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Vol. 24 No. 02 - March 2014
Tel: (473) 435-0981/5685
Email: [email protected]
www. barnaclegrenada.com
Strachan: GTA Developing
‘Community Tourism’
Managing Your Business:
From Good to Great
Special Supplement pages 19-38
Bridging a Financial Gap Interview with Michel D.
Williams - FastCash
Lewis: Faith in God Gives
me Strength
Richard Strachan, Chairman Grenada Tourism Authority
02 BARNACLE MARCH 2014
News
HARD WORK PAYS
Mount Cinnamon rewards top employees for outstanding performance
Is there a saying about
those who labour
holding the reins? I
may not remember
the words exactly but
I do know it is about
one being adequately
rewarded for one’s efforts.
Add to this great food prepared by an “awesome chef
of Caribbean origin”, using
local ingredients (farm to
table) and lovely rooms.
The director wouldn’t end
without reinforcing the
appreciation she and her
husband have for the workers and the critical role they
play in the success of the
hotel, always willing to go
the extra mile and work the
extra hour to ensure that
what has to happen actually
happens.
The operators of Mount
Cinnamon, touted as perhaps
Grenada’s finest boutique
hotel most likely heard of
this quote because they act
according to it by making
sure that their staff know
that they are appreciated
for their contribution and it
is proven through tangible
rewards.
She describes them as her
internal guests so they must
be as happy and comfortable
as the external guests who
come in to stay for a while
or for dinner.
Certainly too the staff
believe in this quote by Joan
Marques that goes something
like this, “Work diligently.
Work hard. Focus. Perform
as if you are at the Olympics.
One day, it will pay off.” I assume this because according to Resort Director Christine Nelles these
persons represent the finest
bunch of employees a company can hope for. However
even in a line up of the finest
a few are bound to stand
out and the operators of
Mount Cinnamon are always
responsive to the efforts of
those who go maybe just a
mite ahead of the others.
Three staff members have
just been recognized as the
most outstanding of this
excellent group. Petri Ann
Alfred, Kemron Bowen and
Kevon George in that order
have been served with notice that they will be going
on exciting retreats; Petri
Ann to London, Kemron to
Petite St. Vincent and Kevon
to the True Blue Bay Resort
in Grenada.
The rest of the staff members seem to agree that
those three had stood out
because they cheered wildly
and were every bit as happy
for them as they were for
themselves when the names
were announced at a small
ceremony in the hotel.
agement and staff would
celebrate with a little party.
If that is not incentive to
continue doing their best
and take it to even higher
levels then I don’t know
what is.
In the words of the director,
it is all about team work and
morale and sharing love with
the team. With obvious and
genuine fondness she described them as an amazing
group some of whom simply
need guidance and direction.
Mrs. Nelles who runs the resort along with her husband
Devin says they began the
initiative in April 2013 and
the intention is to nominate
someone from front of
house (those that directly
interact with guests and one
for what is called heart of
house (those that might not
be seen but are nonetheless very important to the
operation of the business).
Every month someone from
each category would be
nominated and the man-
This focus on appreciating the staff and assisting
them in reaching their
fullest potential is paying
off handsomely it seems,
Mount Cinnamon Hotel has
climbed from ten months
ago being number eight out
of 25 hotels in Grenada on
the TripAdvisor to number
two now.
The advisory praised this
fine resort with having an
amazingly nice staff (see?)
and a beautiful view among
other lovely attributes.
The TripAdvisor is an indicator of how well the hotel
is treating its guests based
on their testimony and it
considers the overall experience while staying there.
Persons staying at Mount
Cinnamon are considered
less as a guest and more as
a close and valued friend.
Their treatment is therefore
designed accordingly.
Mrs. Nelles however has
to be literally forced into
attributing any of the credit
for the hotel’s great showing
to the operators. She insists
that it is teamwork and that
everyone is equally responsible, “we can’t do the job if
we don’t all work together”,
she says.
The hotel business is not
the simplest to operate of
all businesses she added;
there are so many moving
parts; so many aspect that
need to come together
to realize a good product
overall. At Mount Cinnamon
the staff really wants to
provide a great experience
for visitors.
Now that we understand
the quality and attitude of
the staff, what about the
hotel that they work for; an
attractive property of 21
villas with an exceptional
view that provides a total
experience and personalized attention and a leisurely
stroll down to the Grand
Anse beach.
Appreciating them gives
them a sense of worth, more
pride in where they work;
they are more comfortable
knowing that their employer
cares about them.
But now our piece about
the Nelles since they are
not prepared to heap any
praises on themselves. One
gets the feeling of a quiet
and sincere determination
to provide the best service
possible; not just for the rating but because they believe
that this it how it should be
done. If the rating comes as
a result, so be it.
All that the director would
say is that if you want to be
a serious hotel you have to
be in the top three so she
would have been satisfied
with number three. However she would not compromise on the quality of the
product and would not stop
looking for ways to improve
so number two came as a
consequence.
Is she aiming at number one
now? The goal is to focus
and work hard and do the
best they can for the guests.
If number one comes as a
result, well…
BARNACLE MARCH 2014 03.
www.barnaclegrenada.com
News
CII (Chartered Insurance Institute)
Registered centre now in Grenada. ENTREPRENEURSHIP
KEY TO PERSONAL
ENRICHMENT AND
NATIONAL ECONOMIC
GROWTH
As the leading professional
body for the global financial services profession, the
Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) of the UK exists to
promote higher standards of
integrity, technical competence and business capability. With over 112,000
members in more than 150
countries, the CII is the
world’s largest professional
body dedicated to insurance
and financial services and
are undoubtedly the highest
one can achieve in the insurance industry worldwide.
For many years anyone from
Grenada wishing to sit CII
exam had to travel to the
neighbouring Barbados or
Trinidad to sit their exam,
this will no longer be the
case as history was made in
Grenada as this is the first
time CII have recognised
Grenada as an exam hub.
Grenada has now seen its
first 14 delegates sat the
Chartered Insurance Institute
(CII) examinations, with 13
out of the 14 delegate passing their exam and with this
we say a colossal congratulation to them, namely: Grayham Aban, Gillian CanhighCreedland, Andray Charles,
The path to personal and national
economic growth, for the most part,
is the same, according to a leading
financial specialist.
Former Bahamian Finance Minister Zhivargo Laing says the key is “entrepreneurship” and he urges people to “look
to the wealth of knowledge, experience,
creativity and innovation they have to
generate ideas that have the force of
profitability.”
Christine Charles-Flemming,
Keneisha Gibbs, Francisnetta
Lewis, Patsy-Lewis, Sharmin
Mc. Kenzie, John Martin,
Jacintha Redhead, Kellysha
St. Bernard, Karina Samuel
,Alisa Walker respectively.
A heartfelt thank you goes
to the Grenada Insurance
Institute and GARFIN who
support was second to none.
Thanks to Miss Kellysha St.
Bernard who work tirelessly
to ensure the smooth running of the class.
Thanks to Andre Charles
who introduced a son of
the soil whose passion is to
see his people become bet-
ter equip for the world out
there.
All of the above would not
have being possible if it was
not for the Professionalism,
commitment, dedication of
Mr Raymond Mc Millan our
CII Lecturer who travelled
from the UK every month to
prepare the delegates, he has
unfailing devoted his time
and efforts to see Grenada
Insurance sector become one
that is second to none in the
region and internationally. Grenada will now be a place
where other people from
other Caribbean countries
S.G.U wooing Canadian Students
Toronto, March 3, 2014 – St
George’s University is continuing an active campaign
to recruit more Canadian
students to SGU.
with Canadian institutions
for more of the university’s
Canadian medical students
to do their clinical and firstyear residency in Canada.
University officials have
made regular visits to
Canada, including the latest
which ended earlier this
week.
At the moment, SGU obtains
more first-year residency
He said the outreach to
Canada, including another
planned for next week, is
targeting students for SGU’s
colleges and universities, as
well as to students who are
members of groups such science clubs.
SGU was founded 37 years
ago, solely as an offshore
medical school. It has since
broadened its curriculum to
become a full-fledge university and is the largest private
employer in Grenada.
Governments for their part must treat
business facilitation, growth and development “as a necessity for promoting
the generation of resources to alleviate
poverty, enhance the social safety nets
of their societies, give young people a
chance at education and opportunities,
and develop their nations further.”
Laing, who is also an entrepreneur in
the Bahamas, stressed “pro-business”
policies of governments do not mean
“surrendering the fate of people to the
callous hands of the marketplace - but it
does mean respecting the enormously
powerful role those hands play in tilling
the fortunes of the social earth.”
Furthermore, Laing, a motivational
speaker, declared: “New business,
more business, and better business is
the primary need of the global economic environment. It is the cure for so
many personal and community economic and financial challenges.”
Laing asserted such clarity is needed
now as individuals and governments
struggle in tough economic times: “If we
don’t get this, we are missing the boat
and the status quo will continue.”
RETROACTIVE PAYMENTS TO PUBLIC OFFICERS AND TEACHERS DEFERRED
“We are trying to build the
Canadian market,’’ SGU’s
Colin Dowe said in an interview in Toronto, shortly before leaving for Grenada after
a four-city Canadian visit.
Dowe, Assistant Dean of
Enrolment Planning, said
700 Canadians already study
at SGU and “they are doing
well’’.
can come to sit their exam
and we are proud of that.
Class will be starting on the
6th March and delegates are
already signing up, interested persons wishing to gain
a CII qualification should
contact Miss Kellysha St.
Bernard 473 420 1029 for
more information.
Knowledge is power lets
embrace this opportunity.
N.B. Please also find attached a picture of the first
batch of students that succesful passed their exams
from from the institute.
Likewise, businesses had to reach deep
into “their reservoir of ingenuity to do
business on new levels of excellence
and pride, anchoring their every effort in
the central objective of wowing customers.”
colin dowe
medical, veterinary science
and masters’ programs.
Dowe said SGU also has
been exploring opportunities
ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA Wednesday, February
26,
2014: The
Government
spots
in the United
States of Grenada to informed
all
Public Officers,
Teachers,
healthcare
system than
any Police Officers,
Prison
Officersschool.
and the general public that the
other medical
payment of the third installment of retroactive
payment
to Public Officers,
Dowe is impressed
with the Teachers, Police Officers
and Prison
Officers
which was due on Februresponse
to SGU’s
outreach
ary
2014 has sessions
been deferred.
and28,
information
from Canadian parents and
While
the process of preparation for payment is
students.
almost completed, Government is mobilizing external
funding
which has not
“The
conversation
beenyet arrived.
good,’’ Dowe said.
All unions and welfare associations were informed
of
thishe
situation
early Tuesday February 25th,
SGU,
said, advertises
2014.
the events to high schools,
The total cost of this installment of retroactive
payment is $12M. This third installment will bring
the total retroactive payment to $30 million with
Government having paid $18 million in 2013.
Government will provide an update on this payment by March 17th, 2014.
The Government of Grenada expresses its appreciation to the unions and their members for their
cooperation and understanding on this matter. Finally, Government affirms its commitment to
meet all obligations to Public Officers, Teachers,
Police Officers and Prison Officers.
News
Funding For Parliament Building Cut;
Australia Has a Change of Heart
hon. nicholas
steele
The Grenada government will proceed with
the planned construction
of the island’s new state
of the art, eco-friendly
parliament building
despite the withdrawal
of the Australian government’s financial support
for the project, according to Grenada’s Foreign
Minister Nickolas Steele.
“I am already in discussions with other donors
to ensure that we have
enough to complete the
new Parliament building,
Steele, confirming that
the Australian Government has communicated
its intention to “pull
out” of this region and
instead center its attention on the Pacific
region.
nary work on the project.
He noted that the government in Canberra did
“not asked us to return
the money because it
was used in the preliminary preparations; what
they are doing is not providing further funding.”
Steele said the cash
strapped government in
St. George’s will “continue with the construction” with funding of
US$5 million from the
United Arab Emirates.
Government and opposition groups in the
country have expressed
disappointment with
the Tony Abbott Government’s decision to renege
on its promise to fund
the Grenada Parliament
as a result of a request
made in 2009 by then
Prime Minister Tillman
Thomas.
project, which was due
to begin in 3 months,
was completed according
to the Australian Government’s website.
Steele noted that Australian already gave AUS
$1M of a AUS $5M grant
to Grenada for prelimi-
The Kevin Rudd administration gave the greenlight and 50 % of the
preliminary work on the
The government only
recently notified the
prequalified contractors.
REACH GRENADA SEMINAR
IMANI trainees attached to the Ministry of Social
Development join other care givers in an eight week
seminar which began recently, at the Grenada youth
and Cultural Center.
The workshop, being organized by St. George’s
University, Ministry of Social Development and the
New York based charitable organization ‘REACH
GRENADA’ is geared towards improving the level of
child care on island and the way in which children
are being disciplined.
The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Religious Affairs
has approximately ninety (90) IMANI trainees attached to the Roving caregivers and early childhood
development areas. The trainees, through the Social
Development Ministry have been placed within children’s home, day care centers and pre schools.
According to Trevor
Bullen of the COCOA
group and the architect
in charge of the project,
the change of heart by
the Australians came as a
“total surprise.”
“It came as a complete
surprise, left us all
scratching our heads. It
really threw us off,” said
Bullen, adding “there
was a huge amount of
hope on this project;
the parliament has been
meeting in a trade center
for the past 8 years. With
the downturn in the
economy this was the
single big project that
was on the horizon.”
He described the sudden
change by the Australians as “very troubling”.
A senior representative
of the former Tillman
Thomas administration said “there was no
strings attached” to the
agreement for funding
the project , although he
hinted that the Australian decision may have
resulted from Grenada’s
handling after the 2013
general elections, of a
former senior official in
the Ministry of Works
who had direct responsibility for the project.
“We approached the
government of Australia
simply as partners in the
Commonwealth, there
were no ties to supporting its bid at the UN or
another arrangement,”
the official who spoke on
condition of anonymity
said.
It was the votes of Caribbean and African nations
that secured Australia’s
“prized seat” on the
United Nations Security
Council. However both
regions are now the
target of unwinding aid
commitments by the current government.
The current rulers in
Canberra, when in opposition, did object to the
way aid commitments
were being made by the
Kevin Rudd administration.
Coordinator of the Early Childhood Development
Unit within the Ministry of Social Development
Dawn Cyrus stressed the urgent need for the seminar;
hinting its importance in adequately preparing the
trainees and other caregivers to deal with children.
She said they may encounter children with varying
family backgrounds; which may pose little hiccups,
she says with the knowledge and exposure they gain
from the seminar it is easier for them to cope with
such situations.
Executive Director of REACH Grenada Dr Karen Lawson says the Charitable Organization was conceptualized upon hearing Prime Minister Dr. the Right Hon.
Keith Mitchell’s vision for vulnerable children and
youth people in Grenada.
Dr. Karen stated the organization is working towards
broadening the focus of the project; in a way that not
only caregivers would benefit, but any individual
or profession likely to come into direct contact with
children.
CIBC FIRSTCARIBBEAN
APPOINTS A CHIEF CREDIT
OFFICER
and commercial loan
recoveries and risk
reporting to the Board.
Previous to that she
was Country Treasurer,
Vice-President, with
Citigroup in Jamaica,
where she began her
career in banking fifteen
years ago.
CIBC FirstCaribbean has
announced the appointment of Ms. Monique
French as its new Chief
Credit Officer, reporting
to the Bank’s Chief Risk
Officer. Ms. French, who
until recently served as
Senior Vice President of
Credit Risk with Scotiabank in Jamaica, is
a career banker with
extensive experience
in Risk Management
within the financial
services sector.
Ms. French, who will
eventually be based at
CIBC FirstCaribbean’s
corporate headquarters
in Barbados, will begin
her career at the bank
with a six-month assignment at its parent company, CIBC, in Canada.
A chartered financial
analyst, she holds
Masters in Business
Administration (MBA),
with a specialization
in Finance and Marketing, from the Richard
Ivey School of Business,
University of Western
Ontario, Canada, and
a Bachelor of Science
degree in Accounting
from The University of
the West Indies, at Mona
in Jamaica.
As SVP with Scotiabank,
Ms. French was responsible for recommending
and implementing policies regarding the bank’s
retail, small business,
commercial, and corporate risks; adjudication
of credit proposals to
ensure that the bank
maintained a sound
credit portfolio; management of special accounts
Ms. French also served
as chairperson of a
committee appointed by
the Jamaica Bankers’ Association’s executive to
develop guiding terms of
reference for the evaluation of Credit Bureau
prospects, initiated and
spearheaded a proposal for a new Bank of
Jamaica money market
investment instrument,
and has contributed to a
number of other special
projects on behalf of the
Bank of Jamaica and the
Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ)
A strong strategic thinker and team builder, Ms.
French is a goal-oriented
and analytical financialservices professional,
who has spent eleven of
her fifteen years in the
financial services sector
at the executive management level.
In announcing Ms.
French’s appointment,
Chief Risk Officer of
CIBC FirstCaribbean,
Geoff Scott, remarked:
“Monique will be responsible for all credit
risk management activities within CIBC FirstCaribbean, including credit
adjudication and collections, loss provisioning,
sustaining our two major
credit enhancement projects, and other strategic
initiatives. I am very
pleased that the Bank
has been able to attract
Monique, who will bring
to us a vital combination of strong skills and
experience developed in
the Caribbean. She has
a proven risk management and product-management track record
and we are confident
she will significantly
enhance the capability
of the team here at CIBC
FirstCaribbean. We are
pleased to have her on
board.”
News
MINISTER PIERRE IS SATISFIED WITH YEAR
ONE AND PRESSES ON WITH OPTIMISM
Tuesday, 04 March,
2014: “The first year in
office was a hectic, yet
a productive one,” that
is according to Minister
for Youth, Sports, and
Religious Affairs, Hon.
Emmalin Pierre.
The Minister hinted that
the task of leading three
very important divisions
should never be looked at
as an easy one; however,
as time progresses and
with capable, hardworking staff the job gets more
manageable.
Hon. Emmalin Pierre
was sworn in as Minister
for Youth, Sports, and
Religious Affairs one year
ago. She is ably assisted
by Senator the Hon. Sheldon Scott as Parliamentary Secretary.
Hon. Emmalin Pierre Minister for Youth,
Sports and Religious Affairs
During a recent interview
with the Public Relations
Unit of her Ministry, the
Minister highlighted
some of her Ministry’s
achievements within its
first year and plans for
the future:

• The lighting and upgrading of playing fields;
• The start of work on
the rehabilitation of the
national athletics stadium. The Minister said
that this project was a
campaign promise hence
her Government moved
speedily to get it done
as well as understanding
the need for this facility
among the nation’s youth
population.
• On the upgrading of the
cricket stadium. Negotiations are ongoing with
the Government of China
for lighting so that Grenada can facilitate night
cricket.

Minister Pierre hinted
that whilst it is imperative that work continues in upgrading these
facilities and new ones
are constructed, it is key
also that measures are
put in place to manage
the facilities.

Therefore, the Division of
Sports is in the process
of establishing a policy
that will guide the use
and maintenance of the
sporting facilities. The
Ministry is also looking
at ways it can review and
revise and implement the
national sports policy.
In the area of Religious
Affairs, Minister Pierre is
happy that religious leaders and churches are supportive of programs and
projects geared towards
the holistic development of the Ministry
and country. She spoke
specifically to the Prison
Rehabilitation Program
(Project Reach), where
the inmates have been
spiritually inspired and
motivated by religious
leaders in addition to the
many other personal development and now technical classes to which
they are exposed.
The Minister is thrilled
by the fact that over two
thousand (2000) young
persons are been trained
and equipped with the
relevant skills to face the
world of work through
The New Imani Program.
That, according to her, is
another major achievement.
Minister Pierre remains
optimistic that things can
only get better for her
ministry, as it is already
on the right track to positive development.
Business
Spice Isle Fish House Tackle and Gear Division
aims to be “the” one stop shop, both locally and
regionally, for Fishing and Marine Supplies.
Spice Isle Fish House
has built a favourable
reputation for itself with
Grenadian fishermen and
customers over the past
8 years. It has developed
into a business with a high
standard of customer service, quality products and
value pricing.
The business has many
aspects namely the export
of Yellowfin Tuna to the
USA, Sale of tackle, gear
and equipment to the Commercial Fishing Vessels and
sale of fish, meats, other
frozen foods and dry goods
to hotels, restaurants, shops,
vendors and households in
Grenada.
As exports and fishing are
the life of the company,
Spice Isle Fish House Ltd
takes great pride in supporting the growth of Grenada’s
commercial fishing industry
in a sustainable and profitable manner. With that in
mind, the company began
expansion of its tackle and
gear division in 2013 to
better serve the fishermen
of Grenada, Carriacou and
Petit Martinique. This expansion included wider offering of products carried and
increased emphasis on stock
maintenance; hiring of a
dedicated Manager who has
over 25 years in the fishing
industry bringing with him
expertise and a hands on approach to serving customers;
additional distributor rights
to ensure quality assurance
and prices that are competitive with US tackle sellers;
and an additional location
opened on the Carenage
which enjoys greater accessibility than the Grand Mal
office.
Furthermore, the Carenage
location offers more square
footage than the Grand Mal
shop, providing a spacious
showroom atmosphere for
customers, where all items
that the company carries can
be viewed. The tackle shop
at the Carenage also offers
extended opening hours of
8 a.m to 7 p.m Monday to
Friday and 8 a.m to 12 p.m
on Saturdays, allowing the
customer greater flexibility in
the time they choose to shop
rather than the traditional 8 –
4 hours of Grand Mal.
Business
Managing your Business:
From Good to Great
It is said that the lack of competition minimizes the need to
embrace customer service or
develop a customer focused
culture. I would like to introduce you to the idea that
you don’t need competition
to threaten your business. A
lack of employee focus will
do it for you.
Far too often businesses
concentrate on attracting new
business while essentially
ignoring the people aspect of
the business. The problem with
this approach is that while new
business comes in, without an
internal service quality focus,
your existing business and your
employees may be creeping
out the back door. Any business
culture must include an internal
service quality strategy. The
way you treat your employees
is a mirror image of how they
will treat your customers. Treat
them with indifference – they
will meet your customer with the
same. Don’t listen to feedback
– they will not listen to your
customer. Further, your employees can tell you a lot about what
you can do differently to create
positive customer experiences.
In my business you have to
get it right the first time and if
you make a mistake you have
to know how to recover. As a
customer, I am alarmed at how
businesses put “anyone” in
charge of their bottom-line. I’ve
gone into establishments, spent
my money and left there thinking, “why did I come here?”.
Really, all kidding aside. I’m
reminded of this store (I will
never criticize an establishment
publicly – and something you
should never do to your employees) I visited to purchase a
Dutch oven. I was able to find
what I was looking for and took
the merchandise to the counter.
When it was my turn, without
looking up, the cashier proceeded to ring up my merchandise, gave me the total, took my
•
The gross profit generated by an employee or customer generally far exceeds the
cost of servicing them.
•
They don’t appreciate
incompetence.
•
Misleading them can
lead to losing them.
•
Adopting a “watch and
wait” approach to problems and
complaints can lead to their dissatisfaction, and is like allowing
smoke to grow into a burning
fire.
Janie Howerton Executive Director, Grenada
Vice President Of Human Resources and
Performance Management - KM2 Solutions LLC
payment, printed my receipt,
and handed it to me. I stood
there for a few seconds waiting
to hear, “Thank you”. I don’t
know why I expected it because
she never said, “Hello”. When
I collected my thoughts I picked
up my unbagged merchandise
and proceeded to the door.
Now, I couldn’t resist the urge to
turn around and say “No, Thank
you? No, have a nice day?
Really?”. The cashier looked
at me and said, “I wasn’t done
yet.”. I could not stop laughing
at the thought of “when” she
was actually going to say these
things.
In all seriousness, I don’t blame
the cashier. It’s a management
issue. Again, competition is
not your problem; the lack of
employee focus could be. If you
don’t remember anything else
in this article, remember that
employees and customers are a
lot alike.
Attracting the right cus•
tomer and acquiring the right fit
for the job require investment. It
should not be considered only a
cost or an expense, but also an
opportunity to attract, train, and
motivate your employees.
•
When they know
they are valued, honored and
respected they remain satisfied.
Job satisfaction can translate
easily to Customer satisfaction.
As a leader, your job involves
establishing the vision and communicating business strategy,
however you are also responsible for cultivating a culture
for learning. Employees value
and are loyal to employers
that support and provide appropriate systems and tools to
effectively do their job. Ensuring
employees receive coaching;
development and feedback are
investments that go a long way.
No amount of customer service training will improve your
employee’s ability to serve your
customer unless it is supported
by progressive leadership behaviors. We must think and lead
more collaboratively.
We need to think like an inverted pyramid.
For those of you who do not
know what an inverted pyramid
is, let me explain. Organizational structure can usually
be depicted using a pyramid.
Generally, executives occupy
the top slot followed by a series
of managers, ending with staff
employees. The main idea
is that the few executives are
at the top of the organization,
thus having the most power
and influence. If you think of
an inverted pyramid, the exact
opposite is true with staff and
employees occupying the top
slot and the executives at the
bottom.
One of my favorite organiza-
tions that I researched was
Domino’s pizza. Dominos has
framed its organizational structure like an inverted pyramid
(only customers at the top and
staff coming second). Their
internal philosophy is, “If you
don’t make it, bake it, or take it,
you’re the support for those who
do.”
So what, if you make more
money than your employees
or that you are the boss or
the owner? Having the most
simply means having the most
to lose. Truth is, if leaders start
placing as much emphasis on
employees, the employee will
take pride in their work, approach their responsibilities with
acceptance, confidence and
a desire to grow and change.
Having this strategy in your
business can produce results
you never thought possible. I
know this because I happen to
work alongside of 160 employees who demonstrate the kind
of enthusiasm and esteem that
is crucial to the overall function
of our organization.
Here are some standards to
consider:
•
Treat your employees
as your customers and customers as your employees.
•
Be available and present for them always.
•
Invest in your employee’s development.
•
Have regular (two-way)
conversations.
•
Follow-up and ask for
feedback.
•
And don’t forget to say
“Thank you”.
In the end the decision is yours
yet I encourage you to consider
your perspective on leadership and managing employees
as this is an important step to
move you from good to great.
Business
Cartridge World Grenada:
One company, many benefits,
serving the business community
and saving the environment.
Cartridge World Grenada, owned by Vere
and Gail Adamson, is
part of an internationally known franchise,
and the Grenada store
is one of 1700 locations
worldwide. The store is
located on the Belmont
road, where its core
service involves refilling printer cartridges
for re-use. With the use
of modern-day technology, coupled with
well-trained technicians, Cartridge World
Grenada refills and
tests cartridges for
Grenadian businesses,
all of whom pay only for
the ink and toner, as the
cartridge is able to be
re-used.
Cartridge World Grenada
has been in operation
for almost 5 years. The
success of the business
is due to the fact that
Cartridge World is the
world leader in printer
cartridge refilling and
recycling, and also provides an environmentally
friendly choice to satisfy
printer and toner needs.
The business is a one
stop shop for most inkjet,
laser, fax and photocopier
needs at unbeatable
prices. Our specialty is
refilling and remanufacturing the printer and
toner cartridges we sell,
with the goal of saving
the customer money on
printing…we actually give
your used ink and toner
printer cartridge a new
lease on life! This innovative service, combined
with expert technical advice, unmatched custom-
er service and unbeatable
prices, has resulted in
discovering a winning
formula to save customers time and money.
In spite of the world-wide
recession, Cartridge
World Grenada has not
only survived, but was
able to thrive, amidst the
tough economic times
over the past few years.
Despite the size of a business, times can be tough,
as start-ups and corporate giants alike struggle
to stay afloat. However,
was able to weather the
tough economic climate.
Some of the factors that
played a part in ‘riding
the waves’ included:
Prayer: As
•
Christians, the owners
had faith that God would
help Cartridge World ride
the waves of the eco-
nomic depression and
He certainly did!
•
A positive attitude: A positive attitude
can get you through any
situation. A negative attitude can not only spread
to your employees, but
also to the people you do
business with. You have
to be positive on how you
are going to tackle your
challenges.
•
Marketing: You
cannot bury your head
in the sand and wait
for a recession to pass,
you have to market your
business. Bill Gates
once said, “If I only had
$2 I would spend $1 on
marketing and PR.” We
continued to market the
business, letting people
know that we are very
much surviving the recession.
•
Review the
business costs: We
reviewed all business
cost both internal and
external, to determine
those that are critical
and therefore cannot be
included in cost cutting
measures. Also, being aware of the risks
and opportunities of the
business, we were able
to manage costs in line
with long-term strategy,
to successfully navigate
through the recession.
Customer satis•
faction: No matter what
type of business you
operate, it is essential
to keep your customers happy. Despite the
recession, we maintained
high quality products
along with a high quality
of service, together with
a satisfaction guaranteed
philosophy. Whether
your business is selling goods or providing a
service, how that product
or service is delivered
will determine the repeat
service you can achieve.
Our customer service
has always been top
notch, so our customers have always felt that
they are better off with us
than without us.
Staff: Good staff
•
are a vital asset to any
business. At Cartridge
World Grenada, we are
a small group…we are a
family. The business is
managed by Donamay
Francis along with two
qualified technicians,
Dexter Abraham and
Desylie Thomas. These 3
employees are the company’s talent…the very
backbone of the organization. We always look
to our staff for feedback
and creative innovative
ideas.
New opportuni•
ties: As a small business, we are definitely
keeping our eyes out for
new opportunities, as
new opportunities can
often present themselves
in many different ways. If
an idea comes our way,
we want to be ready and
willing to capitalize on it,
and sometimes during
a recession this may be
the perfect time to do so.
The opportunity for the
Cartridge World franchise
in Grenada has definitely
been a win/win situation
for consumers and the
environment. We are
the global leader in the
refiling and remanufacturing of ink and laser jet
printer cartridges, refilling
and/or remanufacturing
just about any printer
cartridge, and every
cartridge refilled means
one less cartridge in our
landfills. We offer a free
pick-up and delivery service, excellent customer
service and a satisfaction
guaranteed policy. You
cannot get much better than that! God has
blessed Cartridge World
Grenada and the wonderful service it provides
to the Grenadians.
Vere and Gail Adamson
(owners)
Interview
Andrews: CBI Programme must
be seen as recurrent revenue
Interview with Lennox Andrews local economist
and former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance
Grenada needs a serious
injection of foreign direct
investment; one of the
ways the government has
sought to address this is
through the Citizen By
Investment (CBI) programme. Many persons
have expressed objection to the programme.
Is it ignorance or is there
credibility in their suspicions? How do you see
the programme benefiting
Grenada if done properly?
But recently an Iranian
man went to Canada with
a St. Kitts passport and
he encountered the wrath
of the Canadian authorities who hastened down
to Denzil Douglas (St.
Kitts Prime Minister) and
kicked up a storm. Isn’t
that a possible backlash?
The programme is properly conceptualized. I
think the issue here is
to ensure it is properly
implemented and the right
people are put to work in
the programme. But, fundamentally, I don’t have a
problem with what I have
heard of the programme so
far. It is something other
regional countries are using successfully; Dominica, St. Kitts, etc. are
using this particular programme. So I don’t see it
as anything wrong, but as
something a government
should take on fully as a
means of raising resources
and using that money to
meet current and capital
expenditure needs.
I think because it is an
economic citizenship
programme the money
you collect can be treated
as a fee, in a similar way
that one buys a passport
in Grenada for $125.000.
In a similar way, an
investor can come in and
pays whatever amount of
money for a passport. It is
a fee and that fee can be
treated as part of government’s current revenue.
Now, there is one thing
about the budget that is
of concern to me. The
budget indicates that there
is a deficit in the current
account in 2014. If there
is a deficit in the current
account, that means that
the counterpart financing
for capital programmes is
not available; and, there-
way, the people who come
into these programmes
are rich and the value of
the passport to them is
hassle-free travel around
the world. If an Iraqi tries
to travel to America on
an Iraqi passport he may
have difficulties; but if he
travels with a Grenadian
passport he will have less
difficulty.
It all depends on the kind
of individual; maybe they
have a history on him
which warranted that they
acted that way. But the essence is to allow for easy
travel of these people to
Europe and North America. Apart from that they
can provide certain fringe
benefits to the people.
lennox andrews
fore, the question is if you
don’t have that counterpart financing there is
the likelihood of capital
programmes not being
implemented in full.
To avoid this it is advisable for the government to
treat the proceeds of the
CBI programme as recurrent revenue and let it become part of government’s
total recurrent revenue.
This will increase the tax
and non-tax revenue. If
you increase those revenues by that amount of the
CBI programme, you’ll end
up with a current account
surplus that can be used
to finance capital programmes. That is how it
should have been treated
in the budget, as against
treating it exclusively as a
capital programme.
In a radio programme
sometime ago I was trying
to explain the importance
of the CBI programme in
that regard. But, somehow,
some persons didn’t seem
to be able to grapple with
what I was saying.
Apart from the due
diligence that one has to
do before the releasing of
our passport, can one say
that the CBI programme is
value added?
It is not a value added; it’s
a pure revenue earning
stream.
But isn’t it a revenue
stream where you don’t
have to really put out
much as in the past
where cocoa, nutmeg and
banana farmers worked
hard tilling the soil?
The amount you put out
comes in the form of administration; you have to
train and pay staff. So it’s
a very easy way of earning revenue. Apart from
the revenue earned in this
In Dominica, apart from
paying whatever they
have to pay for a passport,
investors finance Dominica in the area of education, so Dominicans can
get a scholarship to go and
study at whichever university they want. They also
provide financial support
to government officials; for
example, if a government
minister is travelling on
official business, instead
of using taxpayers’ money,
one of these investors may
be asked to finance the
trip and nothing is wrong
with that.
When that money is spent
by investors, they expect
something in return, don’t
they?
Obviously! You see, you
can make one of those
persons, for example,
your ambassador. Let’s say
he is a French man and
you make him Grenada’s
Ambassador to France.
He, being an ambassador,
brings certain benefits to
the country. Being rich,
all he wants is some level
of status that will give
him some privileges. So,
he gets it through the CBI
programme and, in return,
you get what you want
from him.
Why do you think some
people are against the
programme? Is it ignorance?
The fundamental problem
is that we need to diffuse
and divulge the programme in a manner that
people understand and,
more so, understand the
benefits that are to be derived from it. I don’t think
sufficient work is being
done in that area.
A couple of years ago
when the government
had the facility to allow
people like First International Bank to set up here,
we had some experiences.
Do you think there will be
a repeat of those experiences?
No, we can’t hold on to
those experiences. Those
days we were pretty young
and the whole economic
citizenship programme
was just beginning to establish itself in our part of
the world.
We honestly went into
this thing as a means of
generating revenue. We
didn’t have the experience, the trained personnel; we didn’t hire the
best persons with the
knowledge of how these
things operate. In addition and very importantly,
we didn’t regulate properly. Therefore, with the
absence of proper regulation, the programme went
the way it went. But now
the experience has been
brought to bear and we
can implement a strong,
effective programme that
can bring benefits to the
population.
Is it necessary to make a
distinction between the
tourists who come with
the same money and stay
for a week or two and
the revenue that comes
in through such a programme as the CBI?
Interview
The essence of the programme is economic development. The tourist dollar
contributes to economic
development through tax
revenues and so on. In
the case of CBI, it is direct
spending in the economy
where you bring in capital
and establish businesses
and jobs directly and
immediately, and help
to increase the country’s
gross domestic product.
It, therefore, has a direct
impact on the economy.
When you look at the way
our economy is going, our
tourist dollar is challenged
based on what it has to do
and how many tourists are
coming. Our traditional
crops, especially bananas,
are not really finding good
markets; nutmeg price
goes up and down. When
you look at all this, how
important is foreign direct
investment and, in particular, this CBI programme
to the economy?
Where the economy is
right now, for the country to grow and develop
money must come into the
country. We have a very
small economy, a very
small domestic market; we
have low levels of savings.
It is extremely difficult to
mobilize savings inside
Grenada for investment
purposes. Therefore, this
requires money to come
into the country. The CBI
is one way we can get
foreign direct investment.
The government, through
its public sector investment programme, can
also bring money into the
country.
The money that comes
into the country is foreign
exchange; so, at the same
time, it helps to strengthen
balance of payment and
maintains the stability of
our exchange rate. There is
absolutely nothing wrong
with the programme; I
don’t know why we keep
making noise about something which is good.
Also in the budget, as
part of raising revenue,
the government lowered
the threshold on income
tax and increased some
fees. There is a school of
thought that says, by doing
that the government is removing disposable income
from the hands of the people and as such strangling
economic growth. What is
your take?
Any rise in tax would in
effect lead to a reduction
in disposable income;
and if there is a reduction
in disposable income, it
means people have less
money in their hands to
spend; and if they have
less money to spend, businesses will get less sales.
If businesses get less sales
they will produce less; and
if they produce less, then
the country’s Gross Domestic Product will fall.
Similarly, if they are producing less and the people
are consuming less and we
are importing less, then the
government will earn less
tax revenue. Because businesses with less sales earn
less profits and with less
profits, government earns
less corporate tax. With
less sales also, businesses
import less and when they
import less, government
earns less in terms of import duties.
You have to weigh the
thing by asking what part
of the population spends
more and by extension,
what part of someone’s
income is spent the most.
A poor man, for example,
100% of his income virtually goes into consumption. So, the tax structure
should be such that you
allow for greater spending
on the part of those who
have a tendency to spend a
greater part of their income
on consumption items, and
that can help the economy
to turn around. But, as it is
right now, there is the likelihood that there can be a
fall in economic activity
if that part of the population’s disposable income
is reduced substantially
and reduces their ability to
spend.
Basically the people who
are affected are those
above $3000.00 (a month);
they are not middle class,
are they?
Three thousand dollars in
an economy like Grenada can’t be classified
as middle class. Middle
class will range perhaps
from $4,500.00 or 5,000.00
to $8.000.00. But those at
$4,000.00 are bordering
on what may be called the
lower class.
So those earning three
thousand and under are
below the middle class;
you don’t see a reduction
in their spending because,
as you said, the people
who earn that kind of
money are the ones who
spend. But some of these
same people are maids,
working for the middle
class, so when the middle
class is under pressure
and releases them, what
do you see happening to
the economy?
The good thing about what
has happened is that the
middle class, those who
will be affected by the tax
programme, they have
been given sufficient time
to prepare themselves for
the change. They have
been given three or four
months to put measures
and structures in place to
mitigate the impact of the
income loss.
I am saying that if you are
a rational person, this is
what you are supposed to
do. Make the adjustments
on time so by the time
it reaches you, you have
measures in place to deal
with it. I hope that whoever is affected by the new
tax regime would have
taken the necessary steps
to reduce negative impacts.
But while the measures
they take may cushion
negative impacts, some of
the measures may be to
send home the guy who
cuts the grass.
When I say mitigate, I
mean finding ways to keep
their income at least at
the same level, which is
possible and I can give examples. If you are paying
a mortgage and you know
your payment is $500.00 a
month, all you have to do
is go to the bank and talk
to them about what is possible. Maybe lower your
interest rate, extend the
payment period or some
other measure.
If you are paying three
or four loans to different
institutions, consolidate
them into one loan and
your monthly payment
will be lower.
Remember the plan is to
reduce unemployment and
if you have a maid and a
gardener, what do you do?
Obviously you may have to
adjust. Perhaps you can’t
employ them every day for
the week; you may have to
cut it to two or three days.
So it comes down to the
affected individual designing a plan to maintain his
or her standard of living.
Yes.
When you look at the
whole process with
GRENLEC that is talking
about increasing rates
and NIS, which may raise
their threshold for contributions, what do you see
happening?
Sometimes when you have
a fiscal imbalance in the
economy and you have to
correct it, it may be necessary for the population to
make some hard sacrifices
for a short period of time.
But make sure you correct
the fiscal imbalance. So
if it means taking harsh
measures – let us say for a
period of one year to correct a particular fiscal situation – then do so. But, of
course, you have to engage
the population.
At some point in time you
have to take the harsh measures. You can’t get away
from it if you are in a bad
fiscal situation. You have
to correct it; and if the
correction requires certain
sacrifices, then they have
to be shared and we have
to be prepared to make
the sacrifices. My concern
is that we don’t prolong
it too long, otherwise the
desired results will not be
achieved.
The tourism operators,
hotels and so on, are
pleading with government
for more marketing. The
government says more
marketing would come by
asking you to take from
your guests an extra $5.00
per night and they are
quite unwilling to do so.
What would you say to
hoteliers?
If you are in business your
business must be market
driven. Government can’t
make a business successful; they can only facilitate
a process. The success of
the business lies in the
market. So if you are a
private individual and you
want to invest in a particular segment of the market,
you have to make sure
there is a demand for your
commodity. If there is no
demand, then don’t expect
government concessions to
help you in that market.
Once there is the demand
the likelihood of you
surviving is strong. The
most government can do
is to facilitate the process
of you getting into the
market. But, once you’re in
the market, I think the job
is yours to survive.
These hoteliers get 30-year
concessions from government and they still expect
the government to go out
and find the market.
That’s the point I’m
making. The concept of
concessions is to help you
to stand on your feet. So
you give concessions to
an infant industry but you
don’t expect to be an infant
for life; you have to grow
and get big and mature
and stand on your own.
One gets a sense that by
the way the hoteliers are
behaving, they want to be
infants for life. That is not
helping the economy and
that’s why I’m saying that
once your industry is market driven, there is no need
for government to help
you. You know that when
you make that product or
service available for sale
and there is a demand, it
will sell.
providing seedlings at a
lower cost.
The fisherman wants to go
out to sea, government has
to give concession on fuel.
Calypsonians, mas’ men,
everybody wants government support. Where is
government to get those
resources? Isn’t it time the
government relook its support for all those areas?
What I think will come out
of those measures is a recognition on the part of the
population that individually, we need to do more to
help ourselves; individually, rather than depending
on others to help us. We
have talent and abilities.
We have to use what we
have to create a good or
a service and provide for
ourselves. I hope that coming out of that period of
adjustment, we will see a
drive toward people doing
more things to help themselves. If this happens the
programme would have
been successful.
Government has to reexamine this as a government
and ask itself what its role
in the economy is. In a
market-oriented economy
like ours, the role of government is precisely that of
facilitating. By facilitating,
it creates the condition for
private sector-led growth
in the economy.
What do you predict 2014
will be like for us economically?
It’s going to be a hard year.
Those persons who have
not put measures in place
to mitigate the impact of
the tax measures will have
it hard. Those who have
put measures in place will
be able to bear it.
Who is supposed to be
leading the growth in the
economy?
As long as our dependency
thinking remains that government has to do it for us,
the programme would not
have been successful.
The way our country is,
growth is in the private
sector’s hands. Think
about it this way: How do
you create jobs? How do
people find work? To create jobs you have to make
use of what is called factors of production – land,
capital. You have to have
resources; so you have the
land, you put it to work.
Our political leaders also
have to portray a new kind
of politics that speaks to
the freedom of the individual. Let them see themselves as the ones who
have to take responsibility
for their existence and success. Our economy will not
grow and develop if our
people do no not recognize
that it is in our hands.
In our country the resources are largely owned
by private individuals and
institutions. So if I was in
a country like Cuba, where
the resources are all largely
owned by the state, then
the state has the right to
give me work because to
work I need to utilize the
resources and you own it.
As we proceed to help ourselves we will help each
other in various ways.
But in a jurisdiction like
Grenada the resources
are privately own; so for
us to grow the economy
and get people to work,
these private entities must
utilize the land and other
resources. The role of government, in this case, is to
make it easy for them to
utilize the resources. Take
agriculture. The lands are
largely owned by individuals to create jobs; they have
to work the land. So if the
land is in bush, government has to create access
by building the roads and,
perhaps, make it easier by
But do you foresee opportunities?
Grenada does not have
many opportunities
because we have a very
small, narrow domestic
market. It therefore means
that we have to think
outside of Grenada. We are
part of an economic region
and we are not taking
advantage of the opportunities so available.
Some of the islands are
agriculture-based and
some are services. We,
who are agriculture-based,
must provide agricultural
outputs for sale in those
service-driven countries
that have no agriculture.
Some opportunities are
there. We are just not moving fast enough in taking
advantage of them.
Commentary
40 YEARS OF POLITICAL WILDERNESS
Emerging as one of Grenada’s elder stateswomen,
Joan Purcell, has pointed
to an “ever present spirirt
of chaos and confusion” as
part of Grenada’s legacy
through its 40 years of independence from Britain.
Presenting her latest work
at the School of Continuing Studies, UWI Center
MArryshow House, Mrs
Purcell traced the Grenada’s history along a line
of political disruption,
confusion, violence and
disappointment, prompting one attendee to remark,
“she talks the talk and she
walks the walk.”
“40 Years of Political
Wilderness: A Spiritual
Perspective of Grenada’s
History,” recounts the
struggles of a people
yearning to be free from
the bonds of slavery
whether from the European Massa, or from the
Grenadian ideologue, who
in some ways, became
more of a millstone around
the neck of a developing
nation than a springboard
for takeoff.
Passionate about the
nation’s potential, Joan
Purcell set about to trace
Grenada’s ruby celebration and the people who
impacted on a Grenadian
community who, 40 years
later, still yearn for leadership that does not end in
a quagmire of corruption,
deception or self aggrandizement and chaos.
She recalls many discussions with “my deceased
friend,” Teddy Victor, a
nationalist from the parish
of St. David who supported the Grenada revolution
in the hope that it would
have provided an avenue
for meaningful change, to
the benefit of all Grenadians and fulfill the development potential that is
evident on the island.
“For decades, I’ve wept inwardly, sometimes openly,
over my beloved Grenada, Carriacou and Petit
Martinique, and I’ve been
blessed with persons who
wept with me,” she said
of Victor and his role in
“The Agape Foundation,”
an organization designed
to pass on the values of
governance to the younger
generation.
The yet to be published
work, started as an essay
that “two months later I
had done 150 pages based
on book research and my
own personal recollection
and analyses of national
life,” Purcell said, describing it as “a journey
with God into the heart
and soul of our nation,
by no means exhaustive,
no doubt subjective, and
definitely challenging and
chastening,”
She is well paced to write
on the subject having
played a role in the 19831984 Interim Administration which was put in
place by Governor General
Sir Paul Scoon following
the US led intervention to
restore democracy, predicated by the October 19,
1983 slaying of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and
members of his cabinet by
members of the People’s
Revolutionary Army.
The first female communications and Works
Minister, Purcell writes,
“things are not what they
seem…there is more to reality than meets the eye…
indeed there is a much
greater reality to our pressing human reality and
it’s God’s reality - everpresent, always sovereign,
totally supreme, definitely
superior and mostly spiritual.”
In a “moving” presentation
of her work, Purcell, who
also served in 1984-85 as
Minister of Labour and
Women’s Affairs as part
of the Herbert Blaize New
National Party Administration, traced Grenada’s development from a “people
who came out of an experience of heart-wrenching
oppression, locked into a
system of colonial enslavement for over 500 years.
She said Grenada history
is charactised by a culture
of “decimation of the weak
by the strong, even with
the most determined resistance, suggesting that the
people of the “isle of Spice
had learnt “that deception,
confusion, conflict and
violence culminating in
the killing of the victims
by the victors were the
route to progress.”
Following the path of leadership from the 1700 to
2014, the former President
of the senate noted that
“the red line of violence”
has been marked into Grenada’s psyche from Julien
Fedon’s rebellion against
the French to the military
invasion of the island by
US and Caribbean Forces
to restore democracy following the “breakup” of an
experiment that had gone
badly wrong in 1983.
“The strong-armed decimated the less armed, and
many innocent disarmed
were caught in the middle.
Confusion reigned. The
nation moaned and
groaned. The revolution
which began in conflict,
ended in conflict, numbering, the sixth irreconcilable conflict in the nation’s history. The lessons
had not been learnt.”
She however noted
that Grenada’s political
conflict was deeper that
the violence that accompanied disagreements as
evidenced by the turmoil
that plagued all successive governments since the
Invasion.
She argues that the greatest impact is the “trail
of disappointed, disillusioned and disunited
citizens” who were left
following each crisis.
Mrs. Purcell said politics
has a new reality with
“a significant shift, from
undemocratic political
patronage to ugly political
tribalism. Election became
a fight for keeps for the
soul of the nation “by any
means necessary”, adding
that the “lines and limits
of what is right and what
is wrong became blurred.
Political expediency became a watchword. Spin
was refined! Killing with
words replaced killing by
the gun! “
“Today, spirits of conflict,
confusion, divisiveness,
deceit and expediency
remain firmly entrenched
within the nation’s political structure and unless
these strongholds are
supernaturally dismantled, the wanderings will
continue, the cost will increase and the nation will
suffer,” Purcell said.
As a result she concludes
that Grenada now stands
at a crossroads with very
little on the political and
economic horizons to offer
“much” hope, while the
rhetoric continues, the
rivalry thickens and relief
diminishes, taking its toll
on the population and on
the country.
But Joan Purcell, the
optimist sees possibilities, writing that only a
new Spirit can make a
difference in our beautiful
land – the Spirit of God”.
Indeed, only through the
power of Almighty God
can this ‘curse’ be broken
to increasingly usher in
a culture of forgiveness,
reconciliation and unity.
The former Government
minister, who was the
lone female in the political council that restored
democracy to Grenada
after the failure of the
Marxist revolution in
1983 says a new spirit of
forgiveness and reconciliation is beginning to
emerge, pointing to the
1992 commutation of the
“Grenada 14” found guilty
of the wanton killing of
Prime Minister Maurice
Bishop, some of his cabinet colleagues and close
supporters and scores of
innocent Grenadians in
October 1983.
“I know I was placed in
the politics of my country
for a reason. As minister of justice, it was my
responsibility to decide on
whether to commute the
death sentence of the 14
men convicted of murdering our Prime Minister.
Those were the darkest
nights of my life, but I finally decided they should
not be executed. My role
cost me many friends who
could not understand how
I could be involved in
this,” she wrote.
She argues that the prevalence of a spirit of superficiality, greed, materialism,
consumerism, slothfulness
and thanklessness in the
land is preventing the people of Grenada from fully
appreciating and utilizing
its God-given resources in
productive and creative
ways.
“Grenada must move to
live within its means and
honour its obligations to
borrowers and work hard
to develop and implement
goals and strategies that
would lead to national
self-reliance, healthy independence and meaningful regional interdependence,” she proffers.
Like the noted Caribbean
writer, Myles Munroe,
Joan Purcell, a former MP
for Carriacoun and Petite
Martinique has thrown
down the gauntlet to
Grenadians of all walks of
life to “move to the Age of
Responsibility,” as the island celebrates a 40 years,
(a generation) of independence.
“Our politics over the
years have been death producing and dehumanizing.
It has led to a mentality of
expediency among politicians and false expectations among the electorate.
Political leaders are seen
as “Dons” or “Deliverers”
and people are used as
“voters” and “supporters”.
The result of this kind of
relationship is dependency and political illiteracy,”
she writes, arguing that it
is time for everyone, politician, priest, pastor and
people, to be provided a
place to work out “in fear
and trembling” how best
to create community and
live in community.
She ended the 45 minute
presentation with the
words of Dr. Larry Crabb,
66 Love Letters.
“Things are not as they
seem. Evil, though widespread, is not winning.
Faithfulness, though
costly is not futile. Affliction though continuing
will end. The Lion’s roar
will soon be heard. Until
then, reign with the Lamb.
Live to love, not control….
see the invisible but real
movement of history.
Despite corrupt politicians, rampart immorality,
economic crises, natural
disasters, disease epidemics, and widespread rejection of [God’s] Son, He is
right now on the throne of
the universe. He is moving
history according to [His]
plan. Nothing happens
without His permission.
Nothing ever has. Nothing
ever will.”
Business
Profile on Communal
Co-operative Credit Union
About Us
The Communal Cooperative Credit Union is
a financial co-operative
founded in November
1964 and registered on
October 19, 1965 with a
membership of 100 and
savings of approximately
five hundred ($500)
dollars under the name
of the St. George’s
Communal Co-operative
Credit Union Ltd.
Its aim is to provide and
avenue to receive its
member’s savings and
make loans to them for
provident and productive
purposes at reasonable
rates of interest.
Some of the founding
members were Rodney
V. Mauricette, Eric
Padmore, Albert
LaTouche, Cynthia
Steele, Martin Abraham,
Kathleen A.Nedd and
Joslyn (Sparrow) Hayling.
At the first annual
general meeting Messrs
Mauricette, Padmore and
Mrs Steele were elected
to the Board of Directors.
Mr. Rodney V. Mauricette
was elected President
of The Communal at the
first Board of Directors
meeting, a position he
held until 1993, when
he retired and was
succeeded by Dr Guido
Marcelle.
Mr. Edwin Thomas was
elected President in
1996. He was succeeded
by Mr. L. Simeon Collins
whose term ended in
2002 when the first
woman to sit at the helm
of any Credit Union in
Grenada, was elected
President. Miss Lydia
Courtney become
the first woman to sit
as President of The
Credit Union Ltd. Mr.
Julien Ogilvie was
MAIN OFFICE STAFF - (standing from left) lyndon lcyne, carol amada, marland humphrey, ayana russel, annmarie montrose, john marryshow, kellon passe, alonzo pope, mellisa telesford, fiona baptiste, rondel james,
shurla fields, koss st. bernard, elvis fredrick. (Sitting from left) karel collier, ronda charles, margaret
simeon, karena tyson, glennisha williams, lennox j. Andrews, betty charles, danielle peters, lorna cyrus,
lance smith. (missing - antonia baptiste, denise ghita, shirley stephen and verdessa morain).
elected President in 2004
and was succeeded by
Mr. Isaac Bhagwan in
2009 whose term ended
in 2012. Mr. Michael
Francois was elected
in Present in 2012 until
Present.
The Board of Directors
guided by the
Cooperative Societies
Act and its own Bye-laws
establishes policies and
guidelines for the proper
functioning of the Credit
Union. The functions
of the Supervisory and
Credit Committees are
outlined in the Bye-laws.
Overview
The day to day
operations are carried out
by a General Manager,
with the assistance of a
competent staff.
What is the CCU?
The Communal Cooperative Credit Union
has been in existence
since 1964. It is a
nonprofit organization
established for providing
a safe place for its
members to save money
and access loans as
reasonable rates.
Cutting ribbon to declare the new headquarters open
The members are the
owners of the Credit
Union, each member
as an owner has all the
rights and privileges
regardless of his/her
share holdings. With the
continued growth of the
2. Pay a registration fee
of $23.00.
Communal, we have over
the last number of years
established branches at
Carriacou, Gouyave in St.
John’s, Perdmontemps
in St. David’s. Our head
office is located at Halifax
3. Purchase at least Forty
(40) shares at five dollars
($5.00) each.
How To Become A
Member
1. Complete a
Membership Application.
Street, St. George’s.
Organisation
Consist of The Board of
Directors, Supervisory
Committee and Credit
Committee elected by
members at the at the
Annual General Meeting.
Each member has one
(1) vote irrespective of
the number of shares he
or she owns.
continues on the
next page
Business
Our History
St. George’s to become
members.
Limited as it is now
known was founded in
1964 and registered
as a financial cooperative in 1965 with
assets to the value of
five hundred dollars
($500.00) and a
membership of 100.
The first registered
name was St. George’s
Credit Union Limited.
However, its bond only
allowed for persons
working and or living in
Some of the founding
members were Rodney
V. Mauricette, Eric
Padmore, Albert
La.Touche, Cynthia
Steele, Martin Abraham,
Kathleen A .Nedd
and Joslyn (Sparrow)
Hayling; most now
deceased.
At the first annual
general meeting Messrs
Mauricette, Padmore
and Mrs. Steele were
elected to the Board of
Directors. Mr. Rodney
V. Mauricette was
Mr. Edwin Thomas
in 1996. He was
succeeded by Mr. L.
Simeon Collins whose
term ended in 2002
when the first woman
to sit at the helm of
any Credit Union in
Grenada, was elected
President. Miss Lydia
Courtney-Francis
rodney mauricette
dr. guido marcelle
simeon collins
Profile of the
Founder
that stint, he returned
to St. Lucia. Having
developed an ardent
admiration for this spice
isle, he decided that he
must return and take
up residence here in
Grenada.
here. He later decided
that he would pick up
the trade he learnt from
his uncle, who operated
a barber shop in St.
Lucia. It was during his
barbering here that he
came in contact with
Mr. F. M. Coard, who
introduced him to the
Credit Union philosophy,
and the workings of that
movement. Himself,
together with a few other
who got
interested,
started
studying the
rules that
Mr. Rodney Vincent
Mauricette, a native
of St. Lucia came to
Grenada during the
period of the second
world war, as part of a
troop to be stationed
for a short period on
the Island. Following
He is a Barber by trade,
but was also a chick
photographer, and
managed a Photo studio
during his early years
elected President of
The Communal at the
first Board of Directors
meeting, a position he
held until 1993, when
he retired and was
succeeded by Dr Guido
Marcelle.
became the first woman
to sit as President of
Ltd. Mr. Julien Ogilvie
in 2004 and was
succeeded by Mr. Isaac
Bhagwan in 2009 whose
term ended in 2012. Mr.
Michael Francois was
elected in Present in
2012 until Present.
and productive
purposes at reasonable
rates of interest.
At the 14th Annual
General Meeting held
in December 1994 the
membership approved
the name change to The
Credit Union Limited
and it was resolved that
the bond be expanded
to include all persons in
Grenada, Carriacou and
Petite Martinique.
Mauricette (the first) to
Mr. Michael Francois
(the incumbent). The
Board of Directors
consists of nine (9)
members, which
includes five designated
positions – President,
Vice-President,
Treasurer, Secretary,
Asst. Secretary/
Treasurer.
Since its registration,
The Communal had
seven (8) Presidents
from Mr. Rodney
The head office of The
Communal which was
built in 2000 is located
at 414 H.A. Blaize
Street, St. George’s. All
the main Administrative
functions are carried out
at that location.
julien ogilvie
isaac bhagwan
Michael Francois
governed the operations
of the credit union.
to sit on its first Board of
Directors. He was then
elected president by the
other elected members
of the Board. He was
nominated to the Board
for another twenty-eight
years in succession
and each year for those
twenty eight years was
elected President. He
served the Communal
co-operative Credit
Union selflessly and with
unstintingly. He retired
from active participation
in the Credit Union
activities in 1988.
The Communal’s
scholarship program
was named after him
and is known as the
Rodney Mauricette
MemorialScholarship
program.
The St. George’s
Credit Union aimed to
provide and avenue to
receive its member’s
savings and make loans
to them for provident
As a result of the interest
generated by himself
and his colleagues, the
St. George’s Communal
Cooperative Credit Union
was founded in 1964.
Upon registration of the
Credit Union on October
19,1965, there were just
about one hundred (100)
members, with assets
of approximately five
hundred dollars. When
the first Annual General
Meeting was held,
Rodney V was elected
Long standing and
dedicated members
of the Communal Cooperative Credit Union.
Awarded at the
dedication of the
Communal New
Facility “Communal
House.”
In recognition of their
dedication to the
organization.
Back row: left to right:
Mrs. Cynthia V. Thomas-Noel (Now deceased)
Mr. Henry Scoon
Mr.Winston white
Mr.Leonard George
Mr. Cosmos Cape
Front row: Left to right:
Mrs. Ruby Benoit
Mr. Rodney V. Mauricette (Now deceased)
Mr. Nelson Francis (Now deceased)
On July 11, 2003, Mr. Mauricette passed on, entering into his heavenly rest.
The Communal extends to the relatives and other associates our profound condolences.
Business
Human Resource
The Communal now has over
37 members of staff throughout the branch offices providing the best quality service to
its members. The innovative
products and reliable services offered to the members
have been the hallmark of
The Communal’s significant
growth. The Communal Cooperative Credit Union Limited
has been awarded the most
outstanding Credit Union in
Grenada twice in the past
few years, for the period
2004/2005 and 2006/2007
unfortunately missing out in
2005/2006.
Board of Directors:
President/Chairman: Mr. Michael Francois
Vice President: Mr. Isaac Bhagwan
Secretary: Ms. Petra Fraser
Treasurer: Mr. Philbert J. Lewis
Asst.Treas/Sec: Mrs. Kathy-Ann Thompson
Director: Mr. Joseph Sylvester
Director: Mr. L. Simeon Collins
Director: Dr. Wayne Sandiford
Director: Mr. Joseph Sylvester
Supervisory Committee:
Chairman: Mrs. Dawn Walker
Secretary: Stephany Gordon
Members: Lescott Charles
Pearl Doughlin
Jonathan Thompson
Credit Committee:
Chairman: Mrs. Theresa Notel
Secretary: Mrs. Marcia Bapt
Members: Kellon John,
Ruth Jerome and
Mrs. Grace-Ann Neptune
Staff position information:
General Manager: Lennox J. Andrews
Accounting Department:
Manager Treasury & Accounting functions: Shurla Harris-Fields
Teller Supervisor, Assistant Accountant, Accounts Clerk
Tellers: 5
Loans Manager: John Marryshow
Loan Officers: 4
Administrative Officer: Ann Marie Montrose
Member Services Reps.: 3
Other functions: Securities; Delinquency Control, Marketing
Branch Officers: 3
Administrative Assistant/Secretary: 1
General Staff: 14
Services
The Communal Credit
Union’s sole purpose is
to the assist it’s members
by providing them with all
the financial services that
they need now and for
their future.
It is for this reason that
Communal has designed
a wide range of savings
and loan products to meet
the needs of it’s members
at every stage of thier
lives
There are savings produts
that cater to memebers
from birth right up to their
retirement. There are also
loans that assist members
to achieve their goals as
they strive for betterment
for themselves and their
families with affordable
and attractive interest
rates.
All our members have
Life Savings Insurance.
The existing plan provides
benefits to the beneficiary
of a deceased member.
It covers all types of
savings accounts. In
addition, the Life Savings
Insurance Plan carries
an accidental death
and dismemberment
coverage.
Here are the services that
we offer:
Mergers
The Communal pioneered
the first merger in the
Credit Union movement
in Grenada. In 2003
the membership of
the Vincennes Cooperative Credit Union
resolved to merge with
The Communal. This
was accomplished in
December 2003. With the
expertise developed there
has been other mergers
by other Credit Unions.
This served as the
catalyst for other Credit
Unions to merge with one
another. The Communal
also merged with the
then Perdmontemps
Co-op. Credit Union. In
both locations Branches
of the Communal were
established. In December
2010 the Vincennes and
Perdmontemps members
agreed that the two
branches be merged.
Empowerment Program
Renamed
In memory of the
later Manager of the
Communal, Mr. Michael
Brian Campbell, the
Communal Cooperative
Credit Union in 2010 has
named Its Membership
Empowerment skills
training program in his
honor. Mr. Campbell was
the one who initiated
the idea of giving back
to members for their
continual support of
the Credit Union over
the forty four years of
its existence. Since the
program was initiated,
over two hundred and fifty
members have benefited,
and some are generating
their own income by
being active with the skills
learned from the program.
The renaming ceremony
was held on Monday 23rd
November, 2009 at the
Red Cross Conference
Room on upper Lucas
Street, St.George’s. The
renaming ceremony
was attended by the
wife of the late Mr. Brian
Campbell, Curneita
Campbell who was well
pleased and was quoted
as saying “if there was
anything that my late
husband would want to
be remembered for, I am
certain it would be the
Empowerment program”.
Mrs. Campbell is the
facilitator of the Cake and
pastry making classes
at The T.A. Marryshow
Community College.
We must remember
the man who came up
with that creative idea
that will remain part
of the Communal for
years to come. We will
continue to train our
members in skills that
can enhance their income
generating capacity in the
troublesome times ahead.
Loans
We lend for provident
and productive purposes.
You can get anything
you desire using The
Communal Co-op. Credit
Union Loan facilities:
You can download
application forms from our
website, complete and
bring into us.
• Housing
• Furniture and
Appliances
• Weddings &
Christenings
• Land purchases
• Vehicles
• Vacation
• Education
• Agriculture and fishing
• Building
• Construction
• Small Business
Loan Protection
Insurance
The insurers would pay
to the Credit Union the
outstanding loan balance
in the event of death or
by total or permanent
disability, up to a
maximum of $54,000.00.
The insurances are at
no direct cost to the
members. The Credit
Union pays the full
premium.
News
CIBC FirstCaribbean opens
USD$5 million new-look
branch in Barbados
through instant teller®.
Within the last three
years, the Bank has
opened new branches
at Sunset Crest and
Wildey in Barbados,
Orange Walk in Belize,
Carmichael Road in the
Bahamas, Old Parham
Road in Antigua and
Rodney Bay in St. Lucia,
and refurbished most of
its other branches across
its footprint.
Bridgetown, BARBADOS, February 21, 2014–
CIBC FirstCaribbean recently officially opened
its new USD$5 million
flagship branch near its
corporate headquarters
at Warrens, St. Michael,
Barbados featuring a
new-look design code
that will be the hallmark
of future branches in the
region.
The new design code is
similar to the branches of
the bank’s parent, CIBC.
Chief Executive Officer
of CIBC FirstCaribbean,
Rik Parkhill told those
gathered for the official
opening on February
19, 2014 that the Bank
was fully committed
to the development of
the region and that was
demonstrated by its
continued upgrading and
expansion of its network
throughout the Caribbean.
“Over the past few years
our branch network has
grown to include new
offices here in Barbados,
in St. Lucia, the Bahamas, Jamaica and Belize,
bringing our network of
branches in the Caribbean to 68. As part of our
strategic plan, we have
zeroed in on significant
growth areas across the
region, and have ensured
that we are part of the
developing landscape,”
he said.
He added: “I have spoken of our commitment
to Barbados and to the
region. We are grateful
that this commitment
is shared by our parent
company, CIBC, which
has been resolute in its
backing of our company.
CIBC shares our vision
of a bright future for the
Caribbean, has stood
with us throughout this
period of challenge, and
continues to do so.
It has been heartening for
us to know that we have
the continued backing
of such a strong parent
company to create the
CIBC FirstCaribbean of
the future.”
The new Barbados
branch features the latest
banking has to offer, including several technology innovations such as a
“Learning Zone”, which
allows customers visiting
the branch to explore the
bank’s products and services using both desktop
computers and iPads.
The Bank has also
opened an impressive
Wealth Management
Centre in Port of Spain,
Trinidad. Additionally,
CIBC FirstCaribbean has
installed 8 new ABMs,
bringing the number of
machines in its network
to 142, and has refurbished and upgraded
13 others as part of its
“Evergreen” programme,
designed to keep pace
with technology updates
in the financial services
industry.
It offers a self-service
area which is accessible
to customers via the
main branch entrance
even when the banking
hall is closed for the day.
In this area, customers
can check their accounts,
make deposits at night
via the night facility,
make fast deposits and
use the Instant teller®
machines - 24 hours a
day.
Managing Director for
Retail, Business and
International Banking,
Mark St. Hill said the
new branch represented
a “significant investment
in our physical plant,
and again demonstrates
the commitment of our
bank and our parent
CIBC, to the Caribbean.
“This new way of doing
banking shows that we
have been listening to
our customers when they
tell us what they need
from us. The Mortgage
and Loans Centre, with
its emphasis on fast processing of loan applications is something that
we have been working on
for a while, and I am very
pleased to see it come to
fruition.”
The new flagship branch
will also feature the
Bank’s latest service innovation - the Mortgage
and Loans Centre, which
is designed to provide
quick turnaround times
and financial advice for
customers applying for
loans and mortgages via
the Bank. The branch
also offers a drive-
Managing Director of the
Bank’s Barbados business, Donna Wellington said “Warrens has
become one of the major
business areas in Barbados and the expansion
is continuing, so we are
pleased at the prospect
of offering a full range
of our services at this
branch.
Commentary
The Real Estate Market in Grenada
Since it is essential to
have activity to “make a
Market”, the Real Estate
Market in Grenada is
virtually non-existent!
It has been this way for
several years and, in my
view, there is no prospect
of improvement in sight.
Contrary to popular belief, the reason this is so is
not primarily because of
“world economic conditions’. It is principally
because there is a virtual
nil supply of “Aliens” to
Grenada.
Of course when economic
conditions deteriorate
abroad (as it has), the potential supply of prospective “Aliens” diminishes,
but it does not ever go to
zero. There are still prospective Aliens with economic means with a desire
to acquire their “place in
the Sun”, but competition
to attract them has become
even more intense.
How does Grenada
compete on economic
considerations? Very,
very poorly! According
to the website, http://
www.globalpropertyguide.
com/Caribbean/Grenada/
roundtrip-cost, which
looked at the combined
cost of a Non-National to
both buy and sell property,
Grenada ranks indisputably last of a List of 25
locations in the Region.
(See table)
The above cost includes
Government Non-National
Taxes, VAT Taxes (on
Legal and Realty Fees),
Legal Fees & Stamp Taxes
on Buying and these same
plus Realtor Fees on Selling.
The writer did some
independent research to
verify the cost attributed
to Grenada, and concluded
that the 42.6% may be
somewhat overstated as
I found it to be 36.85%.
The 36.8% is comprised as
follows:
Buying – 13.8% (10%
Transfer Tax + 2.3% Legal
Fees (incl. VAT) + 1%
Stamp Tax + 0.5% Survey
Fee.)
Selling – 23.05% (15%
Transfer Fee + 2.3% Legal
(incl. VAT) & 5.75% Real
Estate Fees (incl. VAT))
The 36.85% total, however, is the simple addition
Puerto Rico – Montserrat 8.82% 10.1% – Dominican Belize – 19.0% British Virgin Republic – Isles – 21.8% 15.3% Netherland Us Virgin Isles – Guadeloupe – Turks & Caicos St. Lucia – 22% Antilles – 9.0% 10.1% 16.3% – 19.2% Aruba – 9.0% Barbados – Martinique – Cayman Is – Anguilla -‐ 12.1% 16.3% 20.5% 24.7% – Jamaica – St. Martin – Trinidad & St. Vincent & Bahamas 27.0% 9.0% Tobago – 13.2% Grenadines – 21.3% 18.8% N.B. St. Kitts & Nevis at 29.85% was also included in their List. of the buying and selling
cost and is understated.
The total cost is actually
40% because the percentage costs for selling is on a
higher base – the original
cost plus purchase costs.
In sum, a Non-National
considering Grenada
needs to realize a 40% appreciation in the original
property value to recover
all of the funds outlaid for
the property.
Whatever way you cut it,
Grenada, among all the
countries in the Region,
offers Aliens the greatest
disincentive to invest! An
Alien requires the greatest
capital appreciation potential for them to recover
their “investment”. For
some perspective, compare the 40% roundtrip
cost in Grenada to the
12% for Barbados and you
get some understanding
why the property market in Barbados remains
somewhat active even in
the down cycles, while in
Grenada it vanishes.
Economic considerations
are a fundamental part
of the majority of Aliens’
decision to buy property.
Yes, there are a (very)
few Aliens who have so
much money that they
can easily afford to satisfy
every whim without any
regard to cost. An Alien
also recognizes that their
residency in paradise will
only last for a few years usually until they need to
return to their home bases
for medical or family reasons. This mandates that,
before deciding to buy,
they closely examine the
opportunity to eventually
sell the property - ideally
with some capital gain, but
at least a recovery of their
investment. To achieve
this, “reasonable” acquisition and disposition costs
coupled with an active
real estate market that
provides good appreciation potential are required.
Conditions in Grenada
today are very negative on
every one of these aspects.
An Alien purchasing a
property for US$800.000
in Grenada needs to eventually sell for a minimum
of $1,120,000 simply to
breakeven on their investment! This represents
an increased value of
US$320,000 which, over a
five year period, requires
an average price appreciation of 6.75% every year,
(or 4.25% over 8 years).
Most importantly, they
need an active market to
enable a sale.
While I am on the subject
of exorbitant Fees, let’s
consider the 2.3% Legal
Fees component on buying and selling (which I
suspect is also applied
equally to Grenadians). In
the above example, legal
fees (including VAT) for
the purchase would come
out to US$18,400 and
legal fees on selling at the
“breakeven” value would
be US$25,760. Compare
this with approx. $700 –
800 buying and $650 – 750
selling in Canada! (The
Canadian fees reflect the
fact that most real estate
transactions are entirely
routine and executed
mostly by legal clerks.)
Aliens must feel as if they
are being fleeced by everyone – and they are.
(N.B. I should add that the
Grenadian Legal Community is not alone in
charging what from my
experience are exorbitant
fees, as the legal fees seem
to be similar in many of
the Caribbean Islands.)
Aliens typically buy
homes at the upper end of
the market. When there are
no Aliens, the upper end
of the Market dies. Sales
below this level also come
to a standstill as there is
not the necessary ability
of other property owners
to buy up. This ultimately
results in stagnation at the
bottom end and new home
owners (Grenadians) have
severely reduced opportunity to enter the market
place.
With the punitive impact
on Alien purchases, the
mid and lower tiers of the
Market are also directly affected. I encounter parents
of students at the University who consider buying
accommodation suitable
for their children for the
required four or so years
of residency in Grenada.
Once they examine the
economics, they quickly
discard that notion.
Should the high price of
market entry and exit for
Aliens continue, real estate market conditions in
Grenada will change little
if at all, even when world
economic conditions
eventually improve. I am
aware of many Aliens who
have thoroughly enjoyed
their time here but who
now need to return to their
origins. They cannot sell
their properties for prices
that would not involve
their taking huge losses
and instinctively refuse
to reduce listing prices
materially. They now feel
trapped in Grenada and
basically just sit and hope
for the best. While I would
like to be in a position to
offer encouragement, my
sense is that these properties, first listed two years
and more ago and are still
for sale, will most likely
remain so next year and
perhaps beyond.
It would be bad enough
if the high costs only
affected Aliens, but the
reality is that it is affecting all Grenadians as well.
The high purchase and
Antigua 28.0% Dominica 28.5% Bermuda 31.0% Grenada 42.6% – – – – sale costs for Aliens keeps
house prices artificially
high in ALL segments of
the market.
If the objective of high
government purchase and
sales taxes on Aliens is
to raise a lot of revenue, I
suspect that even a casual
examination of the record
would indicate that this
Strategy is clearly not
working. If on the other
hand, it is based on ideology i.e. to limit the number of Aliens to Grenada,
a far better way would be
to modify the Qualifications for an Alien License
to exclude those whom
Government deems to be
“undesirable”. In addition
to earning little revenue,
a large number of people
who would stimulate our
real estate market and
otherwise make meaningful contributions to our
economy and Grenadian
Society at large, are led to
not even consider Grenada
seriously as a destination
to purchase property and
reside.
From the perspective of
“Undesirables”, I sincerely
hope that the present
laws will be reviewed
and changed so that basically everyone without a
criminal background and
able to demonstrate that
they have the resources
to support themselves
fully while in Grenada
would become labeled as
“Highly Desirable” and
actively encouraged to
come to reside in Grenada.
Further, initiatives to
foster this could rationally
be integrated with tourist
promotion under a general
umbrella of “don’t only
come to visit, stay”!
My suggestion to promote
residency integral with
tourism is not in the least
preposterous. Fact is that
“Residents” actively attract visitors to the Island
– friends, relatives and
associates. If they feel
“comfortable” residing
in Grenada they will also
actively promote property
ownership in Grenada far
and wide. With the current
conditions, the opposite is
likely happening now.
In addition to a drastic reduction (ideally removal)
of the high Land Transfer
Taxes and a change in
labelling from “Alien” to
something far less stigmatizing such as “Resident”,
Government needs to
remove every one of the
very many additional levies as well as the annoying
periodic permits required
of Non–Nationals and
recognize that these are
totally counterproductive.
Such a strategy could
reduce and may ultimately
eliminate the need for
Grenada having to go
around the World cap in
hand, begging for charity
and selling our souls to
countries like China (for
suppression of Taiwan),
Japan (the hunting of
whales), and the like, in
order to sustainably raise
the funds necessary to
continually improve our
infrastructure.
In closing, I can just hear
many readers shouting
“Grenada for Grenadians.
Keep the Foreigners out!”
Notwithstanding, I would
wager that many (if not
every one) of these are
people are not among the
majority of Grenadians
who are struggling to make
ends meet. Would it not
be so much more productive to pursue “A Better
Grenada for All”?
Very Concerned.
P.S. The writer is a retired
National who basically
spends winters in Grenada
and is not engaged in the
Real Estate Market in any
way. I am a property owner but not looking to sell in
the foreseeable future.
However, on further reflection, perhaps I should list
now as, without significant
reduction/removal in the
Alien Land Transfer Taxes
and the many, many other
disincentives for Aliens to
come reside in Grenada, it
will likely take me several
years to sell.
Opinion
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM :
PREPARE TO OPPOSE
[By J. K. Roberts (Public
Policies Activist); Circulated on Monday, 3rd
March 2014].
Grenadians are to undergo a National Referendum on Constitutional
Reform by the end of
this year 2014. This was
accentuated by Prime
Minister Keith Mitchell
in his 2014 National
Budget Address and National Independence Address. However, there
are many debates and
doubts amongst individuals and institutions
as to what form and/or
to what extent would
this Reform take; and of
course, not only must
a citizen be concerned
with the contents of the
‘reform package’ but
how would the issues be
presented for voting in
the Referendum. The
‘process and approach’
required to ensure a
credible Referendum
and a rewarding Reform
is not yet appreciated.
Mitchell’s New National
Party (NNP) Government
is apparently not even
settled on the focus of
the Reform, except for
the Caribbean Court of
Justice (CCJ), when considering that on every
official pronouncement
different ‘open-ended’
issues are stated for the
Process. Further, there
is not a secure source
(or sources) of finance
for the Reform process,
since the Government
plans to arrange for the
establishment of a Trust
Fund so that various persons including international organisations can
contribute to help cover
the costs of the Exercise.
It must not be missed
though, that tremendous
costs will result from
the Reform; the ‘real and
substantial’ costs are not
limited to the ‘direct and
immediate’ processes
but are extended to the
thereafter legislative and
administrative obligations. Grenadians will
have to bear the bulk of
the ‘secondary costs’,
such as a high price for
a new designed passport
(and other national doc-
uments) having a change
of the official name of
the tri-island State.
Declaring that “Ultimately, Government intends
to hold a referendum in
2014 on a New Constitution for Grenada,
one that is truly homegrown” induces extreme
expectations such as
having a complete “rewriting and re-enacting”
of a constitution which
is synonymous to the
Model of Grenada’s late
Constitutional Professor, Dr. Simeon C. R.
McIntosh. [McIntosh’s
proposal can be studied
by searching the Internet
for Re-drafting The Grenada Constitution (along
with the Preliminary
Pages on re-drafting the
Grenada Constitution)].
Branding the New Constitution as Homegrown
and associating this to
the NNP’s New Economy
is leaving the people
with extreme expectations which also is full
of fallaciousness, on the
importance and outcome
of the Referendum. The
Grenadian people must
be told that the Reform
will not bring relief from
their anxieties and woes,
but rather it would
intensify the ‘austerity
measures and shared
sacrifices’ beyond their
estimated and tolerable
levels.
Dr. Lawrence A. Joseph,
another local Attorney
in Constitutional Law,
gave a clear view as to
what is involved in ‘the
reviewing’ of a Constitution, which may lead
either to slight amendments to effect efficiency
and effectiveness in the
system of governance or
to radical changes which
would affect the system
of governance resulting
in a different structure
from the original establishment. Joseph,
who was Speaker of the
House of Representatives and now President
of the Senate, pondered
on the quest for Constitutional Reform for
Grenada in his Commentary Column in
March 2013 by begging
“should we not hasten
slowly?” Being mindful that there could be
“confusion and chaos”
with the result of a YES
vote in the Referendum
for the Reform, Joseph
returned to the topic and
in an article in February
2014 highlighted “the
Key Characteristics of
an Ideal Constitution”;
reference to the website,
www.NowGrenada.com.
Reforming the Constitution must therefore be
in the ‘genuine spirit’
of achieving the Ideal
state, and this has to be
considered within the
context of philosophy,
practicality, people and
principles. How Grenada’s present Constitution deviates from the
Ideal, and why, is the big
question!
The Referendum would
surely test the critical
thinking, intellectual
capacity and political
consciousness of Grenadians, especially in
terms of differentiating
between the cases for
‘independent voting’
over ‘partisan voting’.
All ‘sensible, stable and
sober’ patriots should
be prepared to vote NO
for the Reform, unless
they understand the issues fully, are satisfied
that their causes are met
unreservedly, and that
the Process will be to
the benefit of the entire
nation democratically.
Everyone needs to be
‘alert and astute’ on the
reasons and recommendations presented for the
Reform, and to analyse
them within the context
of national sovereignty,
good governance, prosperity development and
personal accountability
with penalty. Voting in
a Referendum is a much
more ‘significant and
serious’ business than
voting in parliamentary elections, and so
the onus is also on the
Government to practise
‘decent wooing’ (and not
rhetoric campaigning)
of the populace in such
a far-reaching Undertaking. A ‘correct and
conducive’ environment
is very crucial in ‘enabling and enforcing’ the
Process.
It is understood to think
of a Yes for the Reform
coming from a wide
cross-section of the Grenadian population, but
this should not daunt
those who know what
is ‘right and reasonable’
and are prepared to
stand for what is Right
and Reasonable. There
are many passionate and
meaningful expressions
with the belief that the
solution to the nation’s
social, economic and political predicaments, as
well as, that the recipe
for its sound sustainable development, lies
in Constitutional Reform; but it is critical to
ascertain whether the
‘objective and intent’ of
the Government for the
Reform is not at variance
with the ‘wishes and
hopes’ of the people.
The viewpoint that laws
are always made in the
interest of the lawmakers, with power in the
hands of the affluent,
must never be ignored.
The NNP Administration is poised with its
strength of all parliamentary seats and this
glow is bolstered by the
Opposition parties being
‘common in principle’
for the Reform. The
National Advisory Committee spearheading the
Reform is headed by another Grenadian constitutional expert and proponent for the Process,
Dr. Francis Alexis, and
consists of noted academicians, practitioners
and broad-based sectoral
representations. There is
also the Social Partners
forum involving Civil
Society, the Church, the
Private Sector and the
Trade Union in collaboration with the Government on the way forward
for Grenada. The Legal
Profession (Grenada Bar)
would support the Reform, especially on the
CCJ and as a memorial
of its deceased colleague
Professor Mc Intosh.
‘Solidarity support’
stemming from the drive
of realising Regionalism,
will also tend to influence the Reform.
There are many persons who are generally against the British
System and specifically
disdain the manner by
which Grenada’s Independence was obtained,
with the point that the
present Constitution is
not ‘authoritative and
authentic’; they would
therefore strongly vote
for the Reform in protest. The Government is
aware of the favourable
factors for the Reform
and will take the fulladvantage to play on the
emotion and enthusiasm
of the people. The
‘fooling and softening’ of
the people has already
began as the Prime Minister proclaims that “ .
. . after forty years, it is
time to wean ourselves
of some of the remaining
vestiges of colonialism
. . . ” “. . . this current generation firmly
believes that for us to
live out the true meaning of our independence,
the 40th –year mark is a
good time to start with
the type of constitutional reforms that will
reassert our independence”. The promotion
of such ‘dangling views’
is unfortunate and sad,
since it can mislead gullible and ignorant people,
especially the young
and unsuspecting. What
unique circumstances
and achievements Grenada has to reassert its
Independence, which
other Caribbean countries of far over 40 years
Independence do not
have, for the Reform?
The Christian community is also persuaded
for the Reform when
Dr. Mitchell remarked
that “Forty years . . .
is a landmark in Biblical times. Moses and
the children of Israel
wandered in the wilderness for 40 years,
until they were able
to see the Promised
Land”. However, there
is no substantial analogy
and application of the
situation involving the
40 years in the wilderness to the 40 years of
Grenada’s Independence.
If there is, then within
the Biblical context we
may conclude at least
that Grenadians ‘wandered and suffered’ for
forty years due to an
‘ill-conceived and immature’ Independence
and also that Mitchell is
not ‘fit and able’ to give
Constitutional Reform in
the same way that Moses
did not eventually ‘lead
into and enter’ the Promised Land. In fact, the
lingering of the 40 years
in the wilderness was
a form of punishment
of God on the Israelites
because of their ‘rebellion, idolatry, corruption
and disobedience’. The
Reform will not give the
“Milk and Honey”, but
much awkwardness.
Constitutional Reform
for Grenada at this point
in time would be ‘premature’ in terms of the
population not having
a clear knowledge and
understanding of the issues, as well as in terms
of the nation being in
fiscal woes. Definitely;
the Reform cannot be a
necessity or a priority
when for example there
are deplorable hospital
conditions and it is not
a must or a requisite for
Doing Business with the
International Community unless for example
there is a carrot for the
decriminalisation of
homosexuality. Moreover, the Reform would
be comical and superficial when for example
contemplation is to have
the inclusion of Carriacou and Petit Martinique
in the official name of
the tri-island State; this
could be so ‘contemptuous and disgusting’
when the present Constitution calls for Local
Government for Carriacou and Petit Martinique
and this is not a reality
even after forty years.
With these considerations then, Constitutional Reform for Grenada is merely about
political ‘luxury and
egocentricity’. All
eligible electorate is encouraged to participate
in the Referendum but
should be on the side of
caution and Prepare to
Vote No. The ‘search
and sensitization’ for the
Reform must however
continue, on to an ‘appropriate and enabling’
period; in the meantime,
‘better respect’ must be
shown for the Grenada
Constitution with Legislative Reform to include
adhering to parliamentary regulations such as
on invoking the Committees.
GRENADA TOURISM AUTHORITY SUPPLEMENT
GRENADA BRANDED:
TOURISM SHOULD SURGE
The stage is now set
for Grenada to begin
seriously taking advantage of the benefits
of an industry that for
many years has been
the goose that laid the
golden egg.
The tourism industry has
been promoted as one
of the keys to Grenada’s
development, the main
avenue for growth and
the single most important sector to reduce
the island’s high unemployment and generate
foreign exchange. Until
now, the industry was
run by governmental
control but the recent
formation of the Grenada
Tourism Authority (GTA)
brings new life and a
wave of expectation to a
sector gasping for air.
Arguably, had it been
unshackled 7 or 8 years
ago, the shape of tourism on the industry
would have been different and the contribution
of the sector to the national coffers would have
been, by now, more
pronounced. The growth
path would also have
been stronger, but that’s
supposition and conjecture, another “what if.”
What is stunning is the
singularity of the chorus
line as members of the
GTA ‘choir’ take center
stage. The harmony is
astounding.
Conversations by the
Barnacle with five officials of the authority
have pointed to some
positive plans that are
designed to improve the
sector. These include
the establishment a
new ‘PURE GRENADA’
Brand, licensing and
measuring the quality offerings of industry players, strengthening the
links with other important
sectors and building
meaningful partnerships
with international players.
It is clear that the roadmap is not all clear just
yet, but, as expressed
by the GTA Chairman,
Richard Strachan, the
markings of a path has
been established to
move the ship forward.
“In 3-5 years, I see the
GTA as perhaps the
most pivotal force in
tourism,” he declared as
the new arrangement
takes shape.
Chosen for his leadership skills, business
acumen and his mature
demeanor, Strachan will
be recorded as the first
individual to head both
the now defunct Grenada Tourist Board and
the GTA, which is clearly
in a state of transition,
so he cautions against
“expecting miracles”. All
players in the GTA have
spoken of the need for
a patient, collaborative
and well coordinated
approach to the development of the sector, buttressed by hard work.
“It will not be magic,”
Strachan said, with the
full support of his Chief
Executive Officer, Rudy
Grant who wants “all
hands to the wheel, if we
are to succeed.”
Already the GTA has
floated a major catch
with the signing of an
agreement with the Roy-
al Ocean Racing Club
(RORC), recognized as
the premier organizer
of racing for offshore
yachts, including the
internationally famous
Rolex Fastnet Race and
Rolex Commodores’
Cup.
THE RORC has chosen
Grenada as the destination for the finish of the
2,800 east-west race
across the Atlantic and
tourism officials are
chomping at the bits as
they estimate that this
particular event will be
a major opportunity for
the island to host an international activity that is
likely to leave between
US $2m-US $5M across
various sectors, including vendors, restaurants
and taxi services while
simultaneously providing
visibility and coverage in
the international media
that Grenada is unlikely
to afford.
One of the biggest challenges for the new GTA
is its mandate to be the
licensing authority for all
industry players, some
of whom are accustomed to operating in a
free for all, as part of the
management, measurement and monitoring of
an industry where one
item of unfriendly media
coverage has monumental implications.
Grant understands very
well when he declared
that the GTA must ensure that what it promises “matches our brand.”
The Chairman of the
Board has committed to
take the necessary measures to make the “pivotal force” he envisages,
while the CEO is working
toward the creation of a
Tourism Culture, countrywide. Different words,
same positive focus.
However the taste of
the pudding is in the
eating and the GTA will
have to prove its worth
with an implementation
strategy that first moves
the skeptics and then
the critics to its side.
Success of the venture
to truly transform the
industry must result from
the ability of the GTA to
move people from the
traditional ‘wait and see’
mindset to a ‘let’s do this
together’ mentality.
From all conversations,
the GTA fully understands that whether
anyone buys, will depend on the ability of the
salesman. If the industry
succeeds in building that
foundation, legislation
will simply be a formality.
GTA Special Feature
GTA a pivotal force in Grenada;
working with locals to develop
“community tourism”
Chairman of the Board
of Directors of the newly
established Grenada
Tourism Authority (GTA),
Richard Strachan, wants
to see the industry
become “the most pivotal force” in Grenada’s
economy over the next
five years. The GTA, according to Mr. Strachan,
allows for a more expanded role in the management and marketing
of an industry that has
replaced Agriculture as
the single largest foreign exchange earner
for the island.
He said the GTA must
extend its reach into
the towns and villages
of the country; to work
with community groups
and other sectors to enhance the linkages that
will propel the industry
forward.
Barnacle presents an
interview with Mr. Strachan, who now holds
the distinction of being
Chairman of both the
Grenada Board of Tourism and the Grenada
Tourism Authority (GTA).
they mean at the expense
of tourism. The pie is only
this big and everyone has
to get a piece of that pie.
Absolutely. There is the
concept of agro-tourism
where you have cottages
of a certain quality on a
farm. Visitors get to spend
a vacation on that farm
and live on the produce
of that establishment. So
they pick up the eggs in
the morning that they eat
for breakfast and they
draw the milk that goes
into their coffee. This has
worked around the world
and this can be a fantastic way of utilizing some
of the large agricultural
estates that are dormant
or have not been put to
maximum use. We can
construct ecologically
friendly accommodation
and create activities within
that space. It will also take
visitors into the communities.
That reach of which you
spoke of earlier requires
a significant amount of
education, where is the
money coming from to
achieve this?
One of your officials is
quoted as saying that he
has found a greater appreciation for agriculture
than for tourism in Grenada. What will it take to
change that culture?
Where do you wish to
see the GTA in the next
3-5 years?
In 3-5 years I see the GTA
as perhaps the most pivotal force in tourism. The
Grenada Tourism Authority
Act is extremely broad and
yet very specific in terms
of its reach. Traditionally,
tourism authorities have
taken on a marketing role,
having a presence in the
markets that we want to
attract visitors from to our
destination. But one of the
key things we would like
to see in the mix, in the
short to medium term, is
Are there any other spinoffs that can be created
from the agriculture/
tourism relationship?
richard strachan Chairman of the Board of Directors of the
newly established Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA)
the reach of the GTA into
the bowels of Grenada,
particularly working with
community groups to develop community tourism.
The fact is that we need to
fuse agriculture together
with 150,000 stay over
visitors eating at hotels
and restaurants, and hav-
ing consistent and quality
supply, which is another
export market. We have
good quality, what has
been a challenge over the
years is consistency. If I
put carrots on my menu,
I can’t just remove it like
that because you did not
show up. We need to
ensure that relationships
between tourism and the
sectors that supply the
demands of the industry
are robust. Some of those
relationships already exist
with some hotels spending as much as EC $2M
per year in local produce.
That is the kind of reach
we desire.
I do not think it has to
change. It’s not mutually
exclusive and it’s not one
against the other. They
are two strong pillars of
the economy and the
government has to budget
for both. There is also the
notion that tourism is fickle
and it’s a luxury business
while agriculture is more
stable and people must
eat. I can understand the
call for the treatment of
agriculture as equally important to tourism, but I do
not get the impression that
when people advocate for
the agricultural sector, that
One of the new thrusts of
the GTA that is different
from the GBT is the fact
that the GTA can raise
its own funds. We will
use some of the best and
brightest minds in Grenada to enable the commercialization of the entity and
to create new avenues to
attract the required funding to meet our objectives.
In the short term, funding will also be provided
through the licensing
mechanism that is established by the Act setting
up the Authority. Whether
you have a hotel, rent
a car or a restaurant, a
license is required from
the Authority, which will
require the payment of a
fee. There are also some
other areas for fundraising that we will like
to explore. We are meeting with partners and we
have some ideas for the
government of Grenada,
which will have to do with
public private partnerships, that allows us to
share income from some
of Grenada’s assets.
Is the Authority looking
to the hotel sector as
part of that funding raising effort?
The Grenada Hotels and
Tourism Association specifically and the private
sector in general, has
always partnered with the
GTA Special Feature
marketing agent, whether
it’s the GBT or the GTA.
From our participation in
the ITB, the International
Trade Fair in Berlin or
World Travel Market or
Sea Trade, the private
sector has always shared
a part of the cost, which
could be upwards of US
$100,000.They have always shared the cost of
publishing our magazines,
so there is no buy in, in
terms of the private sector
paying sums to the GTA
but where we are going
for common good, all partners must play a part.
and the Caribbean, particularly Trinidad and Tobago. A new brand does not
magically do anything for
the destination but what it
does it helps us to focus
on the essence of the
TRANQUILITY, and PURE
SMILES and there are
so many other things you
can use to expand and
highlight our attributes. A
brand is however not magic we have to transform
with a message that is
relevant to all the circumstances of that audience.
It’s about strong Public
Relations support. To use
a cliché, we need them to
understand that ‘tourism
How strong is that relationship and how much
stronger can it gets?
I have always been an
advocate for ensuring
that when important decisions have to be made,
the Heads, the CEO’s, the
owners of the establishments that are part of the
(Grenada) Hotel and Tourism Association, attend
meetings. It’s not good
enough when key decisions have to be made
that a junior member of
staff is sent to represent
the operation just to record being present. I have
given my assurance to
some of the Heads that
if they show up to meetings; I will show up to their
meetings as Chairman of
the Authority. I think that
will make a difference, because one, the ideas and
two, the decision making
ability, is right there. That’s
perhaps the only way the
GHTA and the GTA can
forge forward in an improved way.
Grenada has not had
a branding initiative
on such a scale as we
have now. Where does
the future of the industry lie and do we have
the human resources
to achieve what is required?
Grenada cannot be all
things to all people but
there are some low hanging fruit. We have Grand
Anse Beach, nature tourism, chocolates. There
are some opportunities to
be explored and the product to be enhanced. The
GTA has only been given
EC $12M in this year’s
budget most of that will be
spent on marketing in our
major markets - the USA,
UK, Germany, Canada
brand and helps us to determine how we develop
our product. So product
development is one of the
early initiatives that we will
get involved with.
We are not in a position to
spend hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars
on product development
such as fixing a fence
in Grand Etang etc, we
don’t even have enough
funds for marketing, farless to develop product,
so we will be trying to get
budgets in other ministries and departments to
assist with the product.
Let’s take feeder roads,
which are a part of the
agriculture infrastructure,
as an example. I will be
approaching the Ministry
of Works with a similar
project, feeder roads to
tourism, whether it’s a
hotel, an attraction or a
restaurant, to ensure we
have good access. We
need more private public
partnerships, like the road
to La Luna, as one example, to make this all come
together.
our actual product from
which the brand came, to
make sure that it always
matches the brand.
We have spent a lot of
money on local appreciation of the importance
of the tourism industry,
have we seen the benefits from that spend?
Yes, I think there is an
overall appreciation for
tourism and the value of
the industry. What I think
is missing is the specifics on how citizens and
individuals can contribute
to that. What I think is
needed in the education
process, is to help people
understand, in some
detail, what it means for
a visitor to come into an
area. It’s not just about
being hospitable. Its about
facilities. It’s about understanding the direct and indirect ways the community
benefits from the industry.
It is that link that we think
is important.
Do you think the attachment of a brand make
a difference in the market?
How do you get the message across to all strata
of the society that tourism impacts you, whether you are economically
able or economically
depressed?
I think a brand gives us an
opportunity to refocus. So
we have PURE GRENADA, PURE SPICE, PURE
It’s about doing an effective job at segmenting
your market and targeting
your specific audience
is everybody’s business.’
Economies are built on oil,
economies are built on agriculture but in Grenada’s
case it’s built on tourism.
That has to be the message.
Given your history with
the industry, what are
some of the attributes
that give you reason to
celebrate?
I think one of the things
that keep coming up to the
top is the fact that Grenada is unspoilt and we
have some of the friendliest people. You can get
great beaches all over the
world, you can get resorts
all around the world, you
can get mountains and
nature tourism around the
world but it’s that combination of attributes that we
have in Grenada, the little
things that many people
appreciate, that we need
to celebrate.
Do you have the human
resources to meet the
challenges?
The Minister has given us
a very strong board and
the Act dictates that the
President of the GHTA
and the Grenada Chamber of Industry and Commerce are both on the
Board but the Minister has
also selected some very
strong persons to support
that. At the staff level the
tourism authority recruited
all new people, even those
from the former GBT who
had to re-apply. They went
through a proper interview
process and are some
of the sharpest people
available to us, in line
with the budget. We have
about five more people
to get on board with us
in PR and Quality Assurance among other areas,
some of whom will come
through our committee
system. So we are going
to have some of the best
and the brightest minds in
the GTA.
in numbers that we have
been experiencing for the
last three years at a rate
of 16%. We have to cut
that fall from 16% to 4% or
5%, but that gives you an
idea of how things are up
there.
There seem to be an
excitement at the GTA,
what’s fuelling that?
What is the expectation
of the stakeholders in
the industry?
I think there is a feel about
the world economy and
investment and people in
our source markets being
able to fly a little more. I
also think that there are
many persons in the Authority who come from the
private sector and have
different outlook on life in
terms of their profession.
You have people who are
multi-talented, so when it
comes to brainstorming
they have the knowhow
based on academics and
practical experience to
shape discussions and
inform decisions. As a result there is a lot of energy
and a lot of synergy in the
GTA. It also allows us to
hit the ground running.
They expect magic. From
day one the Authority will
hit the ground running and
do things, not only perfectly, but do things as they
see fit, whether its government, the private sector,
the vendors or the visitor.
We do not think it’s going
to be magic. It certainly
will not happen in the first
year. What is important
for us is that we put things
in place. We have to be
able at the end of the first
year to mark the things we
have succeeded in. They
may not have succeeded
in the first year but it will
make a difference in two
or three years.
Some at the Authority
say its Grenada’s time
now; do you agree with
that view?
I share the view that at
the inception of the GTA
we have the correct opportunity to get things right
and I thing this opportunity
should never be missed.
So if ‘our time now’ means
that we have to take the
bull by the horns and
make sure that things are
set up right and not miss
this opportunity, then I
have to agree. This is the
only time. The time is now.
With the world economy
on the rebound, please
comment on the prospects for the industry
and the GTA?
Well it’s not automatic because we are not yet back
to pre 2008 levels. In fact
one of the goals for 2014
is to decrease the drop
How does the APD tax
impact on that?
Well the APD affects everyone. Different countries
have different methods
of dealing with it. It has
made Grenada a little
more expensive and that
is why Grenada cannot be
a mass tourism market.
You have been chairman
of the GBT; now you are
at the helm of the GTA,
how do you compare the
two?
The responsibility now
is more involved. The
scope of the GTA is larger
because of the Act but it
gives me a better opportunity to perform because
there is more control interms of what we do. The
reality of the day is that
there is a smaller budget
but there is an opportunity
to be a lot more effective
with the GTA.
From a national perspective, how important
is it that you succeed?
It is very important. Tourism is the one sector
that has shown potential.
There are low hanging
fruits and if we do not pick
them, then we would have
faltered and I do not want
that, not for my own legacy, not for the country.
GTA Special Feature
BUILDING A
“CULTURE OF TOURISM”
C.E.O sees new era for the local industry based on the development of a ‘new island’
CEO RUDY GRANT
The newly established
Grenada Tourism Authority has an exciting
but challenging year
ahead, according to
(CEO) Rudy Grant, who
envisages a new era for
the industry based on
the development of a
new island “culture of
tourism.”
In a conversation with the
Barnacle, Grant said there
is no other Caribbean destination that can boast of
or match the friendliness
of the people, the natural
beauty of the island and
the ability of the visitor
to go from a white sandy
beach into a rain forest.
The new GTA boss said
Grenada will continue to
target high-end visitors
with the disposable in-
come that want a beautiful
safe destination to vacation with their families,
declaring, “We are not a
mass market tourism destination.”
The CEO said the Authority is “well poised” to enhance the development of
the sector while meeting
the demands and facing
the realities of the environment in which it is called
upon to operate.
Among those realities, is a
new approach to monitoring and measuring all elements of the industry as
part of a licensing mechanism aimed at lifting and
maintaining the quality of
the offering to international
standards to the benefit of
customers.
“Any entity which the
Minister declared to be
a tourism enterprise will
come under the licensing
requirements of the GTA,”
he said, noting that in the
new dispensation, the
authority is now able to
generate revenues independent of government to
finance both its recurrent
expenditure and its marketing activities.
Mr. Grant, in keeping with
the positions put forward
by the GTA’s Manager
of E-business solutions,
Orlando Romain, said the
Authority will expand its
focus to include marketing through non-traditional
avenues to attract the new
emerging market of young,
tech savvy visitors, who
utilize social media and
smart media technology
avenues for most, if not all
of their activities.
He said it is crucial that
the GTA takes advantage
of all the relevant and
available market information and intelligence
to influence its decision
making when undertaking
initiatives and activities in
the extremely competitive
global space that will yield
desired outcomes.
Grant said it is crucial that
the GTA places scarce
“promotional dollars” and
utilize its resources in the
most efficient manner to
achieve the greatest results.
“We have to assess the
profile of the Grenadian
visitor, including what are
their destination preferences, income levels and
what influences their decisions, to ensure that we
can strategically engage in
more effective marketing
of the destination, especially in this environment
when the country is experiencing some economic
challenges,” the GTA Chief
Executive Office said.
He welcomed the “extremely positive feedback”
of persons on social media toward the new “Pure
Grenada” brand, which
reflects the island’s eco
friendly position while
encouraging visitors to be
“free to wonder”, highlighting the friendliness of the
Grenadian people and the
security and safety of the
destination.
The response has been
in the high 90’s and very,
very positive” Grand said
adding that the Authority’s
top priority is the development of a “tourism culture”
to ensure that the experience of the visitor matches
the promises of the new
brand.
He indicated the need for
greater understanding and
appreciation for the symbiotic relationship between
tourism and agriculture,
arguing that the former
can “further enhance” the
agricultural sector, which
creating additional benefits
for business, manufacturing and other sectors of
GTA Special Feature
the economy.
“We want everyone in
Grenada every single
day to eat sleep, sleep,
breathe tourism,” the CEO
told Barnacle because,
in his view the industry
can provide “significant
economic opportunities”
for the country, given the
island’s incomparable
and “exceptional natural
beauty. It is safe and it is
secure”.
also be improved, with
as “good mix” of brand
(name) hotels and boutique properties.
Given the important relationship between airlift
“The brand hotels supply
marketing dollars that the
authority may not be able
to afford or provide, and if
we are able to work with
other brands it will be very
positive for us,” he said
others as part of the thrust
toward the creation of a
tourism culture.
“The action of every single
individual contributes to
the success of the tourism
can participate,” he added,
nothing that the visitors
experience with the destination comes as they step
off the aircraft at the Maurice Bishop International
Airport (MBIA).
“Success of the sector
must be success for everybody,” he declared.
Commenting on indications from the Group of
20 (G20) most advanced
economies of a faster than
projected rebound of the
global economy, Grant
opined Grenada will be
a significant beneficiary
if “we are able to take
advantage” of the changing environment. The fact
that that projected growth
is being led by the UK,
considered a major tourism market for Grenada,
“is good news for us,” although, he said, the British
government instituted Air
Passenger Duty (APD), a
tax levied on travelers out
of the UK, is proving an
impediment to the region.
Grant said he is excited at
the potential for the growth
and development of the
yachting industry, disclosing that the GTA recently
signed an agreement
with the Royal Ocean
Racing Club (RORC) to
finish their race across
the Atlantic in Grenada
in November. This event
will bring between 30 and
60 large racing vessels to
Grenada.
According to the RORC,
the GTA in collaboration
with Camper and Nicholson, will host the first
edition of the race starting
on November 29th from
Puerto Calero, in Spain,
with all finishers receiving
free berthing at the Marina
and discounted berthing
for those who are staying
on in Grenada for an extended period.
CRUISE SHIP TERMINAL
He pointed to research
which indicates that the
UK visitors stay longer
and spend more while on
vacation.
The new GTA boss said
that the establishment of
a strong Grenada brand
in the international tourism marketplace does not
impinge on the island’s
ability to work as part of a
broader Caribbean strategy, since each destination
has its own distinct and
unique attractiveness and
culture.
RORC Commodore, Mike
Greville, is quoted as saying the club is “delighted
with the enthusiastic
support we’ve received
from the Grenada Tourism Authority and Camper
and Nicholson and I know
competitors will receive a
warm welcome when they
arrive on this beautiful island. This race will attract
a large and competitive
fleet who want a real challenge.”
“This will translate to anywhere between US $2M
to US $5M contribution
to the economy” said the
new GTA official, who suggested that the Authority
must be “smart” both in its
expenditure and the partnership it develops.
Grant said that while the
GTA is concerned with
ensuring additional airlift
to Grenada, especially
in view of the increased
international exposure of
the island destination, the
hotel stock and activities
available to visitors must
must also include the day
to day experiences with
the ordinary Grenadian
and the economic benefits
derived from those interactions; in effect expanding
the concept of community
tourism.
However he explained
that the region has some
common issues, such as
pollution, which demand a
regional response.
Sandals LaSource Grenada
and room stock, Grant
disclosed that the GTA will
take over the management
of relations with airlines
serving the destination
and the negotiations for
new airlift into the island,
which is currently done by
the Ministry of Tourism,
Civil Aviation and Culture.
However he indicated
that a new flight, Condor
Airlines, will begin flying
to Grenada, providing a
direct link to the German
tourism market.
noting that Grenada is
looking for additional markets to attract those who
fit the island’s profile.
He suggested that while
the Authority is looking to
develop international standards for areas directly
under its control, there are
also plans for the improvement of services that are
more national in mature,
including the customers,
Immigration, police, security personnel among
sector,” he said, proposing
that any improvement in
the industry will automatically result in an enhancement of service for Grenadians as well.
“One of the critical things
for the sector will be the
appeal that we have to
the visitors as tom what
Grenada represents. It
therefore requires that we
bring everyone on board.
We must create an environment where everybody
The GTA Official said community oriented events
which have tourism potential, such as the Fish Friday and a similar monthly
event in St. Marks must be
included in activities that
will attract visitors to areas
outside of the beaten path.
He proposed that the success of the sector must
not only be measured in
increased visitor spend,
Increased or increase in
cruise ship capacity but
In response to advocates
of multi-destination offers
to visitors, he suggested
that research and experiences indicate that a visitor, who has limited time
for a vacation, does not
want the hassle of packing
and island hopping every
two days, especially where
a family is involved.
Rudy Grant said he is optimistic and prepared for
the challenge of helping to
grow an industry where all
the pointers are showing
potential for upward movement.
GTA Special Feature
AT G.T.A
KNOWLEDGE
IS POWER
The newly established
Grenada Tourism
Authority has a
significant challenge
on its hand; where
to allocate scarce
resources to achieve
maximum returns.
This dilemma keeps
Esther Thomas,
Head of Research
and Planning at the
Authority, at the top of
her game. According
to Ms. Thomas, the
GTA’s success hinges
on its ability to collect
and analyze tourism
data and information
in a timely manner
which guides the
development of
marketing and product
development plans,
policy analysis and
formulation and
tourism planning.
“It is crucial that we
utilize all avenues
available to us to
ensure that we target
specific areas to
achieve the highest
returns. Research
and Planning are the
tools that allow us to
anticipate new industry
trends and respond to
changes in the very
dynamic global market
place,” Ms Thomas told
Barnacle, in agreement
with the Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) who
described the industry
as “information
dependent.”
Measuring Global
Responses and
Implement Strategies to
Strengthen Grenada as
a Destination
The GTA official
said along with the
traditional channels, the
Authority is also utilizing
technology platforms
such as the website and
social media to inform
its decision making and
to access feedback on
various aspects of its
operations.
“With the introduction
of the new brand,
“PURE GREADA,” in
the market, we have the
opportunity to measure
the global response and
implement strategies to
strengthen its relevance
to the destination,” she
said.
She noted that local
responses were just
as useful as the GTA
looks to enhance
the understanding
and acceptance of
the tourism industry
as a major player in
Grenada’s development.
She pointed out that
the future of the
industry requires that
Grenadians, at all strata
of society take full
ownership and buy-in.
This requires that we
measure how well
our messages are
being accepted and
understood, because
ultimately we want to
change the way people
see and react to our
visitors. It takes on
added significance as
we seek to expand our
markets and maintain
our focus on the upper
middle and high income
visitor.
“The tools we are
employing will help us
to know who our visitors
are, where they come
from, why they chose
Grenada and what
their interests are. This
will help us to tailor
our product to meet
those requirements,
thereby opening the real
possibility that they will
come again to Grenada.
Visitor satisfaction is
therefore a crucial piece
of the puzzle,” she said.
Grenada Tourism Authority
MRS. ESTHER THOMAS, HEAD OF RESEARCH AND PLANNING - GTA
P. O. Box 293
Burns Point, St. George’s
Grenada, West Indies
Tel: 1-473-440-2001/2279
Fax: 1-473-440-6637
Website: http://www.grenadagrenadines.com.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/discovergrenada
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/discovergrenada
Youtube: www.youtube.com/grenadagrenadines
GTA Special Feature
DRIVEN BY TECHNOLOGY
Shaping a niche in the digital marketplace
orlando romain, manager of e-business gta
The newly formed
Grenada Tourism
Authority (GTA) is
expanding the avenues
to market Grenada and
simultaneously generate
revenue to fund its
activities.
In an exclusive interview,
GTA’s manager of
e-business Orlando
Romain informed
Barnacle that Grenada
aims to carve a niche in
the digital marketplace
by taking a unique and
creative approach to
destination marketing.
With a refreshing depth of
knowledge and passion for
the job, he explains, “We
want to tell our island’s
story through customer
centric content, rather than
big budget advertising,
it’s a less guns more
bullets strategy to ensure
Grenada stays afloat in
the highly competitive
waters of global tourism”.
The expansion of the
GTA’s activities will
place more emphasis
on enhancing its digital
presence and investing
time and management
in GTA’s social media
platforms. “We are looking
to change the way we
use social media.” He
explained “ We already
have two major social
media campaigns in the
pipe line and expect that
they will aid significantly
in raising the destinations
digital visibility”. Romain
also noted that monitoring
and measuring the
destination’s social
activities is crucial in
helping to understand
what is happening in the
digital space and provide
relevant content to their
audience.
Romain also educated us
about a digital booking
engine, powered by
Regatta that currently
allows potential visitors
to reserve hotel rooms in
Grenada directly from the
GTA website. “We launch
this booking engine in
2012 and it is a work in
progress while we get
the sector organized and
businesses are able to
manage their inventories”,
he said adding that plans
are already in place to
expand the service to
include dive operators,
restaurants and car rentals
among other offerings in
the tourism sector.
In the short-term the GTA
plans to expand its digital
network by developing
a mobile application to
facilitate the growing
mobile community who
are using their phones
to conduct business
and make decisions
more frequently. Romain
explains, “it will be an on-
the-go itinerary for users,
who will be able to take
advantage of special offers
advertised on the app
while building a revenue
model that advertisers can
take advantage of”.
The immediate plans of
the GTA’s e-business
department outlined by
Romain, sees a focus
on developing engaging
and interactive content.
There will be regular blog
updates on the GTA’s
official tourism website to
boost traffic and increase
the visibility of the
destination.
Romain also highlighted
the importance of the
community and hinted at
the launch of a corporate
website that will address
the needs of schools,
investors and individuals
outside the GTA who are
interested in Grenada’s
tourism industry.
The Authority will continue
to use traditional media
to change the culture of
a Grenadian community,
which is increasingly
dependent on the Tourism
industry to strengthen
its economy, generate
employment and create
business opportunities.
GTA Special Feature
PURE GRENADA
LAUNCH
More than 100 invited
guests from the island’s tourism, diplomatic, corporate, and
media circles gathered
to witness the unveiling of the island’s
new brand identity at
a cocktail reception
hosted on the patio
balcony of the Ministry
of Tourism’s offices on
February 14, 2014.
In an innovative move,
the Minister of Tourism partnered with the
Private Sector through
the Grenada Hotel and
Tourism Association using grant funds provided
by Compete Caribbean
to re-position the island’s brand identity to
more closely align with
the core niche sectors
that have been identified
as target markets. It will
also be supported by the
Grenada Hotel and Tourism Association, as the
private sector strives to
live the brand by becoming more sustainable.
The event was also attended by members of
the foreign press.
Highlights of the evening
included live cultural performances and a special
rendition of the locallywritten song “Welcome
Home,” which was used
as the sound track for
the introductory video
that revealed the new
brand.
gta officials AND TOURISM STAKEHOLDERS ARE ALL SMILES AT THE RECENT BRANDING EVENT.
Speaking at the launch,
CEO of the Grenada
Tourism Authority, Rudy
W. Grant indicated that
the new brand will be the
signature calling-card of
the destination going forward, and will be implemented in a phasedrollout across the island
and on the Authority’s
brand collateral in local
and overseas markets.
Only six weeks ago,
Grenada restructured its
marketing and promotion arm into the newly
formed Grenada Tourism
Authority.
“We know you are going
to love it,” declared Hon.
Alexandra Otway-Noel,
the island’s Minister of
Tourism, Culture and
Civil Aviation, when
asked why she chose
February 14th —Valentine’s Day for the launch.
The new brand tag-line
“Pure Grenada” will form
the underpinning for the
island’s new marketing
focus, positioning the
island as “off-the–beaten
path,” and a haven for
the discerning travel
explorer.
Alexandra Otway-Noel at the brand launch
The new logo also reflects the island’s deep
Amerindian roots and its
proud ancestral heritage;
while still encapsulating
the “heart of the nutmeg”—which has been
the back-bone of the island’s trade and exports.
“We struggled to find the
one word that encapsulated everything that
is beautiful, unspoiled
and undiscovered about
these three islands – and
it took the eyes of a child
to see it in its true acre
archer form – Pure,”
explained Russ Jarman
Price, Chairman, Inglefield, Ogilvie & Mather,
the Caribbean arm of
the global advertising
giant.
The new mandate includes better positioning
to seize new marketing
opportunities and to be
more adaptable to the
dynamic commercial
realities of today’s new
global tourism and hospitality environment.
In the re-positioning of
Grenada’s new brand,
the island was extremely
fortunate to get the
volunteered support of
world-class experts in
the field—thanks to the
leadership of a local
sustainable development
expert, Jennifer Alexis,
of Ethical Ideas who
also volunteered her
time for several months
to make this happen.
Other supporters included Jonathan Tourtellot,
Founder and Director of
National Geographic’s
Centre for Sustainable
Destinations and Editor
of the National Geographic Traveler Magazine; Martha Honey,
Director of the Center
for Responsible Travel;
and from the Popular
TV series ‘Survivorman,’ Laura Bombier,
VP Brand Marketing
and Social Media; and
Wendy Turner, Vice
President Productions
& CFO , both of Les
Stroud Productions.
GTA Special Feature
Leveraging the Economical &
Social Benefits of Tourism
Interview with
Mrs. Nikoyan Roberts
Manager, Nautical
Development Grenada Tourism
Authority (GTA)
My work-plan is therefore
guided by a vision of
raising collective quality
of life through quality
management of these
nautical products.
What does your role as
Manager for Nautical
Development entail?
The role encompasses
my abilities to work
with all stakeholders in
Grenada to leverage
the overall economic
and social benefits from
the yachting, cruise and
dive sectors. I say this
because at the Grenada
Tourism Authority (GTA),
we research, work on
product development and
position all our marketing
efforts to ensure that we
have a certain quantum
of external visitors coming
to Grenada each year.
Whether you are visiting
for the first time or you
are a member of the
Diaspora, or even have
investments in our triisland State.
study was presented in
May 2013 and recognized
a net economic impact
at that time, of EC $ 130
M. The direct contribution
into the sector was EC
$ 116.72 M, while the
indirect contribution from
yachting was a further EC
$ 16.5 M.
When we look deeper
into the overall tourism
industry we understand
that it has to be an
industry that provides
benefits to our citizens;
economic benefits in a
sustainable way which
does not destroy our
environment and leaves
a pristine environment
that is available for the
enjoyment of future
generations.
If I could speak to the
economic impact of the
nautical sector, I will start
with yachting. There
was an economic study
commissioned by the
Marine and Yachting
Association of Grenada
(MAYAG) in 2012. This
mrs. nikoyan roberts
When we review the
yachting services
available in Grenada,
Carriacou and Petite
Martinique it provides
a strong technical
infrastructure to support
the sector. The industrial
services that are provided
to make and repair sails
– canvas work, riggings,
mechanics, electronics,
refrigeration, metal
fabrication, wood work,
materials provisioning,
and the guardianship
of yachts when people
leave them here for
months to be repaired,
and prepared for leisure
travel, sporting regattas,
etc. Yachting is definitely
an industry area which
provides employment
and significant revenues
for our country now, and
which also holds great
potential for leveraging
additional economic
opportunities in the future.
Persons must have
noticed a super luxury
yacht berthed at the Port
of St. George. This is
a fine example of the
quality of visitors that
are coming to Grenada.
The owners of the super
yacht and its guests have
come to experience what
Grenada has to offer
and are categorized as
visitors that we want to
come here instead of
visitors that will impact
our environment in any
negative way. Also,
they might be here now
for tourism recreational
purposes, but we always
have to keep in the
forefront of our vision the ability to encourage
visitors like these to
consider further economic
investment for Grenada
which will lead to more
jobs for our young people.
Historically Grenada
was marketed as a
sun, sea and sand
destination. We held
onto that. As part of
our divestment in
the industry we have
identified the role
the nautical sector
can play. You have
just mentioned the
tremendous economic
contribution it has
made. As Manager of
Nautical Development
what must you now
do with your staff and
the support of others
to ensure that we
maximize the benefits
that can be derived?
Working with other
stakeholders to ensure
that the facilities the
consumers of yachting,
dive and cruise enjoy
in Grenada are safe,
quality products. Helping
to ensure the provision
of safe access, smooth
clearance procedures,
and excellence in
customer service at all
ports of entry, whether at
the airports or seaports,
and being able to facilitate
the team delivery of
these great tourism
experiences.
Our marketing, customer
service and product
development teams are
working on interfacing
with other members of the
public and private sector
so that when a visitor
lands at Maurice Bishop
International Airport, their
entry into Grenada is
smooth and hassle free.
Customer service training
continues on page
33
GTA Special
Special
Feature
Feature
Keens-Douglas: I’m thrilled to
be part of the new Authority
“I feel like I have come home to tourism at the perfect time”
Interview with Sheldon
Keens-Douglas, Director
of Marketing, Grenada
Tourism Authority (GTA)
get away for a romantic
adventure.
Another niche that I am
also overseeing is our eco
or geo tourism sectors; that
includes adventure, soft
eco tourism, nature tourism,
conservation tourism eg.
Some of our heritage sites
like the forts. Recently
we were given a fantastic
accolade by National
Geographic as one of the
10 Best Places in the world
2013 and our underwater
sculpture park which was
the first of its kind in the
world and has been named
one of the 25 wonders of
the world.
There is no disputing
the fact that the tourism
industry is the main
avenue of foreign
exchange generation for
the country and you are
sitting in a very important
role where you have to
market the nation as a
destination. What does
your role as Director of
marketing entail?
The role of Director of
Marketing here at the
Tourism Authority is a
role that existed in the old
structure but has not been
occupied for some time.
There are persons who
have acted in the capacity
and certainly persons
have done a good job
in continuing to market
Grenada overseas but
the Director of marketing
position was not filled for
some time.
It is therefore a really big
step for the new Authority
to have a director of
marketing in place and
my role is to seamlessly
orchestrate all the various
marketing operations
within the authority and
to develop and promote
Grenada as a destination in
our overseas and regional
markets. This is probably
the more recognizable
role of the Marketing
department as we have for
many years represented
the various tourism sectors
at overseas trade shows
and promotions. This we
continue to do, however
with a more targeted
approach that is aimed
directly at the visitor profile
that we believe is the best
fit for Grenada’s tourism
product.
We are really fortunate here
in Grenada to be blessed
with so many natural
tourism assets and my role
as Director of Marketing is
to continue to promote and
develop our niche market
sectors, to manage and
oversee the marketing
budget of the Authority, to
implement our domestic
tourism programme in
terms of increasing tourism
awareness on the island
and fostering a tourism
and service culture in the
island. We are also finding
ways to re-introduce tourism
education in the curriculum
of the schools and working
with the Ministry of
Education on that platform.
SHELDON KEENS-DOUGLAS
It also includes our nautical
division which is a new
sub-sector of the authority,
which represents our cruise,
dive, sailing and yachting
sectors. These sectors are
extremely important for us
and have yielded important
revenues for our economy.
We also have our romance
sector; Grenada has huge
potential as a Romance
destination and we’ve
been looking at weddings
promotions, honeymoon
packages and encouraging
couples that want to
We are also instilling “pride
in country” type of directives
as we work with the media
and other private sector
partners to ensure that we
continue to preserve and
maintain the very assets
we are using right now to
generate economic growth
in the country. An important
focus of Geo-tourism is
the preservation of the
our natural environment
and engaging in activities
that seek to maintain the
condition of the assets that
we are promoting for a
sustainable future.
This includes the products
and attractions portfolio
-- that will be all the sites
and attractions both public
and privately held that we
manage under the mandate
of the Authority.
There is the maintenance
of those sites, their
improvement, looking
at safety and security of
visitors, and in some cases
upgrading and enhancing
those sites. For some
of them we are looking
at monetizing in terms
of generating revenue,
creating opportunities for
local employment and so
on.
Then we have our quality
assurance programme
where guided by the
Tourism Authority Act we
are now mandated to look
at the various stakeholders
in the industry that we work
with in terms of licensing
regulations, standardization
and certification for persons
like our taxis, vendors,
beach cleaners, tour guides,
beach chair operators,
these persons who work
directly in the tourism
sector.
So as you can see
Marketing is a fairly wide
area to cover. We have
also have our E-business
portfolio which is a very
important sector that has
grown within the last five
years.
If you look at the
Authority’s website; www.
grenadagrenadines.com
you will see it is a vibrant
beautiful space that is well
maintained. We get a lot
of queries directly from
visitors to this website as
well as it contains a booking
engine for directly booking
properties on the site;
ranging from requests for
information to complaints
about things that may
not have gone very well
with their stay and so we
have to be interactive and
responsive through the
social media platform in
terms of managing our
guest experience on the
island.
We also have persons
looking for cutting edge
ways of marketing the
destination through social
media applications which is
now the go to way to market
things cost effectively
though it requires a lot of
hands on management. We
also have a large chunk
of content generation for
the site; for the Face book
page, for Twitter feeds and
so.
So ultimately the Director
of marketing is overseeing
all of these things in
working towards to general
objectives of the GTA.
I am certain there would
have been a time in the
past when the Director
of Marketing would have
had responsibility for
sun, sea and sand. The
large portfolio you have
just laid out is that part of
responding to the need
to make the destination
a lot more attractive and
saying to people that
Grenada has more than
these three virtues.
One of the great things
about Grenada, Carriacou
and Petite Martinique is that
we’re blessed with a multi
layered tourism product. We
have a very comprehensive
product as opposed to
some islands that just have
a beach option or a rain
forest option for example.
I didn’t even mention our
cultural tourism aspect yet
which also plays a big part
in terms of showcasing
our cultural heritage. So
Grenada has a very broad
based tourism product
which is excellent and
probably puts us in a
category all by ourselves in
the region in terms of what
we can offer as a guest
experience.
GTA Special Feature
However the very blessing
that we have is also a bit of
a curse because we have
so many things that we
can offer every time we go
somewhere to represent the
destination, it’s a decision
process because we can’t
promote everything at the
same time. And so another
of the roles of director of
marketing is to look at the
markets we re going to,
identify the sectors that we
think best represents those
markets and put Grenada’s
offerings in those sectors at
the forefront.
constraints of airlift, and
hotel room capacity so
it is a delicate balancing
act because Grenada
is not a mass tourism
destination and we have
no intention of pursuing a
mass tourism strategy. We
have to carefully manage
our marketing against
occupancy and capacity
on the island in order to
maximize and ensure that
the guests have the kind
of experience that we want
them to have here.
guests.
Grenada already has
a reputation for being
extremely friendly, warm
and welcoming and that
is played out every day in
our visitors’ experiences.
But we do have to institute
a service culture in our
business places in terms
of the assistance we give
to our visitors, in terms of
just being aware of the little
things that can create an
excellent service experience
for our guests. It only
of Grenada, Carriacou and
Petite Martinique.
A person’s experience of
the destination begins the
moment they connect by
phone or email; in how you
spoke to them, or whether
you were helpful. So we
definitely need to institute
more of a service culture in
our islands.
As new properties come
into the sector we have
seen an upsurge in the
number of persons being
reach; it conveys everything
about the destination that
we’re hoping to promote
and it’s what makes us
stand out from the other
offerings around the
Caribbean.
Our brand is one that
speaks to the well-travelled
and discerning traveler.
We’re looking for persons
who have travelled before
and know the ins and
outs of travel. Grenada
is a destination that is a
little harder to get to; a
It’s not that these things
were never around in the
Board of Tourism it is just
that under the authority
we have streamlined our
operations to effectively
isolate and target some of
these niches.
Obviously all that you’re
doing is to grow the
nation. Do you foresee
growth in the next 12
months and where will
that growth come from?
The objectives that we’ve
set for ourselves in the first
year include some growth
in the market and we have
to look at what is happening
currently for example the
CTO just put out a state
of the industry paper
where they talked about
the three percent increase
in Caribbean arrivals
from North America, so
Caribbean arrivals are up in
terms of persons coming in
to the region.
However in Grenada by
itself we have seen perhaps
a little flattening of the UK
arrivals market, some of
that of course is predicated
by the tax (ADP) that the
British government has
instituted which has made
the playing field less level
for Caribbean islands in
terms of comparison with
other regions.
Effectively the tax on a
travel ticket is lower to go
to places like Honolulu than
it is to come to Grenada
even though the distance
is hugely different in terms
of miles and travel time. It
is therefore a very difficult
task for the islands in the
Caribbean to compete for
price sensitive travelers
in the UK who are looking
for the best value holiday
for their money. So we’re
seeing the effect of it right
across the Caribbean.
But overall our arrivals are
up, and we’re doing well;
the hotel sector is full at
the moment; they have
enjoyed a good winter
season but again we are
always affected by the
see a reflection or ourselves
in the brand but the brand
reflects all the things
that are great about our
destination, our people,
attractions, amenities,
services but it reflects it in a
way that would translate to
the market we are trying to
reach.
Am I to interpret your
brand to mean a lasting,
lasting impressing that
lingers in the mind of the
traveler?
We definitely want to create
a lasting impression in the
mind of the traveler but
what the brand says to
the consumer that we are
trying to reach is that this is
a place that you will like to
go; here is a place that you
can visit and experience
the authentic Caribbean,
get away from it all, relax
with your partner or family.
A place that is proud of
its heritage, culture and
beautiful locations. We
want you to experience our
island but we also want our
children and their children
to be able to enjoy and
experience it too..
The past board didn’t
have Sandals marketing
Grenada. You have them
with their international
pedigree; how are you
going to capitalize on
that?
Tourism is service. How
difficult is it to get across
the industry that we are
offering a service and it
is supposed to be a good
quality service?
That’s a great question
because from my own
background I come
from a strong service
background; my degree is
in hospitality management,
particularly Marketing and
Tourism Management. I
graduated from Cornell
University in New York
which is considered the
world’s leading hospitality
programme in terms of hotel
and service management.
So I understand service
very well and the
importance of distinguishing
ourselves by service is one
of the key factors by which
we can differentiate our
destination experience and
create a climate where our
visitors will become repeat
takes one negative thing to
change the experience of
the visitor.
Service starts from the
basic elements and we
need to get everybody to
understand that they play a
role in the service sector. If
you are providing chairs on
the beach, that’s a service.
So we have to get to the
place where everybody
goes to work, no matter
where you work with the
professional mindset of
providing the best service to
the guest every day.
When you work business
of providing service, even if
you are not directly serving
the guest, you’re helping
somebody else who is
serving the guest and so
every time you answer
the phone or pick-up a
visitor in a taxi, or sell them
something at the vendor’s
market you’re representing
the entire tourism sector
employed in hospitality
and we have to ready
to capitalize on these
opportunities when they
come. We need a greater
focus on training and
up-skilling of our young
people to become dynamic
partners in the service
sector and even ultimately
creating their own service
related businesses to
serve the sector. We have
to understand that being
a skilled waiter, as one
example, is something that
can get you employed you
in any part of the world.
Obviously all that
Grenada is offering, you
can’t take everywhere
you go but you must
have a brand. What is the
brand that you’re trying to
establish?
Brand Grenada is very
important because it
positions us to the sectors
we have been trying to
little off the beaten path
and that’s great in some
senses because our rate of
development has kept the
island pristine and relatively
unspoilt.
The brand Grenada has
to capture that unspoilt,
undiscovered feeling about
the destination; that pristine,
relaxing environment where
visitors can come and
get lost without worrying
about intrusions into their
vacation.
A lot of times people
become overly protective
of brands in the sense they
feel that the brand is ours.
The brand represents us
but it doesn’t belong to us.
Brand Grenada belongs
to the consumers who are
looking to come here and
any big international brand
that you think of will tell you
that the brand belongs to
the consumer.
A lot of times we want to
As the Minister of Tourism
has said before, we are
very pleased to have
Sandals to compliment our
tourism product. They’ve
added 100 new rooms and
restored another 150 or so
and they have positioned
their product as the most
luxurious Sandals ever
created.
They’ve done their research
and realized who Grenada
appeals to and customized
their product to meet the
same customers that
tend to gravitate towards
Grenada.
I think we have already
begun to capitalize on
what Sandals created; their
contribution to local GDP,
and employment but more
so in terms of the massive
machinery of marketing
that is the Sandals brand.
Grenada has been placed
at the forefront of a global
campaign and its marketing
that we as a destination
could never afford to do
ourselves.
That being said, Sandals
La Source Grenada is
complimenting the hotel
products that we already
have here.
Our Minister of Tourism,
CONTINUES ON THE
NEXT PAGE
GTA Special Feature
Keens-Douglas: I’m thrilled to
be part of the new Authority
FROM PAGE 31
Hon. Alexandra OtwayNoel describes it perfectly
when she says it is like a
shopping mall where you
have the big flagship stores
that bring the traffic to the
mall like Sandals, Rex
Grenadian and Radisson
Grand Beach, these are the
anchors but then also in a
mall you have the smaller,
luxury boutiques which
attract a different kind of
traveler. These little gems
are positioned to take care
of a different kind of visitor
but the entire ecosystem of
the destination benefits from
having a mix of products.
The Tourism Authority
doesn’t have any plant of
its own so your marketing
initiatives are to
compliment those of plant
owners. How are you
planning to get them on
board with the marketing
and the response you
are expecting from the
visitor market and the
impression you want to
make on visitors as a
destination?
We facilitate the promotion
of all our hotel products.
We work closely with the
Grenada Hotel and Tourism
Association in terms of the
activities we plan to attend
each year.
We have regular meetings
with all stakeholders in
the sector and they do
understand how critical
promoting Grenada is
for all of us. We all have
limited budgets, both the
hotels and the authority.
We are going through very
tight economic times so
whatever marketing we
do has to be reflected in
increased visitor arrivals
and visitor spend.
So I think the local hotel
sector understands the
importance. Some of the
things we are focusing
on are the things that are
critical to them in terms
of getting additional airlift
into the island; this is the
lifeblood of keeping the
industry going and we have
been doing a lot of great
work in terms of pushing
for additional services or
increased capacity.
We’re very close to making
an announcement about
returning to the European
market and other initiatives
that will benefit the hotel
sector.
I believe we work hand in
hand and we just have to
hope that they understand
that everything we do is for
the benefit of our partners
and stakeholders.
You are the marketing arm
for the national tourism
initiative. You have to go
out and bring tourists
to fill the very hotel
rooms. Some of them
are reluctant to make the
contribution government
is asking for to do the
same marketing. How are
you dealing with that?
I don’t want to say they are
reluctant. I believe they
want to do all in their power
to ensure they their hotels
are full. We also want to
do everything in our power
to ensure that their hotels
are full. They are reluctant
because they don’t have
all the funds to do the
things that they believe are
important and critical.
The hotel sector right
now is enjoying a little
boom in terms of arrivals
so this is going to help
everybody but they still
have some challenges in
terms of productivity and
profitability, and extremely
high electricity costs which
are challenges to the
profitability of the hotel
sector. While this is a
measure that may provide
some temporary relief in
terms of revenue generation
I believe they are looking
at the long term effects
on the industry. It is just a
matter of us having different
perspectives on the same
issue.
Marketing for this industry
is very expensive; do you
have the resources and
how are you raising the
resources?
We still are primarily funded
by the government. Slowly
but surely the powers
that be are understanding
that tourism is a vital
underpinning for all sectors
which feed off the influx
of tourism dollars into the
economy.
We are starting to see a
change in attitude towards
tourism as not just a
side business that we’re
into but a major part of
our economic recovery
programme.
We have a commitment
from government but the
new Tourism Authority
act positions us to begin
creating our own revenue
streams through things
like merchandising and
enhancing the facilities
at some of our major
attractions in order to
generate some revenue
from them. We are looking
at some new attractions
as well that will come
on stream shortly. The
goal of the authority is to
eventually realize private/
public partnerships in terms
of collaborating with the
private sector to push our
agenda forward.
What are you hoping your
marketing initiatives will
yield in the short term,
medium term and long
term?
In the short term; the
transition from the board to
the Authority was a difficult
and challenging process.
We have to make up for
some lost time as during the
transition we lost ground
in some of the major
markets where we used
to have representation.
Our main goal in the short
term therefore is to have
to have all our overseas
representative offices
up and running again to
ensure that Grenada is
in the forefront of tour
operators overseas. We
will roll out the new brand
and messaging to help reposition the destination in
the market place. In short,
we need to start bringing in
some more visitors.
In the medium term,
audit and upgrade of the
attractions on the island
to make them a little more
friendly and attractive,
and safe and secure for
visitors. Ensure a standard,
licensing program for all
workers in the sector that
includes standardized
training and a professional
appearance for this sector.
We aggressively push
our domestic tourism
awareness programs and
ensure we have a strong
service culture that will
infiltrate every sector and
every age group.
In the long term we really
hope the Authority will
become what it is designed
to become; a more modern
and streamlined body
which functions like any
corporation to efficiently
and effectively promote
Grenada, Carriacou and
Petite Martinique as the
destination to visit in the
Caribbean.
The Authority will
function as a destination
management organization.
So we are managing our
tourism product from a
holistic point of view and
not just promotions and
attractions. We hope that
our efforts will yield the
results that will ultimately
enable a doubling of the
hotel room stock capacity
over a period of 10 years.
The Grenada product is
fantastic. When we speak
of Grenada, we always
naturally mean the three
islands. Grenada, Carriacou
and Petite Martinque.
Each unique in their own
right and together an
unbeatable combination of
tourism assets; the buzz
about our tri-island state
is incredible right now.
This is Grenada’s time, we
are about to fully blossom
into our full potential as a
tourism destination and
we have to capitalize on
that. However, we have
to do so by learning from
the examples and errors
of our neighboring islands
to ensure that we keep
Grenada the way we want
it to be; not just for us
but for our children and
grandchildren.
It is definitely our time now
and everybody has to get
involved in the communities,
clean up our villages and
make sure we help visitors
to enjoy the island as much
as we can. Recognize
the opportunities in the
sector; spin off businesses,
services to yachts, agro
business to sell produce
to hotels as they come on
stream. We have to see
what we can do to hitch
our wagons on the tourism
engine and everybody will
get pulled along.
Grenada has been getting
some fantastic accolades
in the press from all walks
of life. We recently came in
fifth from the Travel Weekly
top ten islands; recently
the Discovery Channel’s
number one show, Survivor
Man with Les Stroud
filmed two episodes here,
over 4.5 million viewers
in Canada alone watched
the premier episode and
that’s advertising we can’t
purchase.
Not only has Les Stroud
filmed here but he has
fallen in love with Grenada
and is helping us with our
marketing. I am confident
that this is our time; I’m
thrilled to be part of the new
Authority. I feel like I have
come home to tourism at
the perfect time.
GTA Special Feature
Leveraging the Benefits of Tourism
from page 27
has been done with
customs and immigration
officers in the past and
we will continue to work
and deliver ongoing
improvements.
So you’re maintaining
the country’s security,
but ensuring that these
visitors have a pleasant
experience that they will
talk about in a positive
way. You spoke of sun,
sand and sea tourism
which has its place in
our tourism portfolio –
please expand a bit on
this.
Our dive sector can only
remain as a sustainable
product when we practice
good habits consistently,
to make sure that the
assets that we have; the
quality of our reefs, and
wreck dives are impacted
by good agricultural
practices upstream.
One of the key private
sector organizations
who partners with us
to position and market
Grenada and Carriacou’s
dive products is the
Grenada Scuba Dive
Association (GSDA).
Part of my role as
Manager for Nautical
Development is again
working with various
private and public sector
resources to engage all
citizens in understanding
that we all have our
key roles in being great
advocates for building
a clean society. We all
become environmental
stewards from our inland
tourism and agricultural
resources, to our beach
and reefs.
We understand
and educate other
stakeholders to engage
in responsible agricultural
practices will impact on
our ability to encourage
more and more dive
consumers to come to
Grenada because the
dive product is pristine in
terms of our reefs, and
that the quality of the dive
is also good considering
the significant number of
wrecks that are available
in minimally polluted
waters.
The facilities that
Grenada provides for
yachting, dive and
cruise; who are you
targeting to utilize those
facilities, where are you
targeting them and who
is helping you to target
them?
When we look at the
market segmentation for
yachting, we are looking
at three different sectors;
short term visitors,
somebody who may pay
for a boat to be crewed
from maybe as far north
as the British Virgin
Islands and they are
doing line of sight sailing
down to Grenada and will
fly out of Grenada. These
visitors also sometimes
will sail/crew these yachts
themselves. We also
have long term visitors
or “live-aboards”. These
are people who own
their yachts and sailing
through the Caribbean.
They frequently pick bays
that are clean, beautiful,
and close to local
communities where they
can buy provisions and
pay for yacht services
to clean and repair their
boats. The third segment
is the luxury bruise
segment and we see
quite a few of those mega
/ super yachts in the Port
Louis Camper Nicholson
Marina for example.
We target these clients
either directly through the
sailing races and regattas
that we have during the
year like the Grenada
Sailing Week. We target
them primarily out of
the United Kingdom and
the United States with
some European visitors
providing spend to the
yachting sector as well.
We work with a public
relations company in the
UK which is liaising with
yachting enthusiasts
on an international
scale to bring different
events to Grenada; and
have recently signed a
contract to bring sailing
enthusiasts and members
of the Royal Ocean
Racing Club (RORC),
to end a 2,800 nautical
mile Transatlantic Race
from Lanzarote, Canary
Islands, to Grenada in
November.
The RORC is a
prestigious racing club
that was established in
London in 1925, and with
their event it is projected
that an economic spend
over the course of two
weeks will generate
an economic spend of
approximately US $ 2
M to Grenada. So this
is the type of marketing
and public private
partnerships that we are
working on in the yachting
sector to bring even more
economic benefits to
Grenada.
Camper Nicholson
Port Louis, Spice
Island Marine Services,
Grenada Marine, etc.,
obviously their role is
critical in all of this.
How important are
the services that they
provide?
The services these
marinas provide are
indeed critical. I spoke
earlier about the
consistent delivery
of customer service
excellence. This must
always be given to our
visitors, our guests, and
we are also looking at the
technical competencies,
job qualifications and
work experience that
provide yacht owners
with the quality products
that they are paying good
money for. We have to
ensure that these guests
are not inconvenienced
in a challenging manner,
while we continue to work
with the respective public
sector agencies like the
Royal Grenada Police
Force (RGPF) to assist in
maintaining the security of
the state. Whatever great
services are offered at
these marinas in terms of
hard skills and soft skills
are extremely important to
continue bringing people
into Grenada.
We can look at Sandals
La Source in the hotel
sector to see that the
Sandals marketing dollar
on a global platform can
do so much in terms of
ensuring that our tourism
products are exposed on
the international market
and it is the same for
string companies like
Camper Nicholson. They
are able to travel to
different yachting shows
that our resources will not
allow us to at this time,
but their representation
at yachting shows in
Monaco, and other parts
of the world, make sure
that Grenada benefits
from the clientele that visit
Grenada after.
What are some more
real benefits or
opportunities that
present themselves in
the nautical area?
We have strong areas in
terms of opportunities for
growth in the yachting
sector. A high level
of the persons who
were interviewed for
the preparation of the
economic report of 2012
gave feedback of the
yachting experience as
being overwhelmingly
favorable, but when we
look at the areas where
this can be tied back
into a direct benefit for
residents we see that it
is a good idea to go into
schools and develop our
young people to think
that they can also be part
of the yachting sector in
terms on being trained
to provide services in
fiber glass repair or other
technical marine areas.
We see it necessary to
educate our children
toward protecting our
natural resources and
encourage them to
become even more
interested in educational
areas such as marine
biology so that they will
be better equipped to
work in Grenada and
Carriacou’s Marine
Protected Areas (MPA).
Presently our three
marine protected areas
accommodate locals
as well as visitors who
snorkel and enjoy
the unique tourism
assets displayed at the
Underwater Sculpture
Park in Moliniere.
Individuals employed
in our three MPA’s
are Grenadians. Our
work assists our young
people to understand
that there are many
career opportunities and
livelihood opportunities in
these areas.
In the area of coastal
management of our
resources like the turtle
watching attraction in
St. Patrick’s, there is a
local community group
SPECTO that work
with the international
environmental
organization Ocean
Spirits to protect the
coastal resources in that
area. SPECTO trains
tour guides so that they
are earning a livelihood
and they also provide
scholarships for young
children in the area from
the monies they receive
from managing those
resources. This proves
we are on the right
track and doing what
we need to do to make
sure all these benefits
impact Grenadians in a
meaningful way.
How are you planning
on growing the sector
you are responsible
for?
We have within the
yachting sector which
is extremely well
organized, a strategic
marketing focus which
looks at specific local
and regional actions to
position Grenada as the
most desirable yachting
destination in the OECS.
The GTA will continue
to work with our line
Ministry for Tourism, Civil
Aviation and Culture
to facilitate targeted
investment promotions
for yacht business, and
to develop promotion
for yacht business
retention and expansion.
Cruise negotiation and
marketing activities focus
on reducing seasonality
for the cruise season,
and dive will continue
to explore sinking new
wreck attractions, plus the
delivery and operations of
a hyperbaric chamber.
GTA Special Feature
Grenada Returns to
the German Market
NEWS FROM the Grenada Tourism Authority
Recognizing the
potential and
importance of the
German market
Grenada’s Minister
of Tourism, Hon.
Alexandra Otway-Noel
has decided to return
to the ITB after 10
years. ITB is one of the
world’s leading Travel
Trade Show. It is a
Business 2 Business
Platform for trade
visitors which is an
excellent opportunity
to meet business
partners. It is the key
place to learn about
new trends, market
developments, and
to deepen existing
business relations.
Minister Otway will lead
the delegation to the ITB
Conference scheduled
to be held in Germany
from March 5 – 9, 2014.
Recently appointed
CEO to the Grenada
Tourism Authority,
Mr. Rudy Grant and
hon. alexandra otway-noel
Director of Marketing,
Mr. Sheldon KeensDouglas will also attend
the trade show which
attracts over 170,000
trade professionals and
consumers.
Germany was one of
Grenada’s major source
markets during the
period 1995 – 2000 with
arrivals as high as over
7,000 visitors when there
was a direct service from
Frankfurt. Recognizing
the potential of the
German market one of
the initiatives that the
Minister is working on
is trying to reinstate air
service to the destination
from Germany.
During the Conference
the Minister will take the
opportunity to update
the media on the PURE
GRENADA BRAND
which was recently
launched.
Attendees will also
be provided with a
destination update,
including new
developments and
product enhancement.
Several business
meetings with tour
operators and airlines
are scheduled for
the team during the
convention.
The team is looking
forward to a positive
impact with this bold new
initiative.
For additional
information, please call
the Grenada Tourism
Authority at 473 440
2001
GTA Special Feature
Greater synegy to
Support strong brand
Head of Projects at the
Grenada Tourism Authority, Christine NoelHorsford has suggested
that there is a need for
greater collaboration between the newly formed
authority and the major
private sector players in
Grenada’s tourism if the
benefits of the industry
are to be realized.
regional space.
“We must deliver what the
brand promises. We cannot over promise to people. We cannot promise to
people and not deliver. We
must stay true to what we
are as a destination,” she
said, arguing for greater
attention to the unique
culture of Carriacou and
Petite Martinique.
Noel-Horsford, who has
returned to Grenada after
several years working
in the industry outside
of Grenada said despite
the limited budgets, there
must be a sharing of the
promotional expenses
among hoteliers in the promotion of the destination,
particularly in the island’s
participation in major tourism related international
expositions.
“Today’s visitor is looking
for more than just sun,
sand and sea. They are
looking for adventure,
hiking and a more experiential kind of travel. The
tagline ‘free to wonder’
will draw that kind of
clientele and will speak to
Grenada’s track record as
a safe destination,” said
Mrs. Noel Horsford, who
also predicted that the US
and Canadian markets
will experience growth this
year.
“There has to be stronger
synergy with all parties.
This brand speaks to the
environment, so we have
to work together to ensure
Grenada is a clean place.
Certain policies must be
in place to ensure the
“actions match the words,”
she said.
She told Barnacle that
Grenada’s “diverse”
product, made up of three
islands, a strong yachting subsector and a rich
culture, attracts the “more
experienced traveler.”
“Grenada attracts the
more discerning traveler
who is looking for something off the beaten track.
We have very much into
eco tourism, a strong cultural heritage and a strong
yachting industry. I think
we have a very strong
product to offer,” Mrs.
Noel-Horsford said, noting
that Grenada maintains its
focus “on up-scale” travelers and cruise visitors.
“We will never be a mass
market destination”, she
However, she said the
UK tourism market has
been experiencing some
difficulty as a result of the
travel tax implemented by
the British government on
the Caribbean region.
Christine Noel-Horsford, Manager
Projects and Reporting Grenada Tourism
Authority
declared.
She believes that the
cruise sector is crucial for
the island because of the
income it brings directly to
vendors, taxi drivers and
local tour operators.
The GTA official said the
new “Pure Grenada” brand
set Grenada apart from its
competitors in the international marketplace, while
repositioning the island to
highlight its eco-friendly
attributes, which will
attract more environmentally conscious, adventure
seeking, mature visitors.
“This new brand will
provoke conversation.
It is a very strong brand
and we will hold our own
against our competitors,”
she affirmed, although she
was quick to point out that
Grenada also supports the
Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) in its promotion of the Caribbean as a
She said the spectacular
Grand Etang Rain forest
and impressive diving
locations are two aspects
that will set Grenada
apart.
The GTA official said
continued educational
campaigns, starting with
young children, are being planned as part of
strengthening the promise of the brand. These
campaigns, on island will
also help all Grenadians
to appreciate the value of
the tourism industry to the
islands prosperity.
Additionally the tourism
official said government
must also ensure that
line ministries take their
responsibilities to the
industry seriously so that
the desired results can be
achieved to the benefit of
all concerned.
“We constantly have
to work with all parties,
including the school, to
ensure the standards associated with the product
are maintained, she said,
while encouraging the
hotel and restaurant sub
-sectors to find ways of improving the linkages other
sectors, in particular agriculture, by offering more
local foods to visitors.
I would encourage more of
the private sector and the
hotels to infuse more of
the local produce in their
menus and in their cultural
offerings, because that’s
all part of the package
of the experience of the
visitor,” the GTA head of
Projects said.
She praised Senator
Brenda Hood for her commitment to exposing visitors to Grenada’s cultural
expressions and pledged
the GTA’s support to
providing avenues for the
“culture” to play a bigger
role in Grenada’s tourism
product.
“Culture plays a remarkable role in terms of the
entire package,” she told
the Barnacle, suggesting that the GTA is rolling
out “something fresh and
something new,” the GTA
official commented.
The Head of projects
predicts a 5% growth in
tourism in Grenada over
the next year and a 10%
increase over the following three years , despite
the financial challenges
at home and the global
economic downturn.
She is banking on recent projections from the
world’s leading financial
economies, including
the BRIC states (Brazil,
Russia, India and China)
and the G20 nations that
the global economy will
rebound faster than first
thought.
Despite airlift challenges,
the tourism official expressed “optimism that
Grenada is on that path to
take off and to achieve our
projections,” adding that
the GTA will continue to
focus on its core markets in the United States,
Canada, the Caribbean
and the UK, while making
a renewed thrust into the
German market.
“The demographic and
the profile of that clientele fit Grenada very well
because the Germans are
very adventurous, eco
oriented people, so they
love Grenada. SO we are
very excited to get back
into that market,” She
pointed out.
She added that airlift into
the destination is a crucial
factor that could determine
the success of the GTA’s
efforts.
Christine Noel-Horsford
paid tribute to her mother,
who first saw “my interest
in people” and thought
tourism was a good fit.
She also expressed her
appreciation to former Permanent Secretary, Pamela
Steele and former Director
of Tourism, Jude Bernard
for her development.
She studied Tourism
Management at the University of the West Indies,
Cave Hill Campus, and in
the Bahamas. Christine
received several awards
including the History Makers award in 2000 from
the Caribbean American
Chamber of Industry
and Commerce and was
awarded by Travel Agents
Magazine as one of the
most powerful 100 Women
in Travel among others.
GTA Special Feature
Quality Beyond Parity
Kirl Grant-Hoschtialek
Tourism Enterprises that
are offering products and
services to visitors must
adhere to quality standards and requirements,
according to Kirl GrantHoschtialek, Manager,
Product Development at
the newly established
Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA).
Mrs. Grant-Hoschtialek
indicated that the GTA is
seeking to align the tourism product; from consumables to attractions,
tour operators, taxis and
all other services offered
for the benefit of visitors to the island, to the
promises made by the new
‘Pure Grenada’ brand.
In conversation with the
Barnacle, the GTA Official
said the Authority must
gather the necessary market intelligence to enable
the streamlining of the
destination product offerings, while ensuring that
priorities are established
so that scarce resources
can be efficiently channeled to achieve the best
results.
She said the GTA will utilize a number of avenues
to help build appreciation locally for the brand,
while simultaneously,
ensuring that areas under
its direct control meet the
level of quality the GTA is
endeavoring to establish
nationally.
“We are working to ensure
that what is marketed to
the visitor is true on the
ground,” the GTA Product
Development Manager
said, acknowledging that
any variance in the two
can lead to a disappointing visitor experience with
resulting consequences for
the destination.
She said local efforts will
also target children as part
of the GTA desire to build
a “tourism culture” to take
the island forward.
“The product is who we
are and what we are. It is
the intangible and tangible
experiences of a visitor
while in Grenada,” Mrs.
Hoschtialek said, noting
that the Grenadian people
constitute the major part
of the Grenadian product.
She disclosed that the
GTA is also giving attention to the enhancement
of the potential that exists
in Grenada’s folk culture
by working with local cul-
tural groups and event organizers to properly shape
a product that contributes
to a holistic visitor experience.
The GTA Product Manager pointed to several
issues that need attention
if the GTA plan is to be
successful. Among them
are littering, street dwelling and the unmannerly
behaviour by the youths,
particularly in high traffic
areas in the town of St.
George.
“We must ensure that we
have the correct amendments in our legislation to
support the change in the
mindset, attitude and behavior of our people as it
relates to our visitors and
the industry as a whole.
We need to understand
that there is a mutual
respect that is required,”
she said.
She said there is a need
for a collaborative focus
on the industry by decision makers in all agencies, including government ministries that are
tasked with the development and maintenance of
infrastructure or statutory
bodies that are responsible for other critical areas
of service, whether it’s the
water to the hotels in the
dry season or police support at remote attractions.
“It is critical that we
all speak from the same
page,” the Product
Development Manager
remarked, explaining that
the GTA has undertaken
a ‘Pure Talk’ programme
designed to provide information to all Grenadians.
She noted that the GTA is
utilizing Grenadian talent
in rolling out the brand to
the Grenadian public.
News
GRENADIAN MOTHER AND SON
ARTISTS EXHIBIT IN BARBADOS
The work of two Grenada artists, a mother and
son combination, is currently being exhibited at
the Gallery of Caribbean
Art Gallery in Speightstown, Barbados.
The exhibition of Grenadian art titled “Grafted
Narratives”, brings a
“veritable garden of new
paintings and installations” from Grenada,
according to Susan
Mains, who said she
was inspired by Stephan
Bertalan work, which she
came into contact with
during a visit to the Venice Biennale with a group
of artists from Grenada in
the summer of 2013.
“His work of penciled
botanicals captured my
attention, because it
instantly reminded me
of the x-rays of my spine
from an on-going physical deterioration. I was
captivated by the notion
of this development of
the plant, and my mind
went on a mental ‘what
if trip’.”
According to a media
release “Susan and Asher
Mains will be divulging
the plants’ secrets at the
opening of “Grafted Narratives”.
“This body of work of
paintings and installations is the result of that
wander into the imagination. Perhaps only the
very young cannot relate
to the pain that is possible from within your
own self. Everyone suffers, whether in body or
in mind. It is a universal
condition. Sometimes the
questions are the most
intriguing part,” Mrs.
Mains said.
Mains and Mains have
two distinctly different
painting styles, despite
the common theme of
this exhibit. Susan
Mains work is extremely
gestural and textured,
while Asher Mains
shows the discipline
of his classical training
with refined technique
and strokes. The rich colour of the tropical Carib-
Caribbean countries prepare to strengthen
HIV programmes through human rights
PORT OF SPAIN, 24
February, 2014—Last
week government and
civil society representatives from eight Caribbean countries finalised country-specific
strategies to strengthen
their HIV programmes
by making them more
responsive to human
rights. During a three
day workshop hosted by
the Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS) and supported
by the Ford Foundation,
country representatives
discussed cultural, social
and political barriers to
eliminating stigma and
discrimination and increasing access to social
justice.
In the Caribbean, the HIV
response has experienced
remarkable progress.
However, inequality and
exclusion are hampering
efforts to reduce new HIV
infections and to increase
the number of people on
treatment. Stigma and
discrimination towards
people living with HIV
and key populations
such as sexually active
young people, men who
have sex with men, transgendered people, sex
workers, people who use
drugs, homeless people
and prisoners , remains a
major obstacle to expanding access to HIV
services. It also hinders
people’s ability to live
full and productive lives
bean is a commonality.
The first aspect you
may notice about Asher
Mains’ work, Mrs. Mains
said, is that aside from
the abounding plant
material in the paintings,
are the Latin titles. “We
are quick to give human
qualities to plants and
animals but have we considered that some words
used only for plants
may better describe the
human condition?” says
Mains.
“Archaeophyte, for example, describes a plant
that is a non-native to
a geographical area but
had been introduced in
an “ancient” time. It also
describes the painting
of a Rasta gazing at the
viewer with eyes tempered by wisdom and
age. Or Epicorm, a part
of a plant that would
not grow except if the
plant had been damaged
or burned. Epicorm in
the series is an old man,
squatting and waiting to
be provoked into expressing his new form.
There are many words
that we can borrow
from the plants to better
describe and understand
ourselves. While the
plants may wait to share
their mysteries with you
– these paintings may
not.”
of dignity.
UNAIDS Caribbean
Regional Support Team
Director, Dr. Ernest
Massiah, said that the
investments made in
securing social justice in
the context of HIV would
positively impact other
areas of Caribbean life.
“The fundamental challenge we are faced with
is recognising the equality and humanity of all.
The lack of attention in
Caribbean societies to
ensuring the rights of
all citizens is the reason
we have problems with
under-development.
Investment in human
rights will give returns
beyond the HIV response
by helping societies to
develop,” Massiah said.
Participants from Barbados, the Dominican
The St. Paul’s Artist
said greater institutional
support for visual arts
in Grenada will result in
benefits to artists directly and to the island,
particularly from the
tourism sector.
“Institutional support for
the arts should include
tax incentives for businesses which enable
local companies to purchase locally produced
work. It also means the
establishment of a national center for the visual arts, including a gallery and learning center,
because people travel to
purchase original art,”
she told Barnacle.
Mrs. Mains said there
are many who, in the
face of mass-produced
souvenirs items, will
purchase original art as
a visual reminder of a
destination. “We are in
a unique position to satisfy a need. But we have
to give it some honour
as a country if we expect
others to give it honour,”
she said.
The exhibit continues
through March 15th at
Gallery of Caribbean Art.
Mains has been exhibiting in Barbados for
approximately 10 years
and has a following of
collectors there.
Republic, Guyana,
Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia,
Suriname and Trinidad
and Tobago explored
practical ways to integrate human rights into
their HIV responses.
They developed detailed plans to address a
range of country-specific
issues including workplace discrimination,
gender-based violence,
discriminatory laws and
prejudice in the healthcare, social security, law
enforcement and judicial
systems.
Chief of the UNAIDS
Human Rights and Law
Division, Susan Timberlake, explained that
UNAIDS, other United
Nations agencies and
some global partners will
support the countries to
implement their national
human rights and gender
equality action plans.
News
The Making of History
Museums are known for
their displays of artifacts, history, antiques.
A quiet resting place for
treasure “from the old
days” but the Grenada
National Museum, may
be creating its own history, undergoing a metamorphic transformation
that brings the creative
and cultural expressions
of Grenadians to life.
A recent collection of
treasure of the musical and literary kind
provided the basis for
engaging conversations,
excitement and awesome
ponderment (the ability
to gaze and ponder at
artistic expressions) as
some of Grenada’s young
talented artistes used
the National Museum
to communicate their
dreams and talents.
From Jazz and drumming
to visual art, fashion
and poetry, the Museum, housed in one of
Grenada’s 18th century
buildings designed by
the French in the middle
sen. brenda hood with teddy fredErick
of the town of St. George,
proved to be an important outlet for a syncretic
celebration of life and
culture of Grenada.
The art of Teddy Frederick, Nico Thomas and
several others graced
the walls and sometimes
the ceilings while the
musicians and drummers of “Our Place,”
the usual First Friday
offering at the Museum
provided the rhythm
and song. Fashion
designers Cleopatrice
and her young protégé,
Shazella, dazzled with
one-of- a-kind couture
as the young, socially
conscious poets spoke
with undeniable passion,
whatever the topic, to a
very appreciative wallto-wall and spilling into
the courtyard audience.
“You get a feeling that
you are simultaneously
creating history. It allows
you to see the old in a
new way. It’s a story of
coming alive, of new
birth, of resurrection.
All those things coming
together,” said Kamille
John, a young poet, who
recently did a masterful
performance of “This
pretty Girl”, a poem
which captured the history of Grenada’s world
renown “Black Gold”
– the nutmeg, as Teddy
Frederick simultaneously
painted the image on
canvas.
Angus Martin, Director
of the Museum, agrees.
“When creative people
get together in a space,
it just works”, he said
following the Museum’s
hosting of Frederick’s
Former Grenada minister commends
“exceptional talent’’ of Mr Killa, Tallpree
St George’s, March 2,
2014 – A former Grenada
culture minister would
like to see a future local
band touring with soca
performers such as Mr
Killa and Tallpree.
The two Grenadian
artistes, who participated
in weekend carnival
competitions in Trinidad,
are “ambassadors’’ and
“exceptional talents’’,
said former minister Arley Gill, who now works
in Dominica.
Mr Killa, whose real
name is Hollice Mapp,
was placed in a threeway tie for second with
Iwer George and Destra
in the International
Power Soca Monarch
competition.
Machel Montano retained
the Power Soca Monarch
title, which he jointly
won with Super Blue in
2013.
Wilt “Tallpree’’ Cambridge participated in the
Nation was easily one
of the best written songs
of the night. The use of
language in that song is
second to none,’’ Gill
said. “Tallpree was composed,
had effective and appropriate portrayals,
and there is no sensible
explanation to keep him
out of the top finishers;
none whatsoever. But
that’s competition.’’
hollice “mr. killa’
mapp
wilt ‘tallpree’
cambridge
Groovy Soca Monarch
competition but was not
among the top finishers.
However, Gill argues that
Tallpree, who sang Jab
Jab Nation, was done a
“serious injustice’’ by the
judges.
“Tallpree gave an outstanding performance
and should have been
in the top three. Jab Jab
The most heated debate,
however, centred on the
results of International
Soca Monarch (ISM) and
the three-way tie involving Mr Killa, Iwer George
and Destra.
Many Grenadians and
Trinidadians, including some blogging on
the ISM Facebook page,
claimed that Mr Killa
was the clear winner.
Some suggested that the
29-year-old Grenadian
may have been marked
Floatography, a creative
photography based art
exhibition that featured
unusual visual expressions. That show was
carded for one week but
ran for two months as
the lines grew longer and
the message, via word
of mouth, spread like
wildfire.
Then it was Cleopatrice
and Shazella to enter
stage left with a fashion
show was as unique, as it
was unusual.
“The designs all had a
lot or a bit of Grenada’s
colours, in honour of its
40 anniversary of Independence. Usually one
expects a cat walk at a
fashion show, but this
was far more than the
expected. One of the
ladies from the drum
group dancing the bele
in full costume led each
of the models into the
room and escorted them
out through the crowd,”
according to one eye witness account.
“Strutting, wining, stepping, skirt flying she
introduced each of the
beautifully attired young
ladies. It was hilariously
beautiful, captivating
would be a good word
as well,” she said noting
that Teddy Frederick’s art
pieces—dresses made of
paper, folded in origami
style formed part of the
offering.
“It is delightful to see
young people involved in
such productive, positive
behavior,” said Brenda
Hood, Parliamentary
Secretary in the Ministry of Culture after she
received a painting from
Artist Nico Thomas who
employs the unique sand
technique in his work.
She urged greater appreciation and support
for Grenada’s artistes, in
cview of the value they
bring to other sectors of
Grenada, such as tourism.
Martin, the architect of
the new found Grenada
National Museum, has
expressed his desire that
the Museum becomes
a place of community
and culture along with
history.
“Many museums in the
world have embraced
this format, much to
their advantage. When
people think of a museum as a lively place, and
centre of activity - they
want to come.”
down by the judges
because his performance
was said to have overrun
the time stipulated for
the on-stage presentation
of each artiste.
Others intimated that
Montano remains the
biggest attraction at the
Power Soca Monarch
and that it’s in the best
interest of ISM organizers
to ensure he remains the
winner.
“Only Machel of the lot
can guarantee you, as a
promoter in Trinidad, at
least 10,000 spectators’’,
commented one Trinidad-born broadcaster
now living in Toronto.
“So it will always be that
way, as long as Machel
delivers a good performance.’’
In assessing the Power
Soca Monarch competition, Gill said that while
Mr Killa was “outstanding’’ in his presentation of Rolly Polly, he
believes the Grenadian
performer “should have
been much tighter with
his execution with his
supporting ladies or the
Rolly Pollies as he affectionately refers to them.
He appeared to be uncer-
tain at times, with what
next he should do’’.
But, added Gill, “the
truth is professional
choreography might have
given Killa the edge on
Machel. I would not say
that he defeated Machel,
but based on the criteria
he would have comfortably defeated both Iwer
George and Destra’’. According to Gill, Montano did not have “the
strongest composition in
a night of weak Power
Soca performances from
the Trinidadians. So Killa
would have run an extremely close second’’.
Gill said that in the
aftermath of this year’s
performances in Trinidad
by Tallpree and Mr Killa,
efforts now must be made
to sustain Grenada’s presence in the soca world.
“We need these two
artistes to continue to
hold the fort, while we
put together a band to
accompany them on the
local, regional and international stage. And other
young artistes should
step up their game to join
them at the regional and
international levels,’’ Gill
said.
Business
Lewis: Faith in God
Gives me Strength
How does a boyhood dream of becoming a criminal lawyer turn out a
successful businessman in the commodities business? Ask James Lewis,
the Perdmontemps resident who owns the Country Cold Store.
44 years ago when the
majority of Grenadians
earned their living by
a day’s work on the
estate or working their
own land, James Lewis
was preparing to place
meat, especially chicken on their tables.
which he purchased from
Fred Pressey on the
Carenage for a member
of his church, Phyllis
Felix, of Corinth in St.
David.
“The first week, I brought
one packet, people saw
it and the next week they
wanted, so I brought
three packets and from
there it began to grow,”
he recalls, noting that
while he was not the
first to sell chicken, he
gained the competitive
edge by being the first to
transport it to customers
island wide.
In an exclusive with the
Barnacle, Mr. Lewis
said he wanted to argue
cases in a court of law
but as store keeper in
the Grenada Beach
Hotel he interacted with
many suppliers, including the lone operator of a
chicken farm in Grenada
at the time, Ivor Manson
Hing, a member of the
Guyana Community who
made Grenada his home.
He said the business
expanded rapidly over
a short period of time,
forcing him to invest in
storage, particularly in
commercial freezers to
accommodate the growing demand.
“We purchased chicken
from him, as well as
store chicken for him at
the hotel because he
did not have a freezer
for storage and in those
days you could not put
chicken parts inside the
chicken. One day he
offered me the chicken
parts. I took the neck and
I took the feet and began
to sell and that is how
the business started,” Mr.
Lewis, a devout Christian, said.
Officially, he said, the
business started with one
case of chicken back,
The chicken magnate
said his challenges in the
early days of operation
were “not really serious”.
mr. james lewis, founder/owner of country cold store ltd.
“In those days whenever
I had those kinds of challenges, my resort was
prayer. I believe in God
and I believe he changes
situations,” he said, adding that finding honest
labour among some of
his workforce was also a
difficulty.
Mr. Lewis said he is
working to upgrade further to meet international
standards with the introduction of refrigerated
trucks into his fleet which
started with flatbed open
trucks and later moved to
insulated trucks.
He gives all credit for his
success to “faith in God,
that is my strength. That
was my focus and today
it is still the same thing.
This business has been
birthed in prayer, it has
grown through prayer
and it is maintained in
prayer.”
While quality was always
important to him as a
businessman, Mr. Lewis
observes that today’s
customers are “much
more aware” and “pays
more attention to what
they purchase.” In addition, he says standards
are legislated, thereby
giving a greater burden
of responsibility to the
supplier.
James Lewis also credits
his wife, “the prayer warrior”, and his offspring,
whom he described as
“children of faith”, with
the support necessary
to drive the business
forward.
He is supposed to be
retired, but the man who
dreamed law but ended
in Chicken said he has
passed the reins of
leadership over to his
continues on page
43
News
Lewis: Faith in God Gives me Strength
of proper management.
Additionally he suggested
that chicken products
from local poultry production would cost approximately 15% more than
the imported product.
from page 41
children, although he is
“still involved” because of
his love for his work.
“I am encouraged to do
all I could because there
is continuity in sight,” he
said, advising that “its
always better to start the
business small and you
and the business grow
together.”
He said part of the success of Country Cold
is due to his “personal
involvement” and dedication to the company along
with the much needed
virtues of patience and
tolerance in his customer
service.
“It is important that you
remain a person who
people can approach.
You do not make yourself
aloof and behave like if
you have arrived. You
must always remember
that your growth did not
come as a result of you,”
Mr. Lewis, also known
as Brother Lew, by those
who know him well, said.
He noted that “if people
do not support your business, if you do not deal
with people in a humane
manner you cannot have
a successful business,”
he said, while giving
some of the credit for the
success to his customers
who “played a significant
role in the development of
Country Cold.”
In a case of once bitten
twice shy, Mr. Lewis recommended that persons
who have an interest
to become involved in
producing local poultry
should form a cooperative
and establish one or two
central points for farmers
to slaughter, package and
distribute.
cases of chicken on
board. He prayed about
the situation and a series
of circumstances evolved
that allowed the chicken
to stay on board the ship
until he was able to receive the shipment. “That
was an answer to prayer.
That was a highpoint”, he
remarked.
The chicken magnate
said he has developed
a level of trust with the
people of his community
because he attempts to
keep his word and to
reach out to those who
are less fortunate.
“Since they know me,
they know I am a man to
my word and it’s because
of Christ in me,” he said,
recalling that his first shipment of chicken came to
Grenada in early 1970,
about one year after he
started the business.
Country Cold currently
employs 59 persons.
The company continues
to expand with a return
to the sale of dry goods,
an increase in employees and a fleet of new
vehicles to cater for the
activities.
Asked about his highest
point in the growth of his
business, Mr. Lewis recalls that during his “early
days” customers would
wait for him to bring their
order for chicken at “any
hour” because he did not
have storage space.
“In this crucial time we
continue to grow. We
have employed more
people and expanded
the fleet to accommodate
them,” he said, noting
that there is a growing
possibility of increased
government regulation
amid efforts to expand local chicken production.
He pointed to an “answer
to prayer” incident when
a ship, with a broken
winch, arrived in Grenada
from St. Vincent and the
Grenadines with 10606
Mr. Lewis said he attempted to support the
development of the local
poultry industry but lost
close to EC $0.25M in
the process due to a lack
Even after all his success,
the man who embraced
change at an early age,
is looking to upgrade with
the setting up of a state of
the art meat cutting and
packaging facility.
He acknowledged that he
had “serious competitors”
in some of the more established firms but admits
that competition is “good
for the consumer.”
“I believe that God shares
bread and he has bread
for everyone who is
willing to work. I am not
afraid of competition, it is
good for the consumer.
What I want to do is stay
a step ahead of the competition,” he said.
He advised young persons who wish to get into
business to appreciate
the need for personal
involvement and commitment, to watch their
business, get advice from
experienced people, have
integrity and honesty, and
care about people.
The Barnacle salutes
James Lewis, a self made
success from the village
of Perdmontemps, in St.
David, who established
a profound belief system early in his life. This
belief system continues
to guide his business,
his decisions and his life,
after 44 years of operations.
Business
PROFILE ON: NOELVILLE LTD.
“We manufacture natural products based on production from the land to benefit consumers both home and abroad.”
DENIS NOEL (CENTER) FLANKED BY MEMBERS OF NOELVILLE’S STAFF
Noelville Limited is a
company based in the
parish of St. Andrew
in Grenada. It was
incorporated on 4 May
1978 emerging from the
Estate of Carlyle Noel
consisting of farmland
producing nutmegs,
cocoa and bananas. The
shareholders of Noelville are the six children
of Carlyle and Sylvia
Noel, one of whom has
passed away but his
estate remains as one of
the shareholders.
Denis Noel (one of the
siblings) operates as the
General Manager of Noelville. An agronomist
by profession, Mr. Noel
has forged a colourful
career which included
working in the Public
Sector, in the Diplomatic
Corps, as a Government
minister, a grower of rare
tropical blooms (which
has earned Grenada
four gold medals at the
prestigious Chelsea
Flower in the UK) and
now culminating as an
entrepreneur involved in
the processing of agricultural produce from
the land. His contribu-
tion to the development
of Grenada has been
recognised and in June
2004, he was awarded
an OBE in the Queen’s
Honours List.
The company is seeking
pioneer status to be able
to take advantage of tax
breaks, which will assist
in the expansion of the
Plant. The main objectives of the Company
are:
1.
To develop the
land-based assets of the
farm to its optimum
through production of
crops to create valueadded products
2.
To make available to the ordinary
man, products to build
the immune system to
prevent health problems
such as AIDS and SARS
3.
To play a leadership role in the development of medicinal
herbs using plants from
Grenada that can benefit
the population
products based on production from the land to
benefit consumers both
home and abroad.”
In July 2000 NUTMED PAIN RELIEVING
SPRAY was launched
in Grenada and became
an instant success. This
product has been the
cash cow for Noelville
with sales increasing by
over 75% from 2000 to
2004. Noelville.
The main ingredients
of Nut-Med – nutmeg
oil and mace oil - come
from the nutmeg and
since Grenada is the
second largest producer
of Nutmeg in the world
(Indonesia is number
one - but Grenada’s is
of premium quality),
Noelville is assured of
always having a ready
supply of these ingredients, especially as GCNA
has given the assurance
that local demand will
always be satisfied first.
Products
The Company’s
Mission Statement is:
“We manufacture natural
All Noelville’s products
belong to the herbal/
organic/natural industry.
This industry is rapidly
expanding and, according to a CTA study, the
international trade in
botanicals as herbal extracts and semi-finished
products exceeds US
thirty billion dollars
per year. Nut-Med is
the brand leader but the
company also produces
seven other products
including:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Flowers
Noni Juice
Lemon Grass Tea
Lemon Grass Powder
(seasoning)
5) Lignum Vitae tea
6) Lignum Vitae
Capsules
7) Petit Baum tea
Noelville also has some
new products in the
Pipeline, viz.
1)
Juices: Fresh
Frozen Fruit Juices:
CARIRI is assisting in
the development of four
(4) fruit juices: Passion
fruit, grapefruit, orange
and golden apple. They
will undertake to do
microbiological analysis,
chemical/nutritional
analysis, shelf-life evalu-
ation and sensory analysis to determine acceptability by consumers.
Body lotions:
2)
to be made from lemon
grass and floral extracts
(at the research stage).
Flowers and
3)
Garden: Expansion of
the ‘flowers’ line and
developing the farm as
a ‘Garden’ open to the
public for tours.
Sales and Marketing
Local sales of all Noelville’s products have
been increasing steadily
but Nut-Med’s sales have
grown phenomenally from EC$91,952.00 in
2000 to EC$376,714.86
(c. 76%) in 2003. This is
largely due to the effectiveness of the product
and acceptance by consumers. Also, most marketing efforts are focused
on Nut-Med; for example
radio and television ads,
billboards, magazine advertising and a website
set up specifically for
Nut-Med.
Export sales are mainly
Nut-Med, although the
other products are advertised on Noelville’s website, www.noelvilleltd.
com, and in some magazines. Nut-Med is FDA
registered which gives a
competitive advantage to
enter the United States
but is also exported to
CARICOM and European
countries informally
via DHL, FEDEX or
regular parcel post. New
markets are constantly
being sought and the
Company feels it is time
that full advantage is
taken of the access that
is available to the US
market. It is with this
in mind that we herein
seek assistance through
a short term consultancy
to help open the doors
to some of the major
players in the US market
such as Walgreens, CVS,
Right Aid and Walmart.
If that can succeed, the
entire nutmeg market in
Grenada would be transformed from one of selling raw materials to one
of finished products and
in the process stimulate
economic development
so badly needed in Grenada.
Business
Flashback
NOEL: TIME TO ADD VALUE
Interview with Mr. Denis Noel, Managing Director of Noelville Ltd.
industry for your industry to
flourish?
I will like GCNA to recognise
that whatever success that I may
have is a Grenadian success
because it means that the farmers have an opportunity to earn
more rather than others outside
and I don’t want it to look as
though I’m the person that’s
making the money. If I make
money, the farmers make money
because I’m buying it from the
farmers ultimately. The people
who I employ, that’s important,
the foreign exchange earnings
and savings. We are in competition with other international
products, like for instance Bengay, we don’t hear much of Bengay today in Grenada because of
Nut-med products; but Bengay
was a United States product that
was selling all the time, so that’s
foreign exchange saving by not
having to send money out to import a product when we produce
it here.
Nut-med Spray has been an instant success, how are we going
to maintain the success of the industry if we don’t have the raw
materials and if we don’t add
value to the nutmeg industry,
what’s the way out of all this?
We have found ourselves in a
mode where we continue to
function as we did during the
Colonial days where we produce
raw materials for the “motherland” and today, over a hundred
and fifty years later we continue
doing the same thing.
I think it’s time that we look
to bring more money into the
economy through nutmegs by
diversifying the product, looking
for value added. We cannot continue to be satisfied with exporting raw materials because when
one looks at the value chain from
production to consumption there
is a vast disparity in revenue.
Raw materials contribute a small
amount, every other aspect of the
industry is making money but
raw materials remain stagnant
and I feel therefore that it’s time
the industry look to find ways
in which it could bring more
money into the economy and
not be content with selling raw
materials as we have been doing.
GCNA which controls the industry must look seriously at developing its capability and invest in
research and development. We
cannot just be satisfied to continue as we are going, no matter
what the price is, it might look
attractive but it is more helpful
to the people who are receiving
the raw materials than to us, we
can do better and therefore I am
suggesting that the GCNA should
invest in, Research and Development.
What does GCNA have to do
now to bring about change
within the industry from a value
added point of view?
GCNA has to invest some of
its resources for future development. GCNA must take
on board technical people or
professional staff who would
look not just at raw materials,
but look at the possibility of
finished goods. I have done it
with nutmeg and made nutmed spray, nut-med cream but
they’re so many other products
that we can derive from nutmeg
that can be industrialized such
as myristicin,oleoresins,myristic
acid and lots of other bi-products
which can be used for healthcare and medicinal purposes.
They have to look at the possibilities of nutmeg playing an
integral part in health care. Like
for instance we know traditionally up to today the old folks
denis noel obe
would say if you have a stroke
put a nutmeg under the tongue,
we must research that because
what we understand happens
is that the nutmeg oil secretes
into the system and unblocks the
blockage that causes the stroke
and if that actually happens in a
big way, this is a big thing for the
future of the nutmeg industry.
We could be producing pharmaceutical products based on the
herbal product of nutmeg oil, so
we don’t have to wait on other
people, we must initiate the
research, that’s why I’m saying
we’re sitting on a gold mine and
we don’t realise it in terms of
nutmeg and all the other herbs
that we have in Grenada and in
the Caribbean as a whole.
We can transform the whole
economy by exporting raw
materials, Orting teas, capsules,
tablets and earn so much more,
especially health products. The
world is going back to nature
and we’re going back too;
everybody is looking at natural
products and therefore I feel if
we invest in research (right now
there are no research people
doing anything with nutmegs in
Grenada) we could be tapping
into a dormant source of revenue
for the country.
Couple months ago I know you
were frustrated by the fact that
you had to import nutmeg oils
from India because the price
that the GCNA was offering the
farmers was too low, so they
weren’t picking up the nutmegs,
how has things changed since?
GCNA is producing some
nutmeg oil but not in adequate
quantities. I have imported nut-
meg oil from India as a stop gap
measure to keep the business
going, I don’t intend importing
anymore because we have nutmegs here on the ground which
farmers need to picking up and
sell at the right price.
The money that I sent over to
India for a forty five gallon
drum, that money should have
remained here and be distributed amongst our local farmers
instead.
How much money are we talking about?
About ten thousand US dollars, that’s about the cost for a
drum of nutmeg oil out of India
and I use about a drum every
month for my nut-med product
and why should we be sending
that amount of money outside
when nutmegs which should
be used for making the oil are
lying on the ground in the fields
because farmers want more than
twenty five cents a pound for the
grinders which are used mainly
to produce the oil. I think the
nutmeg association has since increased the price to forty cents,
that is still too small an increase
to make any dent on the farmer’s
minds.
What would you like to see
them get as a good incentive?
A good incentive would be about
seventy five cents to a dollar for
a pound of grinders.
But by paying that do you know
that it’s going to cost you more
to get the oil?
Yes but it will still be cheaper
than importing the oil.
What is your message to GCNA
as a person who relies on the
I have had the support of GCNA
over the years and I will like to
see it continue so I look forward
to GCNA’s full support. They
indicated when I was about to
launch the product that they
gave the assurance then in 1999
that the local demand would always be satisfied first so I would
hope that they will continue to
satisfy the needs of the industry
that I have created rather than
say exporting it and then I find
myself very short of raw materials.
The kind of nutmegs that you
use, the grinders, do you have
competition on the international
market by companies wanting
those as well?
No, not really but there are
people who purchase oil and it
means that GCNA should decide
to satisfy local demands first and
ensure that the local industries
have access to the raw materials
ahead of the external industries.
You don’t process the grinders;
you buy the oil from GCNA?
Yes of course, GCNA produces
the oil and we have to really
look at not just the oil but all the
other products that can be produced, that there is a demand for
on the world market that GCNA
seriously has to look into, not be
content in making raw materials
their priority.
Is that your message to Mr
Victor Ashby, that he should
focus on value added and not
necessarily on exporting the raw
material?
Yes, because right now things
seem to be stagnant, it doesn’t
seem as though there is a plan
for delving seriously into research, into the bi-products of
nutmeg.
On the heels of your success
with the nut-med spray and
cream, do you believe that’s a
mistake?
Yes, research has to continue,
right now there is no research
going on, you have to get research moving and that’s where
I feel that we have to focus.
Grenada or GCNA, we need to
set up a serious research unit,
nothing comes free, you have
to employ or identify persons
outside there who can research
the industry to strengthen the
income that can be derived
from the nutmeg industry. It’s
just like with cocoa; we have to
look into going value added, we
should not continue to feel good
when praised for producing the
best cocoa in the world and just
exporting the raw material and
re-importing Milo and Ovaltine
and chocolate products, let’s get
into joint ventures, and I’m not
suggesting that we do it on our
own.
We have a production capability;
let’s join with someone who has
a marketing capability, it doesn’t
make sense two people who
have the same ability coming
together, you must come with
something to the table. If I have
a production capability and I
have to get into a joint venture,
I’ll find somebody who has a
marketing capability so that
together we can get the products
into the international market
efficiently.
I just hope that the GCNA would
realize that we cannot continue
the way we are going just relying
on raw materials. There will
always be demand for raw materials, what we have to do is get
the production base going again.
Since Ivan, production has
dropped, we have to bring that
back up at least close to where
it was before and let us get the
research going, that’s critical for
the future of the industry.
You interact with the farmers
all the time, are they frustrated
at the fact that GCNA isn’t doing more to give them more for
labour that they put out?
Many farmers come to me and
ask me if I would buy nutmeg
from them, I don’t know why
they’re asking me that because I
think farmers are a bit concerned
over the fact that they have not
been able to get the bonuses
that they used to get in the past
because of the debt that GCNA
has, particularly with the building that they have erected and
most of the money which would
have normally gone to bonus is
now going to pay debts on that
building. I suppose that has lead
to some measure of frustration
among the farmers.
So the two industries are definitely linked, you depend on
them, they depend on you?
I don’t think they depend on
me but I know that I depend on
them.
Special Feature
Business
Flashback: 40 Years of Local Business
Newim’s Big Vision
the demise of CLICO
and British America.
The people who were
responsible for that demise have stolen from
all of us; not a few of us
but everybody.
The Executive Director of Newim Life
Insurance tells Barnacle General
Manager, Ian George, that the company’s
vision is to become number one in the
Eastern Caribbean.
Can you please tell
me your name and
your relations with
Newim?
My name is Kennie
John and I am Executive Director of Newim
Life.
Why is it necessary
for Newim to close the
office today and bring
the staff into a facility
like this to hear from
a foreign insurance
executive?
I would say that he is
more than a foreign
insurance executive,
he is a developer of
programs for LIMRA
International. LIMRA is
the largest insurance
researcher and trainer
of life insurance personnel in the world. His
knowledge, as an insurance executive for over
30 years, has given him
the facilities, in terms of
his success, to develop
training programs for
insurance companies in
general. And because
we believe our staff
is worth just as much
as any other staff, we
thought they should
develop in the same
way as the international
companies. So, we decided to bring in someone with international
experience to do this
training.
Many persons will
say, well the market
is down and now may
not be the right time
to train. What is your
view on that?
I would say that we
have to redefine our
purpose. The process,
as it were, has been
broken for sometime;
there is a lot of turmoil
in the world, financially.
What have you learnt
as the Executive Director that you are
passing on?
But what do we do? Do
we stop? Do we find a
way retool and find a
new boundary for performance?
I have learnt to have
a greater appreciation
for the people I share
close confine with on
a daily basis. I think
that we have grown to
know each other better;
we have been able to
express ourselves and
I have a greater understanding of the individuals that I work with.
What have you
achieved this week?
I think we achieved the
orienting of the staff
with our key business
drivers; showing them
where we want to go,
making sure that everybody is on board as
to where we are trying
to go, and asking ourselves questions.
What do you think
they learnt, considering the management
vision of the company? Do you think that
they have grasped the
vision?
Many of the insurance
companies are not locally founded and do
not have their base
here. But you are fully
entrenched in the Grenada market. How are
you building on that
solid local foundation
that you have established?
I think so. I think that
they are also very excited about it and we are
ready to execute.
We are building on that
local foundation that
we have established by
also looking overseas;
we have to expand our
client base. We do not
expect to simply stay
here. If we do not try
something other than
what we have grown
accustomed to, then we
will never grow.
KENNie JOHN
How many members
of staff participated in
this training?
What is it you had
before the training
and what is it that you
now have, where the
staff is concerned?
Between staff and
agents, we had 25
people in all.
What message do you
think they received?
I think they received
a positive message of
understanding what it
means between timemanagement and performance-management.
I believed that they
found a new avenue to
think about what it is
they do on a day-to-day
basis; what is in my
control and what is not
in my control; and how
to take charge of the
control that they have.
Well, I would say that
a motivated staff; and
a better oriented staff
in term of the key business drivers that the
company hopes to
achieve in the next 10
years.
Now that you have the
trained staff, what is
the way forward?
The way forward is restructuring of the company and a motivation
for us to achieving our
goals generally.
What does the market
outlook tell you about
growth in the next
couple of months or
even, let’s say, in the
next 5 years?
For us, it is positive
because we understand
that things are not the
same. So, we do not
expect to do business
the same way that we
have been doing before. And by educating
the general public of the
need for insurance with
the view that insurance
itself did not cause
broken leg, the results
in terms of repairing
that break would be
the same. So, why is
it in our market today
if you go to five insurance companies and
insurance sales people
that you may get five
different answers for a
certain query? For us,
that is not correct because there is a scientific way of determining
what a person actually
needs to purchase in
terms of insurance.
Going forward, what
is the message that
you are sending to
your staff?
The message that we
are sending to our staff
is to grow and help
grow the company.
What is the message
to your clients?
To our clients it is that
we can supply all your
insurance needs.
Is there is an issue
of confidence in the
market?
Where does the future
lead you?
Yes! The market, as it
is, is broken.
The future leads Newim
to develop co-competencies. We are a fullservice provider and it
is in that vein that we
are going through the
market.
How are you going to
repair the confidence?
Tell me about getting
the brand awareness
out there. How are
you going to push the
brand? Is it through
aggressive marketing,
strategic marketing or
is it systematic marketing?
It is a combination of
all the above. There
are co-competencies
which we believe we
must have with regards
to the people or agents
who sell to the public.
There is a scientific way
of doing it. Let me give
you an example. If you
go to five doctors with a
I believe that every
business has to have
its strategic objectives
that the market will see
on an individual basis.
The specifics of it are
not something that we
would share.
Are you the market
leaders?
We are not the leaders
in every sector of the
market. We are market
leader in some aspects
of the business.
What is the vision of
the company?
The vision is to be the
market leader in the
Eastern Caribbean.
News
Carriacou Oyster Beds almost Totally Destroyed
URGENT HELP NEEDED!
Caribbean, this is what
provides us with the fish
we catch and eat, why
are we so conveniently
forgetting this?
The location of the
Marina is inappropriate
as it is being expanded
within the MPA.
Orlon Jules, Chairman
of MOB-PC is a native
of L’Esterre, Carriacou.
He is a Fisher folk and
a Civil Engineer who
recently turned down
posts overseas to champion the cause of the Petition against the marina
in Tyrell Bay on behalf
of the communities. His
great grandparents were
caretakers of the Tyrell
Bay Oyster Beds and
the tradition has been
It is our understanding that the project was
rejected by the Ports
Authority, Physical Planning and the Ministry of
Fisheries in 2002/2003;
however we are made
to understand that the
then Prime Minister, Rt
Hon Dr Keith Mitchell
exercised his executive powers to create an
arbitration panel which
overturned the decision.
passed down the generations in his family.
In a telephone interview
with Friends of the Earth
– Grenada recently, he
put the case against the
marina in Carriacou in
five succinct points.
Since the beginning of
the project in 20003, the
fish stock has depleted
drastically, destroying
the livelihoods in the
area. While there were
5 catches per month
equalling 2 boatloads per
catch pre 2003, between
2003 and 2005, there
were only 5 catches, less
than a boatload. In the
last 8 years, the seines
have only made 1 catch,
which was in September
of last year.
At least 99% of the oyster population has been
destroyed; it is the only
one of its kind in the
Caribbean.
In the first ten years of
development, the contractors have destroyed
approximately 3 acres of
mangrove and 4 acres of
coral reef, they intend
to destroy another 7 ½
acres of mangrove and 3
acres of coral reef.
The mangroves are the
spawning grounds of the
Notice coNcerNiNg
your Life iNsuraNce
PoLicy with British
americaN comPaNy
Limited
In March 2013 British American Insurance Company Limited
(BAICO) (in Judicial Management) received regulatory approval
for the transfer of its traditional life insurance portfolios of
business in the Eastern Caribbean to Sagicor Life Inc.
As such, Sagicor Life Inc assumed all duties, obligations and
liabilities in connection with valid traditional life insurance
policies issued or assumed by BAICO.
On March 3rd, 2014 the operations of former BAICO offices
will cease and all transactions will be handled by Sagicor Life
Inc. As a result, all premium payments, claims requests, other
servicing requests and inquiries should now be made at the
Sagicor Life Inc office. Please contact our local office should
you have any queries.
Sagicor Life Inc
P.O. Box 599
The Villa
St. George’s
Grenada
Tel: 440-1223
In 2013 the developers
were given an extra 7 ½
acres of land (mangrove
forest). This is private
property, Grand Anse
Estate owned by the
Corion family. Their
lawyer wrote a letter
asking the developers
to desist which they did
temporarily but the work
resumed a few weeks.
Again, we understand
that neither the developers nor the Government
have attempted to engage
the family in any kind of
discussion pertaining to
the matter.
Previous to the last election the former administration had caused the
project to cease by not
giving the developers the
extra land they wanted.
Due to these actions,
they have been accused
of political victimisation
by the present administration. It has also
been revealed that the
Physical Planning Unit
did not carry out any
Environmental Impact
Assessment in relation
to the project, we are not
clear why this did not
happen.
Mr Jules has met with
CaribSave, they want the
SIOBMPA to be a regional success story. He says,
“The communities want
the project to come to
an immediate end, they
want the administration
to respect the requests
of the people”. He also
indicated that the National fish and Wildlife
Foundation, who funded
the MPA, were not
aware that the marina
is being expanded into
the SIOBMPA and may
withdraw funding.
A signed petition has
been submitted to the
PM and copied to Fabian
Purcell of Physical Planning and the Ministry
of Carriacou stating the
local people’s opposition
to the development of
the marina and a protest
march was held in Carriacou on Saturday 15th
January 2014 which was
broadcast by GBN.
On Oct 27th 2013 George
Grant did a live programme in Carriacou
about the issue. He
asked Mr Nimrod the
Parliamentary representative to be in attendance, he declined
stating that he would be
in China. He was asked
to send a representative
but no one arrived. Mr
Nimrod was seen on
Paradise Beach on the
same Sunday. The developer was also invited
to attend but failed to
turn up for the forum.
Senator Emmons has
been interviewed late
last year regarding the
issue, thus far he has
said on radio:
that the project would
not stop. The PS of
Carriacou reiterated the
same thing in early January of 2014.
that he did not attend
the forum (the George
Grant radio programme)
as it was a political programme.
Mr Nimrod gave an
interview very recently
on local radio, saying
that although he was
prepared to meet with
people to discuss the
issue, he had not been
asked to do so, a statement that the community in Carriacou vehemently deny.
Friends of the Earth
– Grenada wishes to
express its solidarity
with the community in
Carriacou who are pleading their cause re the
SIOBMPA and we call
on everyone in the triisland state of Grenada
to support them, particularly by lobbying their
Parliamentary representatives.
When we measure
corporate performances,
we don’t include our
impacts on nature and
what our business costs
society. That has to
stop.” — Pavan Sukhdev
,Put a value on nature!
Business
AT FASTCASH IT’S
BUSINESS UNUSUAL
NEW SMALL BIZ-NESS LOAN FACILITY, GIVES MONEY IN A HURRY
Small businesses in
Grenada now have a
unique opportunity to
meet short term financing gaps with the launch
of the FASTCASH BIZ
Loan on Friday 14th
February.
The FASTCASH BIZ
Loan caters for amounts
between EC $10,000
and EC $50,000 and is
accessible to businesses
that are in operation for
two years or more with a
certificate and articles of
incorporation. The business must also be able to
repay the loan in 30 days,
60 days or 90 days.
Addressing the launch
ceremony, the company’s
chief executive Officer,
Michel Williams said the
company has stepped
into a new area with its
business product, since
traditionally FASTCASH
provided loans to consumers only.
He said the product was
developed in response
to increased demand
from the small business
community, including selfemployed people, who
wanted to access working
capital when they needed
it most.
“The beauty of the
FASTCASH Biz product is
that it offers in our same
traditional non-collateralized lending style an
opportunity for the small
businessman or the self
employed person to access liquidity,” he said,
noting that the product is
provided to the principal
business person or director of the business while
small business owners now have the opportunity to get needed capital through fastcash biz with amounts between EC $10,000 and EC $50,000.
the business records are
analyzed to determine
ability to repay.
He encouraged the potential client base, small
businesses; to begin
taking record keeping
seriously, as it will be an
important tool in accessing financial assistance
whether through FASTCASH or any other lending agency. “It’s the one
thing we cannot skirt on”
he declared.
FASTCASH Biz is targeted to small businesses
which may have an opportunity for an event or
service but does not have
the capital readily available to execute the activity. It is not designed to be
used for the purchase of
assets that take time to
“turnaround money.”
“You may have a contract
that may provide you with
a good return, but you do
not have the flexibility of
refinancing your entire
business to meet an EC
$20,000 or EC $30,000
immediate demand. That
is where FASTCASH BIZ
Loan comes in. Within
three days, you can
access up to 50,000 in
cash,” he said.
Williams, a Certified
General Accountant and
former Assistant General
Manager of the National Bank of Dominica,
noted that the absence
of the need for collateral
increases the risk which
is reflected in the pricing
for the product which he
described as less than
what exist in FASTCASH
conventional business.
“If you take EC $50,000
for 30 days, it will cost
just EC $1662, that’s it,”
he explained, adding that
once it’s paid off, a new
application for another
loan can be made “the
next day”.
There are no hidden
anything, that’s the cost,”
he said, noting that
FASTCASH BIZ has been
piloted in Dominica since
August of 2013 and has
been launched in St. Kitts,
St. Lucia and Antigua,
with Grenada being the
final stop.
“The product has done
well. There is a great
need for it. Businesses
have shown a lot of interest,” he said confirming
that repayment is at the
point of acquisition with
post dated cheques.
“This is nothing different from what business
people do everyday,”
Williams said, suggesting
that the facility allows for
timely acquisition of short
term finances without
having to “mortgage your
soul to get it.”
“This product is not for
everybody, and it’s not for
every use,” he said.
He promised that a “few
more niche products”, designed to meet the needs
of both the consumer and
the businessman, are
currently “in the pipeline.”
These new facilities, according to Williams, are
not currently being offered
by any other lending
institution.
Executive Director of the
Grenada Chamber of
Industry and Commerce,
Hazelann Hutchinson
speaking at the launch
welcomed the innovative
and creative actions of
the FASTCASH group,
declaring that the introduction of the FASTCASH
BIZ Loan will alleviate
some of the challenges
faced by some businesses.
The GCIC Executive
Director also suggested
that the requirement by
FASTCASH of proof of
registration and financial
records by individual businesses for accessing the
loan facility will also have
a significant impact on the
local business environment.
“We currently have twothirds of our private sector
being unregulated which
makes it difficult for institutions, public or private,
to gather information or
provide the necessary
support systems required
to assist businesses,” she
said, particularly in the
areas of Technical Assistance and Training in
Record Keeping, Financial Management, Decision Making and Product
Development.
“You have clearly shown
us an example of creativity and diversity to meet
market needs,” the Chamber representative said in
commending FASTCASH
for the “Risk and Flexibility” involved in providing
“such a facility during this
difficult Economic period.”
Interview
Bridging A
Financial Gap
Small business operators in Grenada have access to
a new and available source of funds to support their
businesses. Fast Cash Biz Loan, an amazing new product
aimed at helping the small business sector was launched
recently, at the Flamboyant Hotel in Grand Anse, St.
George’s.
What is fast Cash?
Fast Cash is a micro
lending institution that
started in Dominica in
2004. Its main objective
is to provide unsecured
short term facilities to
consumers and now
businesses.
Unsecured funding
individuals and
businesses, so we are
talking about managing
risky business?
Every business is risky
business, but we have
developed our own
proprietary processes
to manage that level of
risk and we have done
so very successfully
since 2004 in six different
islands in the Caribbean.
I don’t necessarily use
the term risky business
because to get into
business is about risk
but that’s what we do, we
manage risk
What is the impact
of Fast Cash in the
Caribbean at this time?
We have a tremendous
amount of faith in the
average working man
and their ability to meet
their commitments. We
are lenders to people and
businesses that we know
and understand and that
we are on the ground
with.
I think the mirage of
comfort that collateral has
allowed traditional lenders
to rest on for many years
has divorced them from
The group’s Chief Executive Officer, Michel D. Williams,
sat down with the Barnacle’s Editor-in-Chief Ian George to
explain the business and its plans for the Grenada market.
We now present to you our readers an edited version of
that interview.
the real risk management
that needs to happen. I
need to know you and I
need to understand your
business and understand
what you are going
through.
What is your interest
rate when compared
related to other
traditional lenders.
Our money is not cheap
but there is a reason.
Let’s say you get paid
between 0% and 3%
on your money that you
saved but you borrow at
between 9% and 15%. In
addition you have to give
valued assets to hold that
you cannot do anything
with on that price. What
are you prepared to pay
if you don’t have to give
up that collateral? There
has to be a risk premium
that is associated with
that. The reason that
conventional interest
rates are at the level
they are is because there
is an additional value
added asset that is being
held in trust in case you
default. If the financial
institution is not holding
that, then there has to be
a premium for having that
freedom.
This is the core of our
business. We have to
work with our customers
on a day to day basis, we
have to keep in contact
with them and we have to
be part of them and we
have had success. This is
the pillar of our business.
They have remained
loyal to us and we have
remained loyal to them.
Does your money come
with due diligence?
Yes, Our money comes
with an extremely high
level of due diligence.
The fact that we don’t ask
you to give us the title for
your house or the title for
your car does not mean
that we give our money
to everybody and under
any circumstances. Our
due diligence is second
to none. Our KYC is
extremely thorough. We
pretty much know almost
everything about our
customers and you have
to do that when you are
dealing in that level of
business.
What is it that you have
seen in Grenada that is
advantageous to you?
There is a demand
for short term lending
in the business.
Most businesses are
is that a lot of people
have to contract their
businesses and miss
opportunities just because
they cannot access short
term credit. Another thing
is that as things have
gotten tighter, there is
a lot of cash locked into
receivables that is a bit
more extended that it
ordinarily would be in
a buoyant economic
situation. Business
people have to work with
their customers but their
expenses do not have the
patience. So what they
need is a bridge and this
is the niche that we are
providing right now. We
have developed a very
robust system, by which
we analyse the financial
dynamics of the business
to give us that comfort
level. It depends on the
type of business they are
in, how long they are in
business and the level of
turnover that they do, all
those help us to make a
decision.
How do you manage
that risk?
Michel D. Williams Chief Executive Officer
- FastCash
mortgaged to the hilt in
the traditional sense and
what we have found with
the contraction of credit
in the world right now
some businesses need
an injection of working
capital for a very short
time. They don’t have the
time and the opportunity
does not allow the time to
go back and rework the
entire credit facilities to
get an additional $20,000
or $30,000 for 2 and 3
months. What you find
Very carefully. That is
the proprietary part of
our business, is not
something that we give
out. It’s what makes us
who we are and makes us
good at what we do. We
do it very, very well and
we have had a significant
amount of success. Our
Non Performing Loans
are lower than most
traditional financiers
with collateral and it is
because we are able to
walk that fine line. We go
through in fine detail the
rationale behind it. We
are practically a lender of
last resort so if you don’t
do right by us there are
not many other places
you can go.
So the fast cash biz
loan is the niche that
has established itself?
The demand has been
created by the external
environment and we have
seen -an opportunity
to provide a service to
bridge a particular gap.
We are trying to see what
our customers are telling
us, what is the demand
for service. We had to
create a specific product
for businessmen to move
their businesses forward
and to help their business
grow. So we are trying to
do the complete picture
where we provide specific
products and services
for both the consumer
and the small business
employer.
What is your
expectation from the
business community?
Our expectation is that
the business community
has to start keeping
proper accounting
records. We have gone
too far in the Caribbean
with not keeping proper
books and banks have
laboured with that for
decades in trying to get
business to report on
time the results of their
performance. One cannot
do a proper risk analysis
on a business without
being able to look at the
financial fundamentals of
that business.
One of the things that
can hinder a business
for accessing money
from your facility is
the lack of proper
information?
That is what is hindering
any business from
accessing finance
from any institution. It
is impossible for any
financial institution to
provide credit facilities
for a business without
doing a risk analysis and
a credit analysis and
the foundation of that
is what do you do with
your money and how
you manage your money
which is represented in
financial statements. We
are trying to work with
Interview
to understand what the
requirements are and
how they need to position
themselves to access the
facility.
So you are attempting
to change the culture?
Yes we are trying to
change the culture
on a massive scale.
We do operate in six
islands, seven soon and
whatever it is we do, we
do it across the OECS
countries. We are one of
the true OECS companies
standing right now.
How do you rate the
work that you have
done in the OECS
islands given the
perception that these
islands are LDC’s?
I think what we have
achieved thus far is
commendable for being
a non-bank financial
services company without
a statutory charter. When
you have the concept and
you have the financial
backing for it and you
are able to see the
opportunity in a country
and you can get a team
together that understands
that they are not just
part of a business to
make money but they
are also creating an
industry. It’s a wonderful
thing. This is a nonbank financial services
industry that has been
reserved to date for quasi
government statutory
bodies in terms of small
business associations
and so on. We have
taken that concept and
commercialised it on
a private sector level
but the over arching
development aspect of
trying to create a separate
tier of financing for people
and businesses in the
Caribbean cannot be
dismissed.
Have you been objected
to or rejected in any
state as you travelled
across the Caribbean?
I would not say it has
been objection and
rejection, I would say its
unfamiliarity. We are new
as a business model and
concept to the region
except for Jamaica. It is
not anything novel. We
have simply taken what
the first world countries
have done very well and
we have fixed it and made
it our own and tweaked
it and made it for our
context and for our people
in a model that our people
can understand and
appreciate.
What gives you the
passion with which you
speak?
My passion is based
on the fact that most
executives if they are
lucky get to add some
value to whatever
institution they work for,
but for a select few we
get an opportunity to
participate in something
great. The creation of
a new way of doing
business and by
finance. So there is
this responsibility to
always increase the
knowledge to help people
understand that this is
not only possible but it
is something that should
have always been.
Given your policies, do
you expect a backlash
from the traditional
financial institutions?
I hope not because at
the end of the day we
are not in competition
with traditional financial
institutions. The bank
can always do what we
do cheaper. But they
are firstly custodians of
to be the bank and the
credit union and what
they do, but we are not
a membership based
organisation and we are
not a bank. There is a
growing group of people
that do not fall within
those two categories
that before us were left
to fend for themselves
or abandon their ideas
or their opportunities for
growth of themselves
and their businesses.
We are basically putting
in a pillar there that is
similar to what has built
huge private sector
development in places
like Jamaica. We are
prepared to work with
their goals and strategies
for their own personal
development.
the rest of the world will
impact us based on the
changes they have made.
What are the challenges
in Grenada?
What can we do in
response to the current
conditions?
The challenge with any
market is the need to
move in tandem with the
macro economic situation
and the island and the
Caribbean in general
are in a tough spot. One
has to always move in
lock step with what is
going on in the external
environment. I do not see
any specific challenge
in this island that we do
not see any where else.
Things are tight, the state
I think we need to
seriously look at our own
space and make the
changes and twists that
we need to do for the
realities that are facing
us now. The tourists will
still come but they do not
have the kind of monies
that they use to have, so
they will not be able to
spend the kind of money
they used to spend and
so we have to re-adjust
for that. We have to
rework the entire system
to meet the realities that
face us now. We must
move away from the
concept where we wait to
see what the international
community does to see
how it affects us. We can
take a leadership role.
There has to be midcourse corrections to
macro and micro policy
decisions and we need
to get culturally that there
will not be any miracle
person to fly down from
anywhere to solve what
we are going through in
these islands. It rests
with us to determine our
own future.
You are in the senior
management team at
Fast Cash, what is your
role and do you have
competent local team to
guide the process
cross-section of fastcash officials and invited guests at the launch
extension an industry
and this is an opportunity
for me to participate in
something great. We
don’t often get that
opportunity in a lifetime to
be at the tip of the sword
in an industry that never
existed before. I think
we have an awesome
responsibility to our
customers, our regulators,
our countries as we move
forward to build this
thing. Others will follow
but they will follow based
on what we have done.
So we are breaking new
ground and we are pulling
legislation behind us
because it does not exist
most times and we are
consulting where it does
exist. We are educating
both our consumers and
our businesses in the
way they can access
people’s savings that may
not have the risk appetite
for this kind of business.
100,000 people; we
do not need a large
population to achieve this.
Do you have the amount
of money to satisfy the
demand of the number
of people that will come
to you?
What is your vision for
Grenada especially?
Funding has never been
an issue for us. We do not
anticipate that it is going
to be. This is a private
equity business with
partners that understand
this business and have
the appetite for this kind
of business.
What is the legacy you
wish to leave?
We are trying to create a
second tier of financing
opportunity for the people.
There is always going
My vision for Grenada
is that the model we are
building in this island
will begin to take root.
The confidence that the
Grenadian people have
placed in this enterprise
will continue to grow and
will see the opportunity
that we are presenting
and will make use of
it. Over all we will be
another institution that
will be in Grenada for a
very long time that people
will be able to get used
to and be able to depend
on and plan to depend on
as they move forward in
is tight and things are not
flowing but then that is
the direction of the world
right now. We obviously
will not go back to the
largesse of 2007 and
2008 in our lifetime and
we are not old but there
has to be the willingness
to re-adjust to the realities
of the present. One of the
challenges that we have
across the Caribbean is
that people are adopting
a wait and see posture,
they are trying to wait
out the current down turn
but that was 2008, it is
now 2014 and the rest of
the world has made the
fundamental changes
to their processes, their
infrastructure, their way of
thinking their way of doing
business for the reality
that exist now and I think
we are waiting to see how
We have an excellent
pool in Grenada.
Generally Grenada has
an excellent human
resource base and I
think we have a fantastic
pool in terms of the
level of experience and
qualifications. We align
our managers to our
strategic vision a couple
times a year. I don’t have
to come to Grenada very
often. My role is to set
the overall vision and
direction and the product
development for the
business. I am the thinker
to understand what is
going on in the market,
trying to create services
and opportunities for the
business. We are not
doing anything country
centric, whatever we
are doing we aim at a
regional positioning. If
continues on the
next page
Interview
Bridging A
Financial Gap
you fly around the region you will
find that we are not that different.
We have integrated ourselves long
ago and we are still waiting on the
politicians to do that legally but we
have integrated ourselves. The
Grenadian people can learn from
what is happening in the different
islands so that we can achieve
best practices across the business.
This is not NGO business, it is a
for profit business and there are
rules and consequences if you do
not follow the rules. We have found
that giving people an opportunity
to access capital gets out of this
mendicant state of mind where
they rely on the state to do this or
on someone from outside to come
and do that. They can now do it
for themselves and make a living
doing it.
What else is on the horizon that
will grow the business?
So you are building the
entrepreneurial spirit.
We have a number of new
products in development, but you
cannot roll everything out at the
same time or too quickly because
you will lose the impact of the
value added from each service so
the timing will be crucial.
Agreed. This is not about
handouts. If a man wants to move
his business to the next level and
he needs a particular financing
and he is prepared to do what he
needs to do and to pay his bill then
we are here for that and then he
will move. It comes with a certain
level of respect. He must know that
he must keep his word, and if he
does not there are consequences
for that. I cannot accept the
handout mentality that is pervasive
across the region, we expect
everything for nothing.
from page 51
And you will continue to look for
niche market opportunities?
We are not trying to reproduce
anything that anybody is doing
right now. What we are looking
for is for are opportunities where
the environment has either
mandated a particular demand
and conventional institutions either
have not reacted to it or cannot
react to it because they work
under a different set of rules. So
we will look at that opportunity
to see if we can price a risk that
makes sense to go into that. There
are some things that for us will
not make sense because we are
probably too advanced than the
environment or the culture, or even
the regulation is ready for and we
have t wait sometimes for things
to catch up. We are in the micro
finance business and that is where
we will be for some time. We are
looking to the tier of businesses
and individuals that seem to be
locked at that level; we want to
create an opportunity where they
can leapfrog into a different level
and if those customers get to a
level of development where they
do not need us any more then
that’s fine. What we have seen
over the past 8-10 years is that
bracket is getting bigger and
bigger, which is not the right trend
for development and so we have
to address that. It is not a charity
issue, it’s a business. You have
to give people the level of respect
they deserve. You need financing
to do something properly, you have
to be prepared to pay for it and
you have to keep your promise.
So there is hope for the
Caribbean man?
I am an educated Caribbean man
and I have chosen to stay here
because I believe that we have
opportunities here. I do not think
you have to fly in on a jet to show
us that we have opportunity here.
We have enough talent, the level
of quality of human resource
that we have in the Caribbean
presently is second to none. We
need more of our people to step
up and pull the rest of our people
with them. Take your own destiny
by the hand and move. It you
have political buy in and support
at those levels then things will
move faster. Government has to
do what it has to do. Government
is not a business. They must fix
the roads, make sure safety and
security is provided but we do not
expect them to be the end all to
save all. We elect them to provide
an enabling environment so that
we as people can do what we
need to move ourselves forward.
For those of us who are educated
and are strong bodied and part
of the workforce, we should not
be without direction in terms a
path to upward mobility and at
the foundation rests the ability
to access capital to start and or
improve something.
News
GRAND ANSE INSPIRES
GLOBAL BRAND SHOES
Grand Anse Beach, the 3
mile stretch of white sand,
flanked by turquoise water
and hotels, now has designer shoes on its resume’,
with the creation of the New
Balance 1600 Grand Anse
Athletic shoes.
Matt Halfhill, a shoe designer
for New Balance, came to
Grenada with his parents
who were professors at the
St. George’s University, when
he was 15 years old. He said
his many visits to the Grand
Anse beach left an indelible
mark on him, lasting long
after he and his parents returned to the United States.
He chose the local television
station GBN TV to premiere
his latest creation which
reflects various shades of
blue to represent the color
tones found on Grand Anse.
The New Balance 1600 Grand
Anse Athletic shoes will be
launched in March and will
be accompanied by a Public
Relations Campaign that will
put the spotlight on Grenada.
“The inspiration came from
the different elements that
make Grand Anse so beautiful for me. I wanted to do
something special for Grand
Anse, and I wanted to tell our
audience on our website and
all our Facebook fans and
everybody that there is this
wonderful place in Grenada,”
Halfhill said, noting that he
spent many Saturdays on the
beach experiencing the culture, swimming and smelling
and tasting the local cuisine.
He said the sale of the product, a joint New Balance/Nice
Kicks creation, will be accompanied by 75 Grenadian
flags that replaced the tissue
paper in the boxes, giving
75 “random” shoppers a rare
treat.
He said his company NiceKicks.com, the largest
sneaker site on the web, gets
about 5.5 million hits per
month, has 825,000 Facebook
fans, 350,000 on twitter and
900,000 on Instagram.
Halfhill also unveiled a
headphone, which he said
also reflects Grand Anse.
Tourism officials have
welcomed the creation and
the international attention
the shoes will receive at its
launch party in Austin Texas,
on the shelves of the world’s
major athletic stores and on
the feet of world class ath-
letes and everyday people.
“This attention and exposure
for Grenada is invaluable
because it provides collateral
marketing support to our
tourism industry that Grenada cannot pay for. It also
reflects the importance of the
role that St. George’s University plays directly through
education and employment,
but also indirectly, in promoting our and impacting various sectors of our economy,”
the Grenada Tourism Authority told Barnacle.
The official said the creation
of the athletic shoes and the
launch strategies outlined
by Halfhill, provides many
opportunities for heightened
interest in Grenada.
New Balance is a US athletics’ company which has been
manufacturing sneakers since
1906.
Republic Bank Pays $20,250 in
Bursaries to UWI Open Campus Students
Republic Bank is pleased
to continue supporting the
development of young people
through education.
Bursaries totaling $20,250
(Twenty Thousand, Two Hundred & Fifty Dollars), were
paid to sixteen (16) students
pursuing studies through the
University of the West Indies
- Grenada Open Campus. The
payment covered tuition for
semester II, Academic year
2013/2014. Total disbursement for the academic year is
$39,690.00.
On making the presentation,
the Managing Director congratulated the recipients for
the progress they have made
so far, and wished them further success as they continue
towards their goal of educational advancement, which
will redound to the benefit of
themselves and of Grenada.
Since its launch in 2007,
the Republic Bank Bursary programme has assisted
Grenadians pursuing higher
learning, while remaining at
home. This programme is in
addition to the Bank’s UWI
Scholarship, which was introduced more than thirteen
(13) years ago, and is made
available to assist one (1)
qualified Grenadian pursuing
a Bachelor’s Degree full time
at any of the UWI campuses
in the region.
Republic Bank takes very seriously its social responsibility in providing support for
the youth through, education,
sport and culture. Eligibility for both Scholarship and
Bursary is based on academic
ability and financial need.
CARIBBEAN EXPORT RECEIVES 3.2
MILLION EURO FOR THE CARIFORUM
SERVICES SECTOR
The Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export)
in conjunction with the implementing partners CARICOM
Secretariat and the Ministry of
Industry and Commerce of the
Dominican Republic (DICOEX)
have been awarded responsibility for the implementation of a
3.2million Euro programme by
the European Union towards the
implementation of the 10th EDF
Services Sector Component.
Implementation of the services
component will be a collaborative effort between the Agency
and implementing partners CARICOM Secretariat and DICOEX.
“The services component of the
EPA represents one of the concrete
ways that Caribbean businesses
and entrepreneurs could reap tangible, economic benefits. The services sectors in most CARIFORUM
countries is a significant contributor
to GDP, accounting for more than
50% of GDP in most cases and
over 60% for the OECS member
states” informed Ambassador
Michael Barfod, Head of Delegation to Barbados and the Eastern
Caribbean for the European Union
during his remarks at the cheque
hand- over ceremony to a room
filled with regional stakeholders,
who were gathered for an ACP
consultation meeting also hosted
by Caribbean Export.
In most CARIFORUM States, trade
is increasingly driven by services
exports. However, due to inadequate policies and regulatory
regimes found across numerous
trade agreements such as the
Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), CARIFORUM States
are serverly constrained in their
ability to take advantage of the
opportunaties that exist for long
term economic development. In
addition regional and national support organisations have insufficient
capacity and lack the coordination
to effectively assist services suppliers or even consumers to take
full advantage of the EPA. It has
been recognised that there are also
critical data gaps in services statics
for planning and marketing analysis that are needed to effectively
plan and implement strategies for
growth and market penetration in
the services sectors.
The 10th EDF Services Sector
programme will
address these
issues specifically through;
the development of a policy
and regulatory
framework to
support the
CARIFORUM
services sector; building
capacity of
national and
regional services support
organisations
such as Coalition of Services
and Chamber
Commerces; and improvement
of the mechanisms for the collection and dissemination of data and
statistics. The programme, whilst
supporting the development of the
services sector world also facilitates the beneficial integration of
the CARIFORUM States into the
world economy.
“We all recognise the increasingly
important role which the services
sector plays in our economic development” stated Senator, the Honourable, Maxine McClean. “Some
of us have been reaping success in
this area for example the financial
services sector has become the
second largest contributor to GDP
in the Caribbean. Expansion of
investment in this area has served
to deepen linkages with the agricultural, manufacturing and alternative
energy sectors. The contribution
of this relationship has been truly
outstanding. It continues to generate employment and much needed
revenue which augurs well with
the creation of a sound economic
base”.
The programme will cover at least
the, professional, financial, education, health and wellness, tourism,
cultural entertainment and sport,
and ICT services sectors with the
objective of ultimately improving
the competitiveness of CARIFORUM Services Suppliers and promoting improved access to regional
and international markets.
“The Creative Industries have
emerged as a key growth sector in
the Caribbean economy through
its contribution to GDP, exports,
and employment, as well as its
impact on destination and intellectual property branding” expressed
Executive Director Pamela-CokeHamilton. “In light of the great
importance that the services sector
plays in the region, we are pleased
that Caribbean Export will play a
role in the implementation of the
10th EDF Services Sector Component. In collaboration with our
implementing partners, the CARICOM Secretariat and the Ministry
of Industry and Commerce of the
Dominican Republic (DICOEX),
our intention is that the end result
of this programme will enhance the
competitiveness of CARIFORUM
service suppliers and create an
optimum business environment for
services”.
Business
Flashback: 40 Years of Local Business
After 27 Years, Things
Are Still Looking Up
Sissons Paints: A Solid Grenada Company
manager christopher de allie (center) flanked by ralph james, sales rep. (left) and norman price, senior accounts clerk
Sissons Paints (Grenada) Limited is celebrated
27 years of business operations on the island,
with the general manager crediting the staff and
its loyal customers for
contributing to building
a “solid company.’’
“This company, in the 27
years it has been here, its
success stories really rest
with the staff,’’ said Sissons boss, Chris De Allie.
“I always say that this
anniversary is a celebration of staff and its loyal
customers; not of me, not
of anybody else. It’s a
celebration of the staff in
that we have been able to
be around and maintained
what we have been able
to maintain, and continue
to have a company that is
strong as it is.’’
Sissons Paints opened
its doors in Grenada in
August 1986 with a staff
of 12. It’s one of a few
manufacturing and exporting companies in Grenada, and has grown in staff
and physical facilities;
expanded its product line;
and improved its profitability.
De Allie, who is the private sector representative
in the Senate, has worked
with Sissons for more
than 22 years. He has
been general manager for
19 years.
“I remember vividly taking
this company from one of
being financially strapped
19 years ago and turning that around,’’ he told
Barnacle in an exclusive
interview.
“When I took over, we
had grave financial issues
and that has been turned
around and we now have
a strong balance sheet.
Now we’re in the black
and have no intentions
of going back in the red.
That turnaround is one of
the achievements.’’
Under De Allie’s stewardship, the company’s sales
moved to annual figure
of more than $10 million.
De Allie described it as a
“milestone.’’
The general manager said
hard work by his team of
Grenadian workers is also
one of the hallmarks of
Sissons.
He said: “I think what we
pride ourselves the most
in accomplishing over the
27-year period is the fact
that we are a Grenadian
company, fully run by
Grenadian staff; produces
an excellent product, and
provides an excellent service. And that is the thing
we are most proud of.’’
De Allie promised that
Sissons will remain an
export-driven company
that continues to offer “full
solutions and final solutions to all our customers’
painting needs through
service and excellent
products.’’
According to De Allie,
“any local company that
has a good product or
service must not just limit
itself to national boundaries. You have to find ways
to get your products out
and export is a natural
part of your growth; you
can’t depend on the local
market only.’’
De Allie is confident of the
future of Sissons Paints
(Grenada) Ltd., which has
“very, very loyal customers,’’ and dedicated
employees.
“It is a solid company and
we expect to be around
for quite a while,’’ he said.
“The times ahead are
not going to be easy; it’s
going to be challenging
but we’ve seen a lot of
challenges in the industry.
At least for the next five to
seven years, it’s still going
to be hard work.’’
However, when the global
recession ends and local
and international economies turn around, Sissons
“is going to be poised to
do well because we are
setting the foundation,’’
De Allie said.
“The times ahead are going to be tough but things
are going to get better,’’
he added.
Sissons Paints A Rich History
For several years
prior to its actual
incorporation, Sissons Paints was
manufacturing
and marketing its
paint products in
Trinidad and Tobago. In an effort
to ensure more
adequate and efficient distribution
throughout the
country an agency
was established
in 1956. By 1958,
with the increase
in product demand
necessitating additional facilities,
a new warehouse
was constructed at
Wrightson Road,
Port of Spain.
On the 27th May
1960 the Company
was registered as
a Private Company
under the name
of Sissons Paints
(West Indies) Limited and commenced
operations one year
later. The registered
offices were at 13
St. Vincent Street,
Port of Spain and
the factory was
located on the
Princess Margaret
Highway (now the
Uriah Butler Highway). Today, the entire Sissons Paints
operation is housed
at this location in
Chaguanas.
In 1972 the Company was acquired
by the Donald Mc
Pherson Group, one
of the largest paint
groups in Europe
and on 1974 July
9th the name of
the company was
changed to Sissons
Paints (Trinidad)
Limited.
Having established
themselves in
Trinidad and Tobago
Sissons sought to
broaden its horizons
and opened another
paint factory in
Grenada - Sissons
Paints (Grenada)
Limited, which
would ideally serve
those countries
which were within
closer proximity to
them.
Sissons Paints has
set the pace for
product development in the Caribbean. The group of
companies offers
a wide variety of
decorative and
protective coatings:
these include light
and heavy industrial
coatings, furniture
finishes and marine
paints.
Sissons Paints was
the first company to
successfully introduce products such
as Siscolac Chinese
Lacquer, polyurethane varnish, oil
varnish stain (stain
and varnish in one),
non drip ceiling
white, weather
guard exterior emulsion and a water
based enamel.
The company also
provides a tint system for our top of
the line products super gloss, weather guard and super
matt, with a colour
range of three thousand shades.
Through continuous
product development and technical
expertise, Sissons
is able to provide
high quality products and superior
customer service
and to make inroads
into the paint market domestically and
internationally.
SISSONS
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