TT Chamber honours business leaders

It was a sweet and melodious time at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Champions of Business 2019 as a cocoa company and a music company emerged the winning entrepreneurs.

Award-winning chocolate manufacturing company Cocoa Republic Ltd won the EY Entrepreneur of the Year - Start Up award and award-winning music production company Precision Global Music Ltd won the EY Entrepreneur of the Year - Emerging award at the event held on Friday night at the National Academy for the Performing Arts, Port of Spain.

Cocoa Republic CEO Christopher Boodoosingh in his acceptance speech thanked his “first believer,” his wife, his massive team and his investors.

“We as Trinidadians need to recognise that instead of using our resources to fight each other for market share, why don’t we pool it up and try and fight the globe for market share. Why try and take two and three per cent from our neighbours and our friends and our families, when we can go after Germany and Japan and Saudi Arabia?”

For the win Cocoa Republic beat tea manufacturing company Caribbean Cure, hydroponic system supplier Green Age Farms, and insurance comparison and placement website manager Shyft Investments.

Precision Global Music CEO Kasey Phillips in his acceptance speech described the win as a humbling experience.

“I never would have seen myself receiving an award for business, especially coming from a creative and entertainment sector. I’m glad to be able to represent for all the business men and women in the creative sector, because it’s definitely not an easy road where you have to wear both hats as a creative and a business person.”

Phillips recalled he was always told music is just a hobby and he would never be able to turn it into a viable business.

“So today kind of proves that all wrong. But I do hope as a producer and as the CEO of my company now winning this award it shows that Trinidad and the Caribbean has more potential in the creative sector.”

For the win Precision Global Music beat hot sauce manufacturer Caribbean Specialty Foods, sausage manufacturer Del Mano Food and wedding planning and production company Jennifer Goberdhan Signature Weddings.

The EY Start-Up category is for companies under three years while the Emerging category is for companies three to ten years old.

EY Trinidad representative Maria Daniel pointed out that the category winners were for cocoa and music, two things indigenous to TT.

“We need to own (what is indigenous), build it and take it to the world.”

Daniel added that the award was for companies that had scalability and also gave back to the community.

Also on the night web-based credit institution Term Finance (Holdings) Ltd beat Caribbean Airlines Ltd and ICT project management services company Vibrant Technology Solutions to win the Business Technology award.

Snack, chocolate, biscuit and breakfast cereal manufacturer and distributor Associated Brands Industries Ltd received the internationally known...T&T owned award.

John Hale also collected the posthumous Business Hall of Fame inductee award for his father and former Hand Arnold (Trinidad) chairman Osmond “Ossie” Hale. Hale said his father was a natural leader whether in sport, philanthropy or business, and always made positive changes whether it was the building up of steelband Catelli All Stars or modernising Hand Arnold into a leading food distributor.

The second Business Hall of Fame inductee was Coosal’s Group of Companies chairman Sieunarine Coosal. Coosal in his acceptance speech said he came from humble beginnings in Todd’s Road, Chaguanas and though the family struggled financially there was always the common thread of love. He said his father died when he was a toddler but his mother raised him (and his 12 siblings) with morals and values.

Sieunarine recalled his days of working as an office boy at Coosal’s for $5 a day and how the construction company grew from trucking to acquiring a quarry. He said Coosal’s has done a lot of corporate social responsibility quietly and, through sometimes working through temples, mosques and other religious institutions, has helped change the lives of the impoverished, differently-abled and the elderly. He also spoke of the importance of not only recognising the present but honouring the past.

“My sense of duty to this country will never diminish.”

In closing his speech, he thanked his wife Sinatra “who stood by my side through it all.”