Have right mindset, become billionaire

CAROL MATROO

Young entrepreneurs are the billionaires of tomorrow once they have the right mindset, and they must use their customer service skills and not lose the opportunity by promoting themselves and their products.

Country manager, Microsoft TT Racquel Moses told the budding business people attending Shell LiveWire panel discussion at Arhur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, Thursday, it was important that they use the tools that were available to springboard to where they wanted to go.

LiveWire offers training, idea generation, post startup support and performance measurement to young entrepreneurs. It also assists innovators, job creators and exporters within targeted growth areas and facilitates development of identified viable undeveloped sectors.

LiveWIRE also helps micro and small entrepreneurs to grow and expand their businesses, thereby contributing to local business development, job creation, and innovative business solutions. Entrepreneurs would have access to mentoring, growth finance and market linkages to ensure that they developed and achieved their potential.

Once an entrepreneur herself, Moses advised the audience to stop thinking about what the Government was going to do as the Government could not do it alone.

“One of the things that should resonate and guide you is to be sustainable so that anything Government does do is an upside for you,” she said.

She said technology has been known to improve business chances. She said it made them more efficient, helped them meet more people, and made their people become more effective.

Moses said their business became more high tech where before their business had to do a lot of manual tasks.

“You are going to be a part of a changed Trinidad and Tobago. Small businesses provide the jobs, small businesses move on to export, and small businesses have the ability to innovate,” Moses said.

President of the Energy Chamber of TT Thackwray Driver said TT was inefficient in the way the country used gas. He said TT$7 billion was used to subsidise fuel annually.

Driver said electricity charges were very low in this country with the TT Electricity Commission buying gas at a subsidised price.

He said electricity prices would have to be increased, however, he said even though bills may increase by 30 per cent, users could keep their rates down by using simple measures such as shutting off lights at night or fixing a leaking air conditioning unit.

Agricultural economist Omardath Maharaj said over the years farmers have not focussed on production, or on how the farmer got his produce to market.

He said the distance from the farm to the table was a long one where different people made different margins.

He said the middle man was the one who made the bigger cut because they took the “blood, sweat and tears” of agriculture, after the farmer went through the whole growing process, and because the farmers did not have the transport, just had to purchase the produce and retail it in the markets.

However, president of the Agricultural society of TT Dhano Sookoo said it was not an issue of production, but one of coordination.

She suggested that to preserve the agriculture sector in TT, Government should give thought to leaving agriculture to the private sector.