the failure<br />
to update management practices.<br />
The Nariva and Caroni wetlands,<br />
turtle nesting beaches, El Tucuche and<br />
Aripo, can all bring revenue to small<br />
and diverse communities. All that’s<br />
needed might be the infrastructure and<br />
safeguards that the government provides;<br />
and a continued flow of arrivals by air<br />
and sea.<br />
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and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce<br />
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We need to tap the natural initiative of our<br />
small communities<br />
Conservation business<br />
Enterprises can be built on conservation and the wise use of resources. Erle Rahaman-<br />
Noronha has developed his farm in central Trinidad on permaculture principles. Wa<br />
Samaki now houses the El Socorro Wildlife Centre for rescued wildlife. And the Wa<br />
Samaki crew has been commissioned to rehabilitate the Walker’s Reserve quarry in<br />
Barbados.<br />
Our extractive industries – oil and gas, quarrying and mining – have to<br />
begin turning to sustainable practices. By partnering with proactive conservation<br />
enterprises, or including a conservation division in their operations, they can prepare<br />
for the “end of life” of the resource being exploited in order to evolve a rejuvenative<br />
enterprise. The quarries in the Arima valley, Matura forest and Aripo ought to be<br />
sites for re-foresting or conversion to parks.<br />
Neglected or actively used as a dump, the ocean itself holds the greatest<br />
potential for future food, recreation, education, and research and development. It<br />
is a resource waiting to be explored – not exploited – for what it might teach us<br />
about life on earth.<br />
For further reading<br />
Sustainable Innovation: the<br />
Rejuvenative Enterprise by Joss<br />
Tantram, available from Amazon.<br />
Below left Shari Cumberbatch is a<br />
fashion designer and owner of the<br />
Caribbean brand SHOP SHARI. Her<br />
business started online and now has a<br />
retail outlet. Below right In 2003 Alana<br />
Steuart and her husband created the<br />
world famous Bertie’s Pepper Sauce<br />
courtesy shopshari.com<br />
Russel Dos Ramos courtesy Bertie’s Pepper Sauce<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine 27<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce
transforming t&T<br />
Why is it taking<br />
so long?<br />
So far, the sweet scent of petrodollars has<br />
been much more attractive than real economic<br />
diversification<br />
WORDS By: kevin baldeosingh<br />
In his book The Armchair Economist, University of Rochester economist Steven<br />
E. Landsburg writes: “Most of economics can be summarised in four words:<br />
‘People respond to incentives.’ The rest is commentary.”<br />
This is the basic reason why Trinidad and Tobago has failed to diversify its<br />
economy for the past 40 years: because politicians and business people responded<br />
to the powerful incentive of oil and gas money.<br />
As for the commentary, Dr Ronald Ramkissoon, a former senior economist at<br />
Republic Bank and present member of the Economic Development Advisory Board,<br />
noted in an interview with <strong>Contact</strong> that “while there was identification of the<br />
need for diversification, there was never any sustainable effort towards investment<br />
in research, innovation and the promotion of new high-value goods and services<br />
for export.”<br />
In the last budget debate, prime minister Dr Keith Rowley listed<br />
the sectors that the government has identified as the foundations of<br />
diversification (see next page). They have all been on the table of<br />
different administrations for the past 15 years, but state funding<br />
has seen no returns, particularly in the creative industries. As Table<br />
1 shows, the state has never made any consistent attempt to<br />
facilitate economic diversification, since this must necessarily<br />
start with government getting out of commercial activity.<br />
Economists’ view<br />
UWI economist Dr Roger Hosein, in an email response to <strong>Contact</strong>,<br />
argued: “The fundamental reason why the Trinidad and Tobago<br />
economy failed to appropriately diversify in the period 1999-2016<br />
was simply because the state did not show enough initiative, and<br />
the incentives or the lack of incentives provided to the Trinidad and<br />
Tobago economy were of such a nature that it was biased against<br />
the non-oil export-oriented sector.”<br />
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Dr Ramkissoon had a somewhat different view. “Diversification will only take<br />
root with the private sector, domestic and foreign, in the lead,” he said. “The Dutch<br />
Disease has the all-embracing pull effect of all resources, human and capital,<br />
towards the booming energy sector and the non-tradable services sector. The focus<br />
of politician and people is similarly drawn away from diversification.”<br />
Economic trouble? Seize the moment<br />
The apparent paradox, therefore, is that diversification is more likely to happen when<br />
an economy is in trouble rather than when it is booming. The economic slump in the<br />
mid-1980s resulted in a Divestment Secretariat being set up in the 1990s, with several<br />
state enterprise companies being closed or privatised. But this process was quickly<br />
reversed once the new energy boom started in 2003.<br />
TABLE 1: State involvement in commercial companies<br />
Type 1970 1983 2008<br />
Wholly owned 5 34 44<br />
Majority owned 4 14 7<br />
Partly owned 2 18 29<br />
Total 11 66 80<br />
Sources: Williams, E. 1970; Mottley, W., 2008; Farrell, T., 2012<br />
The French economist Jean Tirole,<br />
winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize, in his<br />
book Economics for the Common Good,<br />
notes that broad reforms of the state<br />
have happened in countries like Great<br />
Britain, Finland, Germany, Sweden,<br />
Canada and Chile. He adds that while<br />
“it is often objected that ... a struggling<br />
economy makes it hard to compensate<br />
the losers of reforms ... the great<br />
majority of the reforms mentioned here<br />
were made precisely under difficult<br />
conditions.”<br />
Difficult conditions are exactly<br />
what T&T is now in, so the real question<br />
is whether the political incentives have<br />
changed sufficiently to trigger genuine<br />
economic reforms.<br />
Diversification in the 2017 budget speech<br />
Tourism<br />
“The Government is taking some bold steps to rectify the sector’s shortcomings by first addressing the governance arrangements in<br />
the sector. We have dissolved the Tourism Development Company Limited (TDC) which has been replaced by two new companies,<br />
one with oversight for Trinidad and the other with oversight for Tobago, bearing in mind that the two destinations have unique<br />
characteristics.”<br />
Creative industries<br />
“In the Music Sector, we will implement an Artiste Portfolio Development Programme which will support artistes who are on the<br />
verge of becoming export ready by leveraging their creative talents on the worldwide market. We will also launch a Production<br />
Assistance and Script Development Programme which will provide funding to film makers to produce high quality films.”<br />
Yachting<br />
“We are rolling out a new yachting policy which will establish a foundation to improve the competitiveness of the industry, with a<br />
view to establishing Trinidad and Tobago as the premier destination for yacht repair services.”<br />
Business process outsourcing<br />
“In this area we are pursuing a two-pronged approach: taking the necessary steps to make Trinidad and Tobago a preferred location<br />
for ‘Business Process Outsourcing’ (BPO); and making Trinidad and Tobago an International Financial Centre, offering a broader<br />
range of services and serving as a financial gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean.”<br />
Agriculture<br />
“We shall establish an agricultural financial support programme, with grants for new and existing farmers of up to $100,000.<br />
Appropriate training or certification in farming will be a prerequisite for applicants for this financial assistance since the objective<br />
is to encourage rational, efficient and methodical participation in agriculture.”<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine 29<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce
transforming t&T<br />
Do we really<br />
like it so?<br />
Our resistance to change is rooted deep in the national culture<br />
Sunity Maharaj discusses We Like It So?: The<br />
Cultural Roots of Economic Underachievement<br />
in Trinidad and Tobago by Terrence W. Farrell<br />
A<br />
lifetime’s worth of experience as an economist at the highest levels of<br />
the public and private sectors of Trinidad and Tobago has left Dr Terrence<br />
Farrell with the question posed in the title of his 2017 book, We Like<br />
It So? This follow-up from the author of The Underachieving Society:<br />
Development Strategy and Policy in Trinidad and Tobago, 1958-2008 is both a quest<br />
to understand the source of West Indian economic underachievement and a clarion<br />
call for change.<br />
For a while, Farrell is detained by such theorists as the Dutch cultural researcher<br />
Geert Hofstede and the American psychologist David McClelland, whose work in<br />
culture, attitudes and behaviour enjoys international currency in the corporate<br />
world. However, he quickly comes up against the limitations of cultural extrapolation<br />
in the findings of a McClelland-inspired survey conducted in Trinidad and Tobago.<br />
According to the World Values Survey (WVS) 6th Wave (2010-2014),<br />
Trinbagonians value work more highly and leisure slightly less than global averages.<br />
They are also far less tolerant of corruption than the average person in other<br />
countries, with over 87 per cent of the Trinbagonian respondents saying bribery is<br />
never justifiable, compared to the global sample of 69 percent.<br />
Farrell knows quite enough about his country to recognise that such findings<br />
do not square with reality. “These anomalous or counter-intuitive results probably<br />
arise because people respond the way they think they are expected to respond,” he<br />
remarks. He ascribes the tendency to “ambivalence”, a cornerstone of his developing<br />
theory about the cultural roots of the phenomenon of economic underachievement<br />
in energy-rich Trinidad and Tobago.<br />
The intellectual context<br />
In fleshing out his analysis and argument, Farrell picks his way through the work of a<br />
broad spectrum of thinkers, social scientists, novelists and poets who have plumbed<br />
the Caribbean condition and provide theoretical ballast for his argument.<br />
For graduates of an education system that remains disconnected from its<br />
Caribbean moorings, We Like It So? is a useful introduction to the substantial body<br />
of Caribbean thought developed over the 19th and 20th centuries, going back to<br />
John Jacob Thomas, the revolutionary intellectual born in Cedros in 1841, three<br />
years after Emancipation.<br />
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The book draws on the work of the Caribbean’s Nobel laureate economist,<br />
Arthur Lewis; anthropologist Daniel Crawley; C.L.R. James; the novels of V.S. Naipaul,<br />
George Lamming and Earl Lovelace; the sociology of Eric Williams and M.G. Smith;<br />
Lloyd Best’s plantation theory of Caribbean society; the poetry of Derek Walcott; the<br />
scholarship of Gordon K. Lewis, Rex Nettleford, Trevor Farrell, Carl Campbell, Gordon<br />
Rohlehr, Selwyn Ryan, Bridget Brereton and Selwyn Cudjoe, among others; and the<br />
writings of newspaper columnists.<br />
Although his analysis of Caribbean culture is grounded in these references,<br />
Farrell’s prescriptive response to T&T’s economic underachievement emerges from a<br />
world view very different from that held by many of them.<br />
Where thinkers like James, Best, Lamming and Nettleford see the challenge of<br />
change in the Caribbean as one of fundamental transformation of self and society<br />
through disruption of the historic power relations embedded in colonial institutions,<br />
Farrell argues that cultural change must be driven by “the elite who shape our<br />
institutions and procedures and establish and enforce the rules”.<br />
But they must first change themselves. To facilitate the process, Farrell proposes<br />
the “re-training of values and attitudes for persons about to assume leadership”<br />
through “structured, prepared encounters”.<br />
Role of the elite<br />
Persuading the society’s elite to “act like a true elite and take responsibility for the<br />
place” will then bring its own rewards, as a new culture, supportive of economic<br />
achievement, ripples outwards and transforms the wider society.<br />
Farrell’s own observations about the work attitudes of Trinbagonians abroad<br />
and at home in the courts, the energy<br />
sector, airlines and certain hotel resorts<br />
(namely the Sandals chain) have<br />
convinced him that they are capable<br />
of the “counter-cultural” behaviour<br />
required for economic advancement.<br />
Farrell’s counter-cultural situations<br />
are defined by clear lines of authority,<br />
mandated cooperation, and behaviour<br />
that is uncompromisingly enforced.<br />
“There is no rebellion or subversion, just<br />
quiet and respectful conformance to<br />
the rules,” he notes.<br />
If this smacks of autocratic<br />
leadership, it is not, Farrell says; it is<br />
what can happen with an attitude<br />
change in the exercise of authority to<br />
engender trust.<br />
respectful engagement; code-switching<br />
and contextual use of ‘formal’ language;<br />
establishing authority and enforcing<br />
discipline; making systems work; and<br />
connecting with the Folk to promote<br />
democracy and foster innovation.<br />
Drawn quickly, this prescription<br />
bears little organic connection to<br />
his analysis of the problem. Further<br />
reflection might lead to an exploration<br />
of the role of culture in the systematic<br />
selection of elites who pose no<br />
threat to the colonial architecture of<br />
underachievement. A glimpse into the<br />
self-perpetuating nature of culture<br />
might encourage him to second-guess<br />
his expectation that beneficiaries of the<br />
status quo would have an investment in<br />
changing the very system that rewards<br />
them while punishing agents of change.<br />
In any case, given the all-pervasive<br />
nature of culture, who will re-train the<br />
leadership elites for the challenge of<br />
change?<br />
Five initiatives<br />
Farrell observes that movement between<br />
the culture of underachievement and<br />
the counter-culture of achievement is<br />
negotiated through a process of “code<br />
switching”, including the transition from<br />
Trinidad dialect to Standard English. This<br />
leads him to propose Standard English<br />
as the language of the workplace, since<br />
it is “associated with seriousness and<br />
discipline”.<br />
In the end, he distills his prescription<br />
for change into five initiatives:<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine 31<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce
transforming t&T<br />
Desperate<br />
for change<br />
Critically dependent on Trinidad, and<br />
badly hurt by the prolonged turmoil on<br />
the seabridge, Tobago is in urgent need<br />
of transformative action<br />
WORDS By: hiLlary young<br />
For economic transformation to take place in Tobago, the island must<br />
identify and develop its own industries, says Tobago-born UWI economics<br />
lecturer Anthony Birchwood. And “once the industries are identified, the<br />
youths must be part of any development going forward.”<br />
Tourism and manufacturing will benefit from investment flows, both<br />
international and local. But development must be driven by the private sector, or by<br />
the government/Tobago House of Assembly (THA) – or both.<br />
The THA’s plans<br />
The Tobago House of Assembly documented its proposals for Tobago’s economic<br />
development in its Comprehensive Economic Development Plan (CEDP) 2.0.<br />
Covering the island’s development from 2013 to 2017, the policy framework<br />
showed how the THA wants to “transform and diversify the Tobago economy ... to<br />
adjust to rapid changes in the national and international economies”.<br />
The plan concentrated on eight strategic areas:<br />
• good governance and institutional reform<br />
• business development and entrepreneurship<br />
• human capital development<br />
• social development and resilience<br />
• improved infrastructure and utilities<br />
• enhanced safety and security<br />
• environmental sustainability<br />
• branding Tobago “Clean, Green, Safe and Serene”.<br />
32<br />
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and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce<br />
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PHB.cz (Richard Semik)/shutterstock.com<br />
Parlatuvier Bay, Tobago<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine 33<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce
transforming t&T<br />
To what extent these policy<br />
objectives were achieved is debatable.<br />
For sure, the project was starved of<br />
funding as budgetary transfers from<br />
Trinidad, the major source of Tobago’s<br />
finances, fell from $2.609 billion in<br />
fiscal 2015 to $2.19 billion for fiscal<br />
2017, a far cry from the $5 billion<br />
requested by the THA annually to run<br />
the island’s affairs.<br />
Tourism<br />
Some rebranding of the island to sustain<br />
the tourism product did occur, but its<br />
effectiveness remains in doubt, as the<br />
industry has declined rapidly, helped on<br />
by successive failures of the ferry service<br />
from Port of Spain.<br />
According to the Tourism<br />
Development Company of Trinidad and<br />
Tobago (since wound up), international<br />
tourist arrivals in 2005 were close to<br />
90,000, and occupancy levels were<br />
high. But by 2015 the numbers had<br />
fallen for the fourth consecutive year<br />
to 22,435, and industry insiders have<br />
reported that last year fewer than<br />
20,000 international tourists visited the<br />
island.<br />
For a while, the industry was<br />
kept afloat by an increase in domestic<br />
tourism. The World Travel and Tourism<br />
Council (WTTC) reported that domestic<br />
travel spending generated 53.7 per cent<br />
of the travel and tourism contribution<br />
to GDP in 2016, and noted that the<br />
market was expected to grow by 1.9<br />
per cent in 2017.<br />
Though the WTTC figures did not<br />
disaggregate travel from Trinidad to<br />
Tobago, the government in Port of<br />
Spain, in launching the Tobago leg of<br />
its “staycation” programme, said 59 per<br />
cent of domestic trips originated from<br />
Trinidad.<br />
The 2017 growth predicted by the<br />
To accommodate the<br />
Sandals project, extensive<br />
infrastructural work is<br />
planned<br />
WTTC never materialised. Domestic<br />
travel was seriously damaged by<br />
challenges on the air and sea bridges.<br />
But tourism arrival statistics and<br />
budgetary allocations from Trinidad<br />
tell only part of the island’s economic<br />
story.<br />
Its hotels and guest houses were<br />
starved for international and local<br />
direct investment flows; properties<br />
could not be upgraded. The Foreign<br />
Investment Act of 1990, requiring<br />
foreigners to acquire a licence<br />
before purchasing land, and financial<br />
institutions’ reluctance to give<br />
government-guaranteed loans to local<br />
investors, have blocked investment<br />
flows needed to build new properties<br />
and upgrade existing ones.<br />
Private sector participation<br />
The private sector is playing an active<br />
role in the island’s plan for economic<br />
transformation, but again the focus<br />
is on tourism. According to Demi<br />
John Cruickshank, immediate past<br />
chairman of the Tobago Division of<br />
the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of<br />
Industry and Commerce, “the business<br />
association will drive the economy<br />
with the government as its partner.”<br />
In January, Tobago business<br />
owners met with a ministerial team<br />
led by prime minister Dr Keith Rowley<br />
(himself a Tobagonian), and several<br />
decisions were taken involving<br />
private-public partnership (PPP).<br />
Revamping the economy<br />
in <strong>2018</strong><br />
The government-guaranteed loans<br />
programme will return, and the period<br />
of repayment will increase from seven<br />
to fifteen years. This facility can<br />
now be accessed by all tourism and<br />
tourism-related industry stakeholders.<br />
Two marinas are planned for the<br />
western end of the island, and the<br />
proposed Sandals Resort will proceed<br />
as planned. The government will<br />
build the hotel, sourcing funds from<br />
the private sector, and Sandals will<br />
provide management services.<br />
To accommodate the Sandals<br />
project, extensive infrastructural<br />
work is planned. Work will begin on<br />
desalination and sewage treatment<br />
plants, and Tobago’s electricity<br />
capacity will increase with a $132<br />
million expansion of the Cove<br />
Power Station. Twenty megawatts<br />
will be added to the plant’s present<br />
64-megawatt output.<br />
Three vessels will operate the<br />
domestic sea bridge, and a new<br />
terminal for Tobago’s airport will be<br />
built through a build-own-lease-andtransfer<br />
financial arrangement.<br />
These PPP projects are primarily<br />
geared towards reviving the tourism<br />
sector, but in the process they are<br />
intended to kick-start the transformation<br />
of Tobago’s economy are intended<br />
to kick-start the transformation of<br />
Tobago’s economy.<br />
34<br />
Trinidad<br />
and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce<br />
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transforming t&T<br />
Can we let go of<br />
fossil fuels?<br />
Does Trinidad and Tobago really believe in<br />
renewable energy?<br />
WORDS By: david renwick<br />
Average daily production of crude (bpd)<br />
and natural gas (bn cf)<br />
2016 71,846 3.3<br />
2017 71,700 3.8<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine<br />
Energy revenue (TT$bn) as a percentage<br />
35<br />
Economic transformation in the energy sector in Trinidad and Tobago<br />
would require two principal initiatives: raising the current level of crude<br />
oil production, and adopting renewable energy as an essential element in<br />
energy activity.<br />
The first is probably easier and quicker to implement.<br />
Crude production<br />
Current crude oil and condensate output is around 72,000 barrels a day (b/d). Raising<br />
that requires more development drilling by the upstream companies.<br />
At the very least, they should attempt to maintain that level in <strong>2018</strong>. That means<br />
tht state-owned Petrotrin, which, together with contracted services, accounts for<br />
about 58% of total production, must up the ante.<br />
Petrotrin needs to be more active in its Trinmar acreage in the Gulf of Paria,<br />
and has indicated that it will be sinking five exploration holes there this year. On its<br />
land acreage, another five exploration wells will be drilled by lease operators and<br />
farm-out operators.<br />
EOG Resources will drill four exploration wells in its Modified Ub block, while<br />
BHP will be recommencing its deep-water exploration programme with the drilling<br />
of three wells, two in Block TTDAA 5 and the third in Block TTDAA 14.<br />
BHP sank the Le Clerc 1 well in<br />
May-August 2016 as the first of two<br />
Debt to GDP ratio<br />
exploration holes required during<br />
the first phase of the Block TTDAA 5<br />
production sharing contract. The result<br />
2016<br />
was preliminarily classified as a natural<br />
gas discovery.<br />
All this activity has convinced the<br />
energy and energy industries minister,<br />
Franklin Khan, that “the outlook for<br />
the domestic energy sector in <strong>2018</strong> is<br />
reassuring.”<br />
On the gas side, about 1.7 trillion<br />
cubic feet (tcf) is likely to be lifted this<br />
year.<br />
2017<br />
Caribbean Susta<br />
Strategy (C-SER<br />
20% by 2017<br />
28% by 2022<br />
47% by 2027<br />
“Renewable sources of energy a<br />
Trinidad and Tobago – Chamber Robert Le Hunte, Public Utilities<br />
of Industry and Commerce
transforming t&T<br />
2016 2017<br />
Renewable Energy<br />
1<br />
0<br />
-1<br />
-2<br />
-3<br />
-4<br />
-5<br />
-6<br />
2013<br />
2014<br />
2015<br />
2016<br />
Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap and<br />
Strategy (C-SERMS) RE goal:<br />
20% by 2017<br />
28% by 2022<br />
47% by 2027<br />
“Renewable sources of energy are the way forward”<br />
– Robert Le Hunte, Public Utilities Minister, January <strong>2018</strong><br />
T&T RE goal:<br />
2017<br />
10% by<br />
2021<br />
Return on investment<br />
While minister Khan is happy about<br />
all this, he is not so pleased about the<br />
amount of revenue the government<br />
gains from this output. The government,<br />
he says, is therefore “reviewing the<br />
taxation system and the suite of<br />
allowances available to oil and gas<br />
companies.”<br />
This process began with the royalty<br />
rate on production, which was raised to<br />
12.5% in January. Other tax changes<br />
will be announced in due course.<br />
The minister has reassured the<br />
industry that “the government is<br />
receptive to, and welcomes, foreign<br />
investment” – but with the caveat that<br />
“there must be an equitable sharing of<br />
revenue earned from the exploitation<br />
of our hydrocarbon resources.”<br />
The UK’s Poten and Partners, in its<br />
Gas Master Plan report, highlighted the<br />
“great disparity in value”, as minister<br />
Khan put it, “between that which the<br />
government received, as compared to<br />
that received by energy companies and<br />
their affiliates from the monetisation of<br />
the country’s hydrocarbon resources.”<br />
He gave as a sterling example the<br />
revenue impact of the liquefied natural<br />
gas (LNG) trains in Point Fortin. The<br />
“potential value loss from the four LNG<br />
“There must be an equitable<br />
sharing of revenue earned<br />
from the exploitation of our<br />
hydrocarbon resources”<br />
trains averaged around US$6 billion a<br />
year between 2011 and 2014, which is a<br />
staggering figure,” he explained.<br />
Poten and Partners found that<br />
“the beneficiary of the substantial<br />
value generated by the trains was not<br />
so much the upstream gas suppliers<br />
but rather the offshore jurisdictions,<br />
which were either low-priced markets<br />
or high-priced markets, but with the<br />
revenue not flowing back to Trinidad<br />
and Tobago.”<br />
In the majority of transactions,<br />
it was found that “the offtake<br />
arrangements for upstream companies<br />
involved sales to downstream marketing<br />
affiliates, which potentially led to nonarm’s<br />
length transactions.”<br />
Renewable energy<br />
As far as renewable energy (RE) is<br />
concerned, Trinidad and Tobago has<br />
been a late convert. Minister Khan<br />
acknowledges this. “Trinidad and Tobago<br />
recognises the benefits that would<br />
accrue from the diversification of its<br />
energy mix” – but he points out that<br />
it is “the only country in the western<br />
hemisphere that generates 100% of its<br />
power from natural gas, the cleanest of<br />
the fossil fuels.”<br />
A target of 10% of RE in power<br />
generation by 2021 has been set.<br />
According to the minister, a<br />
“suitably qualified international firm,<br />
together with a joint venture local<br />
partner, will be required to design,<br />
build, operate, maintain and fund RE<br />
projects greater than, or equal to, 3MW<br />
for grid integration.”<br />
RE comes basically from the sun<br />
and the wind, but there is also the more<br />
esoteric waste-to-energy approach.<br />
Once there is a landfill, waste-to-energy<br />
becomes a possibility. The minister<br />
confirms that “expressions of interest<br />
have been issued for the development<br />
of a waste-to-energy facility at the<br />
Beetham Landfill for the conversion of<br />
municipal waste for power generation.”<br />
Trinidad and Tobago is a signatory<br />
to the Paris climate change agreement,<br />
36<br />
Trinidad<br />
and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine
which mandates it to “reduce<br />
cumulative greenhouse gas emissions<br />
from power generation, transportation<br />
and industry by 15% by 2030, relative<br />
to a business-as-usual baseline.”<br />
CNG<br />
“As part of our strategy of reducing<br />
greenhouse gases, the government is<br />
aggressively promoting the increased<br />
utilisation of CNG as a major<br />
transportation fuel,” minister Khan<br />
states.<br />
“Based on this commitment,” he<br />
adds, “the grant of fiscal incentives<br />
benefiting a cross-section of<br />
participants, ranging from individuals<br />
to installers, and a competitive price<br />
compared with liquid fuels, have<br />
encouraged an upsurge of interest in<br />
the adoption of CNG as a transportation<br />
fuel of choice.”<br />
Petrotrin has been told “to<br />
accelerate its enhanced oil recovery<br />
programme, especially the CO 2<br />
injection<br />
part of it.” The minister believes this<br />
initiative will have a “two-fold effect<br />
– boosting oil production and reducing<br />
our carbon footprint.”<br />
Other upstream companies are<br />
falling in line. “Over the coming years,<br />
upstream companies have committed to<br />
capital investment in excess of US$10<br />
billion, which will serve to maintain the<br />
momentum in the industry.”<br />
Minister Khan admits, however,<br />
that “there is still a lot of work to do.<br />
We are in the process of finalising<br />
negotiations with our Venezuelan<br />
counterparts for a tranche of gas<br />
from their Dragon field and for the<br />
sharing of production from our crossborder<br />
fields, Loran-Manatee, Manikin-<br />
Coquina and Kapok-Dorado.”<br />
The culmination of these<br />
developments, he says, “will bring<br />
a new and added dimension to the<br />
gas business in Trinidad and Tobago,<br />
particularly when combined with our<br />
proposed Caribbean energy diplomacy<br />
interventions.”<br />
Average daily production of crude (bpd)<br />
and natural gas (bn cf)<br />
Energy minister Franklin Khan<br />
2016 71,846 3.3<br />
2017 71,700 3.8<br />
Energy revenue (TT$bn) as a percentage<br />
of total government revenue<br />
$20.9<br />
2014<br />
$12.9<br />
2015<br />
$3.0<br />
2016<br />
$3.7<br />
2017<br />
Source: Energy minister Franklin Khan at 2017 Energy Conference<br />
Trinidad express newspaper<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine 37<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce
transforming the state of the t&T nation<br />
Economic Outlook<br />
A return to growth in<br />
<strong>2018</strong>?<br />
Speaking to the nation on<br />
television and radio in<br />
January, prime minister<br />
Keith Rowley promised “a<br />
slow return to growth” in <strong>2018</strong>. The<br />
international agencies back him up. In<br />
its latest country report for Trinidad<br />
and Tobago (November 2017), the IMF<br />
projected real GDP growth at 1.9 per<br />
cent this year. The CDB’s forecast was 1 2016<br />
per cent; UN ECLAC was less optimistic,<br />
forecasting a more conservative GDP<br />
growth rate of 0.5 per cent.<br />
The IMF predicted 7.7 per cent<br />
growth in the energy sector, thanks to<br />
the contributions of Juniper and the<br />
Trinidad Onshore Compression Project<br />
(TROC). But it thought the non-energy<br />
sector likely to contract by 1.2 per cent<br />
– cause for concern, as that sector makes up around 65 per<br />
cent of GDP, and non-energy export growth is vital for the<br />
country’s future.<br />
In estimating energy output for <strong>2018</strong>, the IMF put the<br />
new norm of natural gas production in the range of 3-4 bcf<br />
per day, while oil production was expected to continue its<br />
decline, hitting record lows of 60,000-70,000 barrels per day.<br />
n of crude (bpd)<br />
s (bn cf)<br />
3.3<br />
3.8<br />
as a percentage<br />
t revenue<br />
3.0<br />
16<br />
Latin $3.7 America and Caribbean<br />
Overall, Latin America and the Caribbean are expected to see<br />
about 1.9 per cent growth in <strong>2018</strong>. According to the IMF,<br />
growth in Central America has been strengthening; but in the<br />
2017<br />
Caribbean, domestic demand is expected to underperform,<br />
with growth of 2.3 per cent for tourism-dependent economies<br />
and 2.0 per cent for commodity exporters.<br />
n Khan at 2017 Energy Conference<br />
Debt to GDP ratio<br />
Debt<br />
In Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Jamaica, and St Kitts and<br />
Nevis, government debt-to-GDP ratios have been declining,<br />
reflective of fiscal discipline and debt restructuring. However,<br />
Barbados, The Bahamas, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago<br />
failed to sufficiently address their stubborn fiscal deficits<br />
and high debt levels, leading to downgrades by international<br />
credit agencies in 2016-17.<br />
According to the IMF, public sector debt remains a major<br />
vulnerability for the region. Barbados and Jamaica still have<br />
debt levels of over 100 per cent of GDP (102.7 and 109.5 per<br />
cent for 2017, respectively). However, they both reduced their<br />
debt levels, as did Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and St Kitts<br />
and Nevis. Declines in commodity prices exposed weaknesses<br />
2017<br />
Trinidad & Tobago GDP growth<br />
3<br />
2<br />
1<br />
0<br />
-1<br />
-2<br />
-3<br />
-4<br />
-5<br />
-6<br />
2013<br />
2014<br />
2015<br />
2016<br />
Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap and<br />
Strategy (C-SERMS) RE goal:<br />
20% by 2017<br />
T&T RE goal:<br />
vital for the country’s future<br />
28% by 2022<br />
47% by 2027<br />
10% by<br />
in the fiscal policies of commodity exporters such as Trinidad<br />
and Tobago and Suriname, leading to large fiscal 2021 deficits and<br />
increases in public debt.<br />
“Renewable sources of energy are the way forward”<br />
– Robert Le Hunte, Public Utilities Minister, January <strong>2018</strong><br />
2017<br />
Non-energy export growth is<br />
The global outlook<br />
In its World Economic Outlook Update for January <strong>2018</strong>, the<br />
IMF estimated global economic growth for <strong>2018</strong> at 3.9 per<br />
cent, a slight improvement of 0.2 per cent over the previous<br />
October’s forecast. This continues the global economic trend<br />
of steady but modest recovery since 2016.<br />
US and UK<br />
The US economy was projected to grow by 2.7 per cent in <strong>2018</strong><br />
and 2.5 per cent in 2019, following reforms to US corporate<br />
and personal income taxes approved in December 2017.<br />
The Brexit aftermath has created much uncertainty over<br />
issues like trade and cross-border financial activity, which<br />
impacts the growth prospects of the United Kingdom. UK<br />
economic growth remains sluggish, and is projected at 1.5 per<br />
cent in <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
China and Russia<br />
China’s economy is expected to grow by 6.5 per cent, which is<br />
an upward revision of 0.2 per cent as a result of a continued<br />
expansionary policy.<br />
In an attempt to clear the existing supply glut of oil, both<br />
OPEC and Russian-led non-OPEC producers are expected to<br />
extend production cuts to the end of <strong>2018</strong>. The resulting oil<br />
and natural gas production levels are expected to produce a<br />
higher-priced environment as <strong>2018</strong> progresses.<br />
38<br />
Trinidad<br />
and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine
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the state of the nation<br />
statistics<br />
Oil, gas and<br />
petrochemicals<br />
76,000<br />
Crude oil and condensate production (bbls/d)<br />
74,000<br />
76,000<br />
72,000<br />
74,000<br />
76,000<br />
Crude oil and condensate production 70,000 (bbls/d)<br />
72,000<br />
74,000<br />
76,000<br />
68,000<br />
70,000<br />
72,000<br />
74,000<br />
66,000<br />
68,000<br />
70,000<br />
72,000<br />
64,000<br />
66,000<br />
68,000<br />
70,000<br />
62,000<br />
64,000<br />
October November December<br />
66,000<br />
68,000 62,000<br />
2016 68,979 72,042 75,024<br />
October November 64,000<br />
December<br />
66,000<br />
2017 66,471 71,554 73,909<br />
2016 68,979 72,042 62,000<br />
75,024<br />
64,000<br />
October November December<br />
2017 66,471 71,554 73,909<br />
2016 68,979 72,042 75,024<br />
62,000<br />
October November 2017 December 66,471 71,554 73,909<br />
2016 68,979 72,042 75,024<br />
2017 66,471 71,554 73,909<br />
4,500<br />
Crude oil and condensate production (bbls/d)<br />
Natural gas production (mmscf/d)<br />
Natural gas production (mmscf/d)<br />
4,000<br />
4,500<br />
3,500 Natural gas production (mmscf/d)<br />
4,000<br />
3,000<br />
3,500<br />
4,500<br />
Natural gas production 2,500 (mmscf/d)<br />
3,000<br />
4,000<br />
2,000<br />
4,500<br />
2,500<br />
3,500<br />
1,500<br />
4,000<br />
2,000<br />
3,000<br />
1,000<br />
3,500<br />
1,500<br />
2,500<br />
500<br />
3,000<br />
1,000<br />
2,000<br />
0<br />
2,500<br />
500<br />
1,500<br />
October November December<br />
2,000<br />
0<br />
1,000 2016 3,322 3,183 3,428<br />
1,500<br />
October November<br />
2017 500<br />
December<br />
3,102 3,654 3816 ,<br />
1,000 2016 3,322 3,183 0<br />
3,428<br />
October November December<br />
500 2017 3,102 3,654 3816 ,<br />
2016 3,322 3,183 3,428<br />
0<br />
October November 2017 December 3,102 3,654 3816 ,<br />
2016 3,322 3,183 Ammonia 3,428 production (tonnes)<br />
2017 3,102 3,654 3816 ,<br />
450,000<br />
Ammonia production (tonnes)<br />
Ammonia production (tonnes)<br />
440,000<br />
450,000<br />
430,000<br />
440,000<br />
450,000<br />
Ammonia production 420,000 (tonnes)<br />
430,000<br />
440,000<br />
450,000<br />
410,000<br />
420,000<br />
430,000<br />
440,000<br />
400,000<br />
410,000<br />
420,000<br />
430,000<br />
390,000<br />
400,000<br />
410,000<br />
420,000<br />
380,000<br />
390,000<br />
October November December<br />
400,000<br />
410,000 380,000<br />
2016 400,829 413,225 439,148<br />
October November 390,000<br />
400,000<br />
2017 429,721<br />
December<br />
438129 ,<br />
417,525<br />
2016 400,829 413,225 380,000<br />
439,148<br />
390,000<br />
October November December<br />
2017 429,721 438129 ,<br />
417,525<br />
2016 400,829 413,225 439,148<br />
380,000<br />
October November 2017 429,721 December<br />
438129 ,<br />
417,525<br />
2016 400,829 413,225 439,148 Ammonia exports (tonnes)<br />
2017 429,721 438129 ,<br />
417,525<br />
450,000<br />
Ammonia exports (tonnes)<br />
Ammonia exports (tonnes)<br />
400,000<br />
450,000<br />
350,000<br />
400,000<br />
300,000<br />
350,000 Ammonia exports (tonnes)<br />
450,000<br />
250,000<br />
300,000<br />
400,000<br />
200,000<br />
450,000<br />
250,000<br />
350,000<br />
150,000<br />
400,000<br />
200,000<br />
300,000<br />
100,000<br />
350,000<br />
150,000<br />
250,000<br />
50,000<br />
300,000<br />
100,000<br />
200,000<br />
0<br />
250,000<br />
50,000<br />
150,000<br />
October November December<br />
200,000<br />
0<br />
100,000 2016 402,089 329,198 371,737<br />
150,000<br />
October November 50,000 2017 361,474<br />
December<br />
407,844 401,647<br />
100,000 2016 402,089 329,198 0<br />
371,737<br />
October November December<br />
50,000 2017 361,474 407,844 401,647<br />
2016 402,089 329,198 371,737<br />
0<br />
October November 2017 361,474 December<br />
407,844 401,647<br />
2016 402,089 329,198 371,737<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
Methanol production (tonnes)<br />
40<br />
2017<br />
of Industry 361,474 and Commerce 407,844 401,647<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine<br />
600,000<br />
Methanol production (tonnes)<br />
600,000<br />
500,000<br />
Crude oil and condensate production (bbls/d)<br />
Methanol production (tonnes)
300,000 400,000<br />
350,000 250,000<br />
250,000 350,000<br />
300,000 200,000<br />
200,000 300,000<br />
250,000 150,000<br />
150,000 250,000<br />
200,000 100,000<br />
100,000 200,000<br />
150,000<br />
150,000<br />
100,0000<br />
100,000 0<br />
50,000<br />
October November December<br />
October November December<br />
50,000<br />
2016<br />
0<br />
402,089 329,198 371,737<br />
2016 402,089 329,198 October 371,737<br />
November December<br />
0<br />
2017 361,474 407,844 401,647<br />
2017 level than October 361,474 late 2016 November 407,844 2016 402,089 December 401,647<br />
329,198 371,737<br />
2016 402,089 329,198 2017 361,474 371,737<br />
407,844 401,647<br />
2017 361,474 407,844 401,647<br />
• Oil and gas output was edging up at the end of 2017 – but at a lower<br />
• Methanol output was ahead of 2016, but ammonia and urea showed<br />
sharp declines<br />
600,000<br />
600,000<br />
Methanol production (tonnes)<br />
600,000<br />
500,000<br />
500,000<br />
600,000<br />
400,000<br />
500,000<br />
400,000<br />
500,000<br />
300,000<br />
400,000<br />
300,000<br />
400,000<br />
200,000<br />
300,000<br />
200,000<br />
300,000<br />
100,000<br />
200,000<br />
100,000<br />
200,000<br />
100,000<br />
0<br />
0<br />
October November December<br />
100,000<br />
October November December<br />
2016<br />
0<br />
351,394 338,318 406,894<br />
2016 351,394 338,318 October 406,894<br />
November December<br />
0<br />
2017 444,011 417,707 477,613<br />
2017 October 444,011 November 417,707 2016 351,394 December 477,613<br />
338,318 406,894<br />
2016 351,394 338,318 2017 444,011 406,894<br />
417,707 477,613<br />
2017 444,011 417,707 477,613<br />
500,000<br />
500,000<br />
450,000<br />
450,000 Methanol exports (tonnes)<br />
500,000 400,000<br />
400,000 500,000<br />
450,000 350,000<br />
350,000<br />
450,000<br />
400,000 300,000<br />
300,000<br />
400,000<br />
350,000 250,000<br />
250,000<br />
350,000<br />
300,000 200,000<br />
200,000<br />
300,000<br />
250,000 150,000<br />
150,000<br />
250,000<br />
200,000 100,000<br />
100,000<br />
200,000<br />
150,000<br />
150,000<br />
50,000<br />
100,0000<br />
100,000<br />
0<br />
October November December<br />
October November 50,000<br />
December<br />
2016<br />
50,000<br />
0<br />
306,111 324,115 367,504<br />
2016 306,111 324,115 October 367,504<br />
November December<br />
0<br />
2017 457,607 408,913 393,079<br />
2017 October 457,607 November 408,913 2016 December<br />
306,111 393,079<br />
324,115 367,504<br />
2016 306,111 324,115 2017 457,607 367,504<br />
408,913 393,079<br />
2017 457,607 408,913 393,079<br />
70<br />
70<br />
Urea production (tonnes) 60<br />
60<br />
70<br />
70<br />
50<br />
50<br />
60<br />
60<br />
40<br />
40<br />
50<br />
50<br />
30<br />
30<br />
40<br />
40<br />
20<br />
20<br />
30<br />
30<br />
10<br />
10<br />
20<br />
20<br />
0<br />
0<br />
10<br />
October November December<br />
10<br />
October November December<br />
2016<br />
0<br />
58.3 48.8 63.1<br />
2016 58.3 48.8 October 63.1<br />
November December<br />
0<br />
2017 61.7 53.1 4<br />
2017 October 61.7 November 53.1 2016 December 58.34<br />
48.8 63.1<br />
2016 58.3 48.8 2017 61.7 63.1<br />
53.1 4<br />
2017 61.7 53.1 4<br />
80<br />
80<br />
Urea exports (tonnes) 70<br />
70<br />
80<br />
60<br />
60 80<br />
70<br />
50<br />
50 70<br />
60<br />
40<br />
40 60<br />
50<br />
30<br />
30 50<br />
40<br />
20<br />
20 40<br />
30<br />
10<br />
10 30<br />
20<br />
0<br />
20 0<br />
10<br />
October November December<br />
October November December<br />
10<br />
2016<br />
0<br />
36.3 41.9 66.3<br />
2016 36.3 41.9 October 66.3<br />
November December<br />
0<br />
2017 57.6 68.3 16.5<br />
2017 October 57.6 November 68.3 2016 December 36.3 16.5<br />
41.9 66.3<br />
2016 36.3 41.9 2017 57.6 66.3<br />
68.3 16.5<br />
2017 57.6 68.3 16.5<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine 41<br />
Methanol production (tonnes)<br />
Methanol exports (tonnes)<br />
Urea production (tonnes)<br />
Urea exports (tonnes)<br />
Methanol production (tonnes)<br />
Methanol production (tonnes)<br />
Methanol exports (tonnes)<br />
Methanol exports (tonnes)<br />
Urea production (tonnes)<br />
Urea production (tonnes)<br />
Urea exports (tonnes)<br />
Urea exports (tonnes)<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce
the state of the nation<br />
statistics<br />
• BPTT continued to be by far the largest producer of natural gas in<br />
Trinidad and Tobago in late 2017, while Petrotrin/Trinmar remained the<br />
largest crude oil producer<br />
• Trinmar alone supplied 27% of total crude production in the last quarter<br />
of 2017<br />
C<br />
M<br />
Y<br />
CM<br />
MY<br />
CY<br />
CMY<br />
K<br />
Figures in red italics are preliminary<br />
42<br />
Trinidad<br />
and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine
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Vol.18 No.1 – <strong>April</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
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www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine 43<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce
the chamber and its members<br />
mediation<br />
How to settle a<br />
dispute<br />
Based on personal experience at the Dispute<br />
Resolution Centre, a mediation expert reflects on<br />
how to manage the process<br />
WORDS By: niall lawless<br />
photos courtesy: the dispute resolution centre<br />
In November 2017, I worked at the Trinidad and Tobago Dispute Resolution<br />
Centre (DRC) for three days as an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)-<br />
appointed mediator in a multi-million US dollar engineering dispute, which<br />
resulted in a settlement.<br />
Mediation is not adversarial. It works best when the participants trust the<br />
process, and are willing to cooperate to solve a shared problem. Nothing is agreed<br />
until everything is agreed in writing, which allows the parties to take risks when they<br />
come to deal with individual items.<br />
Five stages<br />
The whole process is confidential, private and structured. It has five stages:<br />
introduction, information exchange, option generation, negotiation, and conclusion.<br />
Information exchange and option generation are by far the most important.<br />
Commercial mediation begins with the parties agreeing to mediate, and usually<br />
ends with the parties settling their dispute. The parties are the stars; usually they are<br />
common-sense business people motivated by revenue and contribution, and a desire<br />
to continue future cooperation.<br />
The mediation outcome is affected by whom the parties choose to attend the<br />
mediation meetings on their behalf. Each party should bring a lead negotiator with<br />
full authority to settle the dispute, and to sign the settlement agreement. The role<br />
of lead negotiator is challenging, as it requires the evaluation and development of<br />
options, and being able to respond to any new information provided by the other<br />
party. The lead negotiator needs the support of respected, trusted and valued<br />
colleagues.<br />
The lawyers<br />
The parties’ lawyers can make or break the mediation. Good mediation lawyers<br />
can move seamlessly from advocate to advisor. In their role as advocate they will<br />
succinctly summarise legal principles, but not in an adversarial or combative way,<br />
gifting litigation risk to the mediator.<br />
They allow the business principal to take the lead, preparing their clients by offering<br />
44<br />
Trinidad<br />
and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine
advice, guidance and information<br />
on negotiation and mediation. Good<br />
mediation lawyers cope well with being<br />
challenged privately by the mediator:<br />
they are experienced and wise, and<br />
they are committed to finding the best<br />
possible solutions for their client.<br />
When the ICC supports the<br />
mediation, the mediator and the<br />
parties use the ICC Mediation Rules,<br />
administered by the ICC International<br />
Center for ADR (Alternative Dispute<br />
Resolution). For example, the selection<br />
of the mediator takes into account such<br />
considerations as nationality, language<br />
skills, training, qualifications and<br />
experience, and ability to conduct the<br />
mediation in accordance with the ICC<br />
Rules.<br />
The Centre is constantly striving<br />
to improve the ways in which the<br />
needs and expectations of the users of<br />
ICC Mediation can best be met, so the<br />
mediator and the parties are asked to<br />
provide comprehensive feedback when<br />
the mediation ends.<br />
Top Niall Lawless, mediation expert. Below Elizabeth Solomon,<br />
director of the Dispute Resolution Centre<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine 45<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce
the chamber and its members<br />
The location<br />
The importance of the mediation venue is often overlooked,<br />
but, simply stated, good mediation venues send a subliminal<br />
message supporting the parties’ quest for compromise. The<br />
location should provide each party with its own meeting room,<br />
with another room large enough for joint meetings with the<br />
mediator and both parties present.<br />
The venue will be a place which both parties consider<br />
as neutral. The Trinidad and Tobago Dispute Resolution<br />
Centre (DRC) was an ideal mediation host venue, as it is<br />
“dedicated to promoting an environment in which people<br />
are encouraged to work together to find alternative means<br />
of resolving conflict”.<br />
Under the guidance of executive director Elizabeth<br />
Solomon the DRC staff worked hard to ensure that the<br />
physical surroundings supported mediation objectives; they<br />
were available, offering support such as printing services,<br />
before eight in the morning and after six in the evening.<br />
Another example of support was the choice of excellent<br />
food to energise the participants, strategically located to<br />
encourage parties to mingle and talk outside the formal<br />
meetings.<br />
The mediator<br />
The mediator as a neutral third party assists the parties<br />
to compromise their dispute, using communication and<br />
negotiation skills. The mediator is the guardian of the process,<br />
facilitating the exchange of information, helping the parties<br />
to reality-check their positions, and leaving no value on the<br />
table.<br />
As a mediator, I always commit to following the European<br />
Code of Conduct for Mediators, which sets out a number of<br />
principles which individual mediators can voluntarily decide<br />
to adopt.<br />
Acknowledgements<br />
The aforementioned Port of Spain mediation was a success,<br />
mainly because there was balance and harmony between<br />
people and process. As mediation is confidential, all I can do<br />
here is to thank the parties’ lawyers, with their permission: Mrs<br />
Savitri Sookraj-Beharry from the law firm Pollonais, Blanc, de<br />
la Bastide & Jacelon; Mr Ravi Nanga, Advocate Attorney at<br />
Law; Ms Kimberleigh Peterson from the law firm J.D. Sellier &<br />
Co.; Mr Ravi Heffes-Doon, Advocate Attorney at Law; the ICC<br />
ADR Centre staff – Alina Leoveanu, Andrija Erac, Ana Sylvia<br />
Prado and Malgorzata Matowska; and the Trinidad and Tobago<br />
Dispute Resolution Centre’s Executive Director Elizabeth<br />
Solomon and her welcoming, hard-working staff.<br />
Niall Lawless is a Chartered Arbitrator and Engineer,<br />
Adjudicator and Mediator at Adjudication Solutions.<br />
The Dispute Resolution Centre has two meeting areas to suit<br />
the size of your delegation<br />
Dispute Resolution Centre, Ground Floor, Chamber Building,<br />
Columbus Circle, Westmoorings, PO Box 499, Port of Spain.<br />
Tel: 632-4051, fax: 632-4046.<br />
www.disputeresolutioncentre.com<br />
46<br />
Trinidad<br />
and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine
the chamber and its members<br />
Welcome, new members!<br />
The Chamber extends a very warm welcome to all those companies and<br />
individuals who have become Chamber members in recent months<br />
(June 2017 to February <strong>2018</strong>).<br />
Action Coach Centre for Leadership &<br />
Development Limited (Crestcom)<br />
39 Hubert Rance Street, San Fernando<br />
236-3692, 398-8277 • indiracouch@actioncoach.com<br />
Allied Caterers Limited<br />
Golden Grove Road, Piarco<br />
285-9155<br />
www.alliedcaterers.com<br />
arajkumar@alliedcaterers.com<br />
Bell Insurance Services Limited<br />
15 Henry Pierre Street, Port of Spain<br />
235-2354, fax 667-1658<br />
www.bellistt.com • matthew@bellistt.com<br />
Jarrod Best-Mitchell<br />
21 Cawnpore Street, St James<br />
355-7640 • jarrodbestmitchell@hotmail.com<br />
Blu Pelagos Limited<br />
2c, Tower 3, One Woodbrook Place, St James<br />
729-1472 • dr.andrew.borg@gmail.com<br />
Business Lifeline Limited<br />
Intercontinental Business Park Building, LP 523, Eastern<br />
Main Road, D’Abadie<br />
235-4255, 361-6225<br />
www.businesslifelinett.com<br />
nichole@businesslifelinett.com<br />
Cite Up Limited<br />
215 Pinard Court, Palmiste, San Fernando<br />
652-9084, 653-1937<br />
www.citeup.com • roger.nicholas@citeup.com<br />
Coral Cove Marine Hotel Limited<br />
Coral Cove, Western Main Road, Chaguaramas<br />
634-2080 • fax 634-2248<br />
www.coralcovemarina.com • aaleongmkt@albrosco.com<br />
Crimson Logic (T&T) Limited<br />
1st Floor, T&T Chamber of Industry & Commerce, Columbus<br />
Circle, Westmoorings<br />
223-2588 • fax 223-2746<br />
www.crimsonlogic.com<br />
zyenudeanz@crimsonlogic.com<br />
Dennise Demming<br />
25 Mary Avenue, Diego Martin<br />
761-9426 • dennisedemming@gmail.com<br />
Gentle Dentistry & Implant Centre Limited<br />
6 Rapsey Street, St Clair<br />
628-1456, 672-6725 • fax 672-6725<br />
sarahramcharitar@gmail.com<br />
Innovation Factory Limited<br />
Upper Santa Cruz<br />
787-9100 • eddydevisse@gmail.com<br />
Jeannine Du Coudray-Collier<br />
6, Rapsey Street, St Clair<br />
235-3487 • jeannine.collier@jdclegal.net<br />
The Grape Vine<br />
78 Diego Martin Main Road, Diego Martin<br />
234-0059<br />
www.thegrapevinett.com<br />
emile@thegrapevinett.com<br />
Josal Consulting Limited<br />
7 White Street, Woodbrook<br />
622-4509<br />
www.josalconsulting.com<br />
djoseph@josalconsulting.com<br />
PEAPSL Consultancy Limited<br />
50 Richmond Street, Port of Spain<br />
658-6423 • fax 658-3272<br />
www.peapsl.com<br />
Phoenix Protective Services Limited<br />
73 Ramsaran Street, Chaguanas<br />
671-1449, 298-4398 • phoenix.protective@gmail.com<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine 47<br />
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce
the chamber and its members<br />
Ramkaran Contracting Services Limited<br />
63 Monkey Town, 3rd Branch Road, New Grant<br />
655-0717, 299-5142 • patries@ramkarancontracting.com<br />
Regency Recruitment & Resources Limited<br />
48 New Street, Port of Spain<br />
625-6225 • fax 625-8655<br />
www.regencytrinidad.com • lara@regencytrinidad.com<br />
Solutions Expertz Limited<br />
2 Coconut Drive, Cross Crossing, San Fernando<br />
374-7751, 374-7919 • fax 657-7721<br />
Terra Caribbean Trinidad Limited<br />
5-7 Sweet Briar Road, St Clair<br />
628-2391, fax 628-2900<br />
www.terracaribbean.com • jean-paul@terracaribbean.com<br />
Towers Consortium Consultancy Limited<br />
61 Sapphire Avenue, Bacolet Park, Bacolet, Tobago<br />
635-1573, fax 639-5479<br />
www.facebook.com/pages/<br />
Towers-Consortium-Consultancy-Ltd/1622275004737023<br />
The University of the West Indies<br />
St Augustine Campus<br />
662-2002, fax 663-2002<br />
www.uwi.edu • brian.copeland@sta.uwi.edu<br />
Valorem Services Limited<br />
6 La Selva Drive, Golden View, El Dorado<br />
680-2064 • scyrus@valoremtt.com<br />
Vanus Investments Limited<br />
17 Centenary Street, Tunapuna<br />
663-0500 • joanna.j@vanusinvestments.com<br />
Williams Offices (Trinidad) Limited<br />
Level 2, Invader’s Bay Tower, Invader’s Bay, Port of Spain<br />
235-6000, 235-6001 • stephanie.quesnel@regus.com<br />
Yekof’s General Trading Import & Export Ltd.<br />
47 Eighth Street, Barataria<br />
473-2374, 293-8121 • yebk2000@yahoo.co.uk<br />
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS<br />
Andy Berahazar Jr.<br />
Colleen Cameron<br />
Tamia Griffith<br />
Shenelle Hills-Fife<br />
Nikita Legall<br />
48<br />
Trinidad<br />
and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine
The perfect venue for<br />
corporate and private events!<br />
Conveniently located in a safe<br />
and convenient neighbourhood<br />
next to The Falls at West Mall.<br />
Fully air-conditioned room with 2204 sq ft of space,<br />
and ample on-site parking with security.<br />
Welcome to the<br />
Leon Agostini<br />
Conference Hall<br />
We offer full service to our clients at competitive rates.<br />
Ideal for business meetings, training sessions, press conferences, weddings, graduations, birthday parties, and<br />
anything in between – we have the ideal package for you.<br />
Call 637 6966 ext. 1285 and let us help you plan your<br />
meeting or special gathering.