inbusiness summer 2014 edition

SUMMER 2014InBusiness

BUTCH STEWART

TALKS ABOUT THE PAST - AND THE FUTURE

YoungProfessionals WOMEN

in Business

Leading

RICHARDHAynesHIS NAME IS SyNONyMOUS wITH THE CROP OvER FESTIvAL, BUT RICHARD HAS ALSO BUILT A SUCCESSFUL CAREER IN ARTIST MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING CONSULTANCy.

THe PAssIOn Of

EXCLUSIvE

InBusiness • SUMMER 2014 • Page 1

Fourth Edition • Summer 2014 • BarbadosInBusiness

Chefette opens new restaurant at WelchesY103.3 launches at Bubba’s Sports BarTotal Office launches Steelcase’s Gesture chairBetty Brathwaite welcomes ACCA volunteer body; Patrick Toppin retires.

The Passion of Richard HaynesHIs name is synonymous with the Crop Over Festival, but our cover subject has also built a successful career in artist management and marketing.

Butch: “I feel more potent than ever”Chairman of the Sandals Group, Gordon “Butch” Stewart talks about his early days in business, building a team, and his continuing role as chairman almost eight years after passing the mantle of CEO to his son, Adam.

An economy in serious trouble“Our ability as private enterprise to attract new investment has been de-liberately compromised by both fiscal and monetary policy, and these latest figures are the proof of the pudding,” writes Ryan Straughn.

CoveR StoRY6

fiRSt PeRSon10

outlook26

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Publisher & Editor: Patrick R. HoyosWriters: Amanda Cummins, Pat Hoyos, Ryan StraughnMagazine Consultant: Tony Cumberbatch

Published by: Hoyos Publishing Inc.Lot 1A, Boarded Hall, St. GeorgeM [email protected]

Copyright 2014Hoyos Publishing Inc. All rights Reserved

YoungProfessionals

We present our third batch of innova-tive, dedicated and highly motivated Young Professionals. All articles by Amanda Cummins.

19 SUNSET SEALY: Creating ads that make people want to tear them out of magazines20 ANDRE HAREWOOD: Enjoying the challenge of engaging, and sometimes inspiring, his audience as a radio per-sonality.21 TAMICA LAWRENCE: Finding her true calling as a doctor in obstetrics and gynecology22 Ben noRRiS: Finding a growing love for the law in its real-world application.

WOMENin Business

Leading

We present our first collection of brief profiles of women in executive positions who are passionate about their work, and who are an inspiration to us. All articles by Amanda Cummins.

14 BETTY BRATHWAITE, Managing Partner, Deloitte & Touche, Barbados14 CAROL NICHOLLS, Managing Partner, KPMG Barbados15 VIVIAN-ANNE GITTENS, CEO, Nation Corp., & Publisher, and CEO, Nation Publishing Co. Ltd.15 PATRICIA AFFONSO-DASS, Group General Manager, Ocean Hotels16 LISA GALE, Executive Director, Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry16 SHELLY ANN HEE CHUNG, VP for Sales & Marketing, Columbus Eastern Caribbean Operations17 SHARON CHRISTIE, CEO, Kensington Court Group17 GAYNELLE MARSHALL, Programme Manager, Y103.3 FM18 SUZANNE DAVIS, Managing Director, Realtors Real Estate Ltd.

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IN FRONT

InBusiness

In mid-May, Chefette Restaurants Ltd. held the official ribbon-cutting ceremony for its 15th store.

Located at Welches, St. Thomas next to Cost-U-Less and The Walk shopping centre, the 6,000 sq. ft. restaurant was designed by Architect Pierre Tatum and features a high-ceiling retro look in modern pastel colors. It also boasts Chefette’s first-ever three-story kids’ playground.

Managing Director Ryan Haloute said the company had decided to go ahead with the building of the new state-of-the-art restau-rant despite the on-going recession because it wanted to show its confidence that the econo-my would rebound.

“We’re very pleased to open Chefette Welch-es, our 15th location in Barbados, especially at a time like this when our country really needs this injection of capital investment. We view it as our confidence in the country, not only that it will turn around, but also in job security, as it has helped raise our total staff compliment to over 800 people. We hired 60 people just for this branch because we also had to ex-pand our manufacturing arm to accommodate the branch as well, in terms of our fleets, and cooking the product at Chef Foods, which is our manufacturing arm.”

Mr. Haloute said that no cost had been spared to make it the best designed and out-fitted of all the Chefette restaurants to date.

We try not to cut corners or spare costs - you see the ceiling is three or four feet higher than a normal Chefette, the seating area is very large - and most people in the world don’t build a restaurant this large as part of a mall complex. You’ll see a satellite unit, but our brand is hard to fit in those smaller units because people ex-

pect playgrounds, they expect drive-thrus, and a lot of seating. They don’t want to walk into a Chefette and not get seating. So our model has always been to build big.”

Chefette’s managing director also disclosed what the company planned to do next.

“Next year we are going renovate our War-rens location to give it a whole new facelift in

terms of a brand new decor for the restaurant, for the Barbecue Barn, we’re going to re-do the entire car park, and we’re going to give a whole facelift to the outside of the building too, in terms of lighting and the whole facade on the outside of the building, so Warrens is our next big project in terms of major renova-tion, which we will do in 2015.” •

Chefette opens new restaurant at Welches

The new outlet gets three thumbs up from Chairman Assad Haloute (centre), Managing Director Ryan Haloute and Deputy Managing Director Janine Haloute-Went.

Members of staff ready to serve customers. (Photos courtesy Chefette Restaurants Ltd.)


BARBADoS’ NeWeST radio station, Y103.3 FM, has been on the air since late March, and in late April it was officially launched at a cocktail party held at Bubba’s Sports Bar on the south coast-Top executives from ad agencies, other media houses, and other

business and entertainment leaders, as well as lots of friends, came to celebrate the arrival of a sister station to the country’s top radio sta-tion in the 20-35 age demographic, SLAM 101.1. Both radio stations are members of the Power Broadcasting Company.

Richard Haynes, who is the sales director for Power Broadcasting, says the station has been well received by advertisers and sponsors.

“Y103 is adult contemporary radio but it’s based very much on a North American template, and it’s just bringing excellent music every day to a tar-geted demographic. We’re going for that 30-55 year-old person who appreci-ates great music and I think it’s going to have a massive impact on the market. It filled a void that had been ignored for quite a while and that we are more than happy to satisfy.” •

Y103.3 launches at Bubba’s Sports Bar

IN FRONT

InBusiness

Above: Power Broad-casting Company owners Habib and Marian Elias with their daughter Danielle at the event.

left: Y103.3’s Programme Manager Gaynelle Marshall (top right) with her fellow on-air presenters Jude Eastmond , Caroline “CiCi” Reid (centre), and Carlie Pipe (right). At left is Yolan Pantin, contest winner of an exclusive invitation to the launch and the title of V.I.Y.P. (Very Important Y Person).(Photos courtesy Power Broadcasting)


IN FRONT

InBusiness

Total office Ltd., which specializes in office furnishings, just celebrated its fourth birthday and Ceo Ryan Proudfoot says the company is doing quite well despite the recession.After investing in the company in 2007, Ryan soon took the reins of

the company and opened a branch in Barbados in 2010 which is run by General Manager Amy Collier.

The company’s major supplier is Steelcase Inc., the largest office fur-niture maker in the world, but Total office also offers full outfitting packages that include Lees carpets, Datum filing systems and Mecho-shade shades.

“In the Steelcase world, our best products are there Answer workstation system, which is No.1 in the world. Steelcase also has the Alive seating tech-nology, where the chair customises itself to the user, and those products in-clude the Leap, Think and Amia chairs, and they come with a lifetime warranty.

Recently, Total office introduced to the Barbados market Steelcase’s new chair, called Gesture.

According to Ryan, when the company introduced the Alive series in 1999, it was designed to fit the work environment it was then, but that was before the advent of the smartphone and the tablet computer.

“What has happened in the last five to ten years is that new technology has entered into the workplace - iPhones, iPads, Galaxy tabs, etc. have gone into the workplace - and what Steelcase has found by doing extensive hours of observation and research is that people are working differently.”

After undertaking a global posture study on six continents, in which they observed 2,000 people in a wide range of postures, Steelcase said it found nine new postures that its new chair would need to support.

Says Ryan: “What they realized is that if you see how people sit with their iPads and Galaxy tabs, Blackberries and so on, we could have another epidem-ic of a carpel tunnel-like ailment unless we get onboard and design products that will minimize that, that will support people in this new way of working.”

Gesture is an evolution of the Steelcase’s Alive Seating technology, which is used not only by the company itself in its products but licensed to other

Steelcase’s Kimberly Berlingeri (left) and Matt Williams (second from right), with (from second left) Total Office’s Shona Shep-herd, Amy Collier, Natasha Gibbs-Burke and Ryan Proudfoot. (Photo courtesy Total Office)

Unit 2, Warehouse 28 | Warrens Commercial Centre | St. Michael | Barbados, W. I.

T 246 621 1000 | F 246 421 6699 | [email protected] | www.totalofficeltd.com

Systems Furniture

Ergonomic Workstation Accessories

Seating - Lounge, Task, Guest, etc

Storage and Filing

Laminate and Wood Private Offices

Conference & Training Furniture

Moveable / Demountable Moveable / Demountable Walls

Seating and Wall Fabrics

Raised Access Floors

Carpet

Floor Tiles - Laminate, Rubber, Vinyl

Move services

Blinds and Window Coverings

Early Childhood Learning Furniture

Outdoor Furniture

Healthcare Furniture

Hospitality Furniture

Tertiary Education Furniture

High Density Mobile Shelving & Racking

Sound Masking SystemsSound Masking Systems

Interactive Whiteboards

Office Technology Products

Cafeteria Furniture

Auditorium Seating

Wall Coverings

Interior Signage

companies to use, for example, airplanes and racing cars.The company has patented close to 50 new technologies developed for the chair. •

Total Office launches Steelcase’s Gesture chair


oNe oF Barbados’ most outstand-ing accountants, Patrick Toppin, has, at age 69, retired as partner with Deloitte Barbados. He will, however,

continue to lead the judicial management team dealing with CLICo International Life Insurance Ltd. (CIL). He also remains as a co-receiver on another matter in Trinidad & To-bago.

Until 31 May, Mr. Toppin was the Partner with re-sponsibility for Financial Advisory and Consulting at Deloitte Barbados, having stepped down a year

ago as managing partner of the firm, the successor to the local firm of Toppin Walker & Co.

Deloitte is a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries, with

around 200,000 professionals.Mr. Toppin, whose professional career has

spanned half a century, was a founding member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB) which he served as president from 1981 to 1983, and again from 1990 to 1993.

He also served as ICAB’s director on the board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean and was a member of the inaugural committee of the Association of Chartered Certi-fied Accountants (ACCA) which was instrumental in the establishment of the International Assembly, in which he served for many years as the Barbados representative.

During his career he also served as a member of various Government committees appointed to advise on company law, international financial ser-vices and co-operatives. He was also a director of the Central Bank of Barbados and the Chair of its Audit Committee. •

IN FRONT

InBusiness

Betty Brathwaite welcomes ACCA volunteer body

Managing Partner of Deloitte Barbados, Betty Brathwaite, says the newly-formed ACCA Voluntary Members Network will create programme of events that will focus on the challenges ACCA members face as profes-sionals.

The new organization will also offer members and guests the opportunity to network and update their knowledge while raising the profile of ACCA and its members within Barbados.

Ms. Brathwaite, who is the ACCA International Assembly Representative in Barbados, was addressing the inaugural event of the Volunteer Members Network recently.

“Together we will organise a diverse annual programme of events, offering members and guests the opportunity to network, develop skills and update knowledge whilst further rais-ing the profile of ACCA and its members within Barbados,” she told the first gathering of the new organisation. “This is a team effort – but I publicly note that leaders are wanted and welcome!”

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, a leading international accountancy body, has the largest and fastest-growing membership, with over 500,000 members and stu-dents in 170 countries. •

Managng partner, of Deloitte Barbados, Betty Brathwaite (Photo courtesy Deloitte)

Deloitte’s Patrick Toppin retires

Pat Toppin, retiring partner of Deloitte Barbados.(Photo courtesy Deloitte)

If you would like to receive a copy of our print edition or a link to our digital edition, simply send an email requesting a complimentary subscription to The Publisher, INBusiness Magazine at [email protected] InBusiness

With compliments


“Where I am now has kind of hap-pened totally by mistake, but I think it’s happened to several en-trepreneurs.” - Richard Haynes, early 2014.

FOr mOst people, richard Haynes’ name is probably synony-mous with that

of Baje International, one of Barbados’ most popular Crop Over bands. But richard has built his career to embrace not only his passion for enter-tainment but also his love for the marketing business.

He is one of the own-ers of Baje International, along with fellow direc-tors and business partners Corey Knight, Val Bridge-man and Jason Cozier, and heads his two south Cen-tral companies, combin-ing advertising and marketing services for clients with artist

Cover STorYInBusiness

HIS nAme IS SYnonYmouS WITH THe CrOP Over FeSTIvAL, BuT rIChArD hAS ALSO BuILT A SuCCeSS-FuL CAreer IN ArTIST mANAGemeNT AND mArkeTING.

RICHARDHAynesTHe PAssIOn OF

Right: Entrepreneur Richard Haynes (Photo courtesy South Central Management.)


management.The first, south Central Entertainment

(which also trades as south Central marketing), specialises in marketing and branding, executing marketing and advertising campaigns for a di-verse group of corporate clients. The company is also fully-functional booking agency for some of the island’s leading artists and radio deejays. The second, south Cen-tral management, is a publishing and umbrella company for all of south Central’s music and cre-ative works.

south Central Entertain-ment/marketing’s only full-time employee is shadia Gilkes, whom richard calls “my backbone.” His busi-ness partner in south Cen-tral management is Kevin

“Bubbles” marshall, who produces the music un-der studio B.

“A solid academic

background”richard carved out his

chosen creative/business profession in a country where his parents were “household names”. At-tending Foundation school in Barbados as a

teenager, he wanted to be a graphic artist. He also loved history and excelled at Eng-lish composition.

The eldest son of prominent surgeon and politician, the late Dr. richie Haynes, and his wife Dr. Carol Jacobs, internationally known for her work as chairperson for the global HIV fund for several years, and local-ly for her work as chairperson in Barbados with the National HIV Commission, rich-ard says he never felt he had to compete with their fame in medicine or in politics.

“It certainly was never a pressure that I felt near and dear to my heart,” he recalls, adding “my mom always encouraged me, saying ‘Whatever you want to do, just do it to the best of your ability.’ my old man, God rest his soul, always really pushed the academic side of it - saying to always work your hardest and always have a solid aca-demic background.”

THE yOuNG mAN who would evolve into one of the country’s top entertainment entrepreneurs thus started on his career path with the con-

fidence of his family’s full support. But he never realized the ups and downs he would encounter on the way.

After leaving Foundation, richard went off to college in Florida, earning his associ-ate degree in advertising design at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. richard had thought his career was going to be in the graphic arts, but along the way he fell in love with marketing.

He went on to earn a B.A. in business management, specializing in marketing at the same school, and stayed in the city to do an m.B.A. at Nova south Eastern uni-versity.

returning to the island in January 1998, he was in for a shock. Potential employers saw he had little business experience but might have wanted a high salary because of his m.B.A.

so, with no dream job in the offing, rich-ard says he went back to the job at simpson motors where he had spent the previous summers helping out with the advertising.

“The youngster down in the back”

Three months later, the company was launching the suzuki Grand Vitara in Bar-bados, and he was asked for his ideas. “I said, let’s veil it and put it on top of a huge boulder outside, and create this teaser cam-paign in the press about this new vehicle that’s coming.”

Thousands of people converged on the dealership for the unveiling event, and richard was soon offered a job with Greg Hoyos Associates. “Greg inquired who was responsible for this idea, and Debbie simpson (at the time) told him “it was our graphic artist’s assistant, richard Haynes, the youngster down in the back,” he says, laughing heartily.

He was hired by GHA to work on the Banks Beer account, and he says, “I’ve been in the marketing business from there.”

two years after joining GHA, richard

Beautiful models showing off some of the costumes for Baje International 2014 band “Mega Monday.” (Photo courtesy of Baje.)


was head-hunted to run the client service department at Bowie Cross Advertising Inc., a new agency formed by the late Jim Bowie and Thom Cross. He stayed there for seven years until 2007, and it formed his business character.

At Bowie Cross, he managed all of the existing clients, and was also responsible for getting new business.

With the onset of Jim’s long illness, he says, “I was forced at a very young age to take the steering wheel and assist him.” It taught him a lot about the “bigger side” of the business, as opposed to just the client servicing. “On hindsight it seems like an amazing blessing, but at the time it seemed like a tremendous burden because I was very young and did not have, obviously, all the skills that I required.”

But Jim, he recalls, “had a lot of confi-dence in me and up to this day I am really grateful for his input, and the fact that he gave me that opportunity.”

“A Crop Over band? Cool, why not?”

During his entire working life, and stretching even back to his student days, richard loved to go to fetes. Baje Interna-tional’s roots go back to those days. “I used to come home for summers and we would party - hard - and then one summer, we said, ‘Why we don’t throw a fete?’”

And although he was just starting out on

his mBA degree, he thought it was a good idea. today he recalls that everything that could possibly have gone wrong with the event did. But it was not lost on richard and his friends that around 2,000 people had come out for the event. “We went through every drama you can in one night and we still had a successful event, and Baje

was born.”It was the summer of 1996.

ten of the hardest partiers on the island had put together their first party themselves. “We took our lime and made it public,” is how richard de-scribes it. The miami “melting pot” influence - heavy Jamai-can, trinidadian and North American vibes all experi-enced at the events he was at-tending at college found a new home in the group they now called Baje International.

But after the drama of the first event, eight of the ten founders quit and only rich-ard and Cory Knight decided to continue with Baje. Val Bridgeman joined the duo for the second party and the threesome formed the core of what became one of the premier event entertainment brands in Barbados. But for the first few years they only

held fetes and jumped on Ka-dooment Day in other Crop Over bands.

soon after Baje was born, the trio of friends decided to put on a Christmas fete, but were so unsure whether it would suc-ceed that they changed their name for the event to B.I. Promotions, says richard, laughing heartily again at the very idea. But it was a big success. In those early days, they also promoted a cricket tour to trinidad.

richard and his partners only started to think about having a band for the annual festival after Designer marcia Chandler ap-proached them, saying she wanted to return to Crop Over without the headache of or-ganizing her own band. They jumped in.

“We said ‘Cool, why not?” richard laughs, saying they really hadn’t a clue as to how to do it, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

marcia designed the costumes for Baje International’s first two Crop Over bands, in 1999 and 2000, the first attracting about 600 people and the second 900. But the stress proved too much for the designer who had gotten Baje to take to the streets on Ka-dooment Day, and she decided she had had enough.

since the first Baje bands had broken even and revellers were supporting them, they decided to carry on without marcia. 14 years on, it is still going strong. richard says the key award which Baje wins almost every

As MC at the launch of Y103.3 FM in April 2014. at Bubba’s Sports Bar (Photo: Power Broadcasting Co.)

Richard (second from left) in 1993 with his brother Kashka, and his parents Dr. Richie Haynes and Dr. Carol Jacobs. (Photo courtesy Haynes family)


year is for the band’s theme, called the Fantasy Prize. Of Baje’s 16 bands in Crop Over it has won the award for over half of them, including last year’s, with the Baje theme “Breakaway.”

“We put a lot of thought and effort into our theme so that it con-nects back to Barbadiana, but not in an old-fashioned, traditional sense, but in a more modern sense, that Bajans can feel proud to be part of this concept.”

“From big manager to nothing”up to this point richard Haynes was proving to both himself

and the business world that he could multi-task while burning the candle at both ends. But the man who believed in synergies had to find a way to combine his passion for entertainment with his love for business.

Things came to a head in 2007, when Bowie Cross Advertising shut down suddenly. “There was a lawsuit which was totally out of everybody’s control,” he recalls. “so there I was, overnight gone from being this big client services manager with the biggest agency in Barbados at the time with massive clients, to nothing.”

But the crisis brought a certain clarity to his mind. “I started to realize that I could combine my marketing world - my advertising agency experience and my networks - with the bands.” This led him to also realize “that there are talents which plug into the bands that I can easily manage.”

It was an epiphany that changed the direction of his career. He set up his own companies, south Central Entertainment and

south Central management, naming them after his home/busi-ness location near the corner of Dayrells road and Highway 7 in rockley, Christ Church, which he calls “the center of the south coast.” The companies have since relocated to Beaumont House at Hastings, Christ Church.

By combining a marketing firm with a talent agency, richard was breaking new ground in Barbados, elevating management of

artistes to the level normally only associated here with managing of corporate marketing campaigns and client services. many may have seen the need, but richard was living it. “I was practicing for years, working in the agency and doing the entertainment busi-ness on the side, and figuring out how things worked together, how they could seamlessly fit together, how they could complement one another.”

However, after producing music for a variety of artists, south Central was still losing money, so richard decided to “flip the script” and make the marketing side the main breadwinner. He had only re-tained one client from Bowie Cross, so the hunt began for more.

“Entertainment screams loud.”

As he built up his clients, he saw an oppor-tunity looming. Habib Elias, who had built a track record of success with Bubba’s sports Bar & restaurant and Club Xtreme, was launching a radio station.

richard approached mr. Elias about selling advertising for the station and learned he was about to hire a sales team. He made his pitch. “I told him, instead of that, just hire me. I’ll be your sales team, your marketing manager, your sales agent, all those in one. Eventually he took me on

Baje has Been a powerful catalyst for me, in terms of catapulting my Brand out to the world. i owe it so much.

Richard and family at Cruz’ christening earlier this year: (L-R) Kai, Richard, Cruz, Michelle and Jada, and Agyei. (Photo: Haynes family)

“

“InBusiness • Page 9

Continued on page 25


Q: How did your early experiences in business shape your business philosophy?

A: I started business at 26 years old and I was lucky enough to get the agency from a New Jersey company for Fedders air-conditioning. They were the biggest manufacturer in the world for room air-conditioners at the time. And within 18 months we were No. 1, and you had all the big companies (in Jamaica) at the time, Carrier, all of them.

I wanted to give my customer more than they ex-pected. We would go into a house one day, run the electric wires, knock holes in the wall, we’re deal-ing with the sixties and seventies, at the end of it, sweep up the place, clean it up, if the wife has a build somewhere and she needs a ladder, we would get the fellows to do it. I had people call me at 8 o’clock at night, saying “Butch, I forgot the wife’s birthday and I wanted to get her an air-conditioner. I would go there (telling the husband) take her out to dinner and when she comes back we’ll have it for you.

Q: So you took the same approach in your hotel ventures?

A: I have a little energy, I’ve come this far with-out being very sick - with a lot of luck. I just want to please, and our company has a gene where we want to provide more than the customer expects. We genuinely want to do it. you can’t be a fake in that kind of business. And we learn from our mis-

takes. Frank sinatra had a song, “Pick yourself up, dust

yourself off,” and get back in the race. We’ve all have our ups and downs, we’ve all done things that have not worked. some of them you find a way to make it work, and some of them you say “Let’s try something else.”

But the hotel industry is so vital to all of us. The first hotel I had, everybody said I’d last not longer than the year, because it was right beside the air-port. The aeroplanes, when they took off, the noise was shattering. It came out as couples only, wave to the folks leaving, kiss the one you love, and you neutralize a terrible negative, right? I wasn’t the one who invented that, it was the fellow in charge of entertainment at the time.

Q: How did you cope with the challenges you faced?

A: Where we have had problems, we find a solu-tion. Out of the uK, my competitor tied up the big tour operators - they weren’t allowed to sell me. I had to work with some of the smaller ones.

I didn’t know the business - I became hotel as-sociation president in June 1984 after being in the business only two-and-a-half years. But there were some issues at the time that the government was doing and they voted me in.

so I did the job the best I could do, but really and truly my mother taught me a lot about pride

our company has a gene where we want to provide more than the customer expects.

“

”

Chairman of the Sandals Resorts International , Gordon “Butch” Stewart (Photo courtesy the BCCI.)

BUTCH: “I FEEl morE poTEnT THan EvEr”

FIrST pErSon

InBusiness

In a recent exclusive interview with INBusiness, Chairman of the Sandals Group, Gordon “Butch” Stewart, spoke about his early days in business, the lessons learned along the way, bringing his children into the business from an early age, building a team, and his continuing role as chairman almost eight years after passing the mantle of CEO to his son, Adam.

Here are some excerpts from the interview.


and whatever you do try and do it (well). she was one of the hardest working people. And we’ve been lucky and it has worked out. I think like anything else, you start life as a trainee, you get to know things, you become a manager. you keep using the skill that you’ve developed better and better.

Q: How do you feel now, after nearly 50 years of running your own businesses?

A: This year I’m going to be 73 years old. I think I’m more potent than I’ve ever been. People say to me ‘Butch, when are you going to retire?’

When I fall down, whenever that is, or when you have to pick me up, because I like it and I enjoy it. But I’m also serious.

most tourism countries in the world, I have (an invitation) - Belize, I get a note every few months; Dubai, for three years I have been promising them to go there. They want to build a sandals hotel - the name has become strong. The product has be-come strong. We win every award, but it’s not me. I can only do so much a day. We have a team that gets better, stronger, more knowledgeable.

Q: What would you say is your primary strength?A: I’m a salesman. Funnily enough, the market-

ing of the hotels, even though I am a salesman, gave me the most trouble of all of it, because it’s a different form of marketing, and you have to get to understand the trade and the things that make them tick. Plus the fact that we are Carib-bean people. The ad you’d put to attract people for air-conditioning in Jamaica is a whole different approach for New york City. We’re willing to ex-periment and we have to learn, and these days we know how to buy television (advertising). It is a complex thing in North America and England is worse. But you have to find out, and I don’t neces-sarily do it - I work with people that know.

Q: With your son Adam becoming CEO in 2006, are you still involved on a day-to-day basis?

I sign off on every single piece of interior de-sign or (other elements for the hotels). The hotel may only have, say, ten categories of rooms, so it’s not hard to sign off on ten different pieces of pa-per. you have to. I have people coming up that are better, but by the time I get some of it, it’s been vetted and recommended and I can’t find anything (wrong), so I sign off.

But it’s not a runaway thing where everybody jumps in. Like advertising, everybody wants to spend money, everybody wants to try (this or that). some people are talented with creative approaches, and some are not, so you have to be careful. But I’m not a control freak, I’m a person who gives latitude with authority, but it has to be guided latitude.

Q: How did you manage the succession issue?A: I have seven children - I lost one back in 1990

(Editor’s note: Jonathan Stewart was killed at the age of 24 in an automobile accident in Miami. In 2009, Mr. Stewart wrote an article in the New York Times in which he said the following: “In 1990, I rewrote my will for my son Jonathan to move into my shoes if something were to happen. I knew if he replaced me he would be fair to everyone. I had eight children. He looked out for his brothers and sisters. Six months later, he died in a motorcar accident in Miami; he was a pas-senger in one of the vehicles. He was 24 years old. He was the best guy, good-looking and talented.”)

some kids get it and some don’t. some are tal-ented. I have a son, he’s like my father - bright - but he’s (into) computers. Everything you talk to him about comes back to the computer. I have a daughter who’s quite talented but she’s concentrat-ing on having children. she now has three - that’s her life. I have another son who doesn’t carry my name because (he was born) when I was at school in England. He’s doing very well, very successful. He worked with me and then went off on his own. Brian Jardim - fabulous fellow. Adam is talented - talented beyond the norm. From the time he was at school he spent the summers in the hotels, and he has been CEO since 2006….I mean, it’s all I could have hoped for. All of us have kids and we hope, you know, they do well, they follow in your foot-steps of some sort. Adam has done it, he’s there.

Q. As chairman, how do you keep up-to-date with everything that’s going on?

A: you know, these days we have much better tools. We have more comprehensive administra-tion. The finance information I get these days dur-ing the course of every month - I used to have to wait six weeks after the month to get a P&L - these days I get it (snaps fingers) like this. I used to run the business from the seat of my pants. Instinct. trial and error, with a band of guys that were very enthusiastic too but never had the so-phistication, we never had the business experience, to know what you need and what you don’t.

And then it evolves and compounds on itself. The better it gets the better you drive it, so we have much better tools to do much more work with less effort.

Q. Barbados is said to be an over-priced destina-tion. Do you share that view?

A: taxation is the enemy of export. tourism is export. It’s reverse export because you’re bringing people in but the sale is made overseas, on a com-petitive basis. But the beauty with it is that, when you sold sugar, it went and you got paid, but when you sell a hotel room the person that comes here, (and) from the minute that the plane lands they spend money - taxi, shopping, restaurants, fashion, the list goes on and on.

so you bring in a well-heeled marketplace, gen-erally speaking, a wealthier marketplace than what

i used to run the Business from the seat of my pants, with a Band of guys that were very enthusiastic But never had the Business experience to know what you need and what you don’t.

“

”


is there locally. so accommodate it, facilitate it, find ways of marketing and selling more.

Q: Do you think governments are doing enough to develop tourism?

There are some governments that I know, and they are run by people that I think mean well. But to put on a tax (on tourism) it doesn’t work, the economy struggles, so what do they do? They in-crease the tax. In business you do not have that luxury. If you do something that doesn’t work, you have to change it, fix it, remove it, otherwise you go out of business. Governments don’t go out of business.

But look here: I am not a politician and I don’t want to be one. I am friends with everyone and I wouldn’t want to come to Barbados and say any-thing bad about the Opposition of the Govern-ment. But I do feel strongly that the Caribbean will never get anywhere in any meaningful way until you allow the citizens to do business on a footing with the rest of the world.

Q: Do you support casino gambling and if so, why doesn’t any of your hotels have it?

A: I think casino gambling is great entertain-ment. There are a lot of people who just want to go to the casino. But I come from the background of my habits. If I enjoy something and if I like it, I’ll make it work. If I don’t have any use for it I can’t pay the attention to it, and gambling, I don’t

have any interest in it. so it’s not a question of me thinking it’s a bad thing or a good thing. There are so many things out there but there is just so much that you can take the kind of interest that you can make it into a business. I don’t miss it.

Q: You’ve mentioned Dubai and other countries asking you to bring your brands to them. Are you considering expanding beyond the region?

For me there’s enough Caribbean. We’re not in Aruba, we’re not in Belize, nor st. maarten. I have stuck to the British Caribbean, and really, the opportunities have come up and I’ve not sort of steered. Barbados and Grenada, we wanted to be there, no maybe about it. I tried a number of times in Grenada, but it didn’t work, and I tried in Bar-bados. But I also knew that the minute something came up - because things come up and you don’t know about them (in advance) - that we were go-ing to try. I got very short notice on Casuarina. somebody called me and said, ‘Look, if you’re in-terested you’re going to have to move fast. I moved fast. When we finish with it, it’s going to work and work nice.

my competitors are the cruise ships, not the guy with the hotel down the road. However, it’s very hard to compete in international markets with a guy that doesn’t really have to pay tax. I’m a hote-lier, first, second and third, and I know what they (the cruise ships) are doing, and I hope my efforts bring benefits to the country. •

Gordon “Butch” Stewart, Chairman of Sandals Resorts heads into the February luncheon of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry with Chamber officials (from left)Tracey Shuffler, Lisa Gale and Lalu Vaswani, and (right) Bizzy Williams, CEO of Williams Industries and (partially hidden) Peter Odle of Mango Bay Hotel. (Photo courtesy BCCI.)

in Business, if you do something that doesn’t work, you have to fix it. otherwise you go out of Business.

“

”


“Without passion, life has no meaning, so put your heart, mind and soul into even your smallest acts,” advises one of our first Leading Women in Business, Sharon Christie, who adds, “This is the secret to life!”

Although we had not put it into words at the time, Sharon’s passionate prose sums up the major quality of each of the individuals chosen for this new feature of INBusiness Magazine.

One of the reasons for showcasing “leading women in business” is all those statistics show-ing that there is still a glass ceiling for women in corporate life, not only here but around the world, and we wanted to present executives who

have broken through it. But besides all the usual “stuff ” you need in order to do that - educa-tion, training, hard work, some luck perhaps, and a work ethic to make a drill sergeant feel lazy - there is the passion. These executives are passionate about their work.

It is what makes them stand out, and what keeps them performing at the top of their pro-fessions every day, year in and year out. We are therefore proud to offer, on the following few pages, these brief profiles of women in executive positions who are an inspiration to us and who help to make Barbados a wonderful place to live and work. •

WOMENin Business

Leading



WOMENin Business

Leading

Betty Brathwaite is the managing Partner with Deloitte & touche,

Barbados, with responsibility for all services delivered to clients and the overall growth of the firm. she is Deloitte’s first female managing partner within its Caribbean and Bermuda Cluster (CBC) of firms.

ms. Brathwaite was a partner with the local firm of toppin, Walker & Co. when it merged with the existing local practice of Deloitte & touche in December 2004.

In her role as managing partner, Betty is currently responsible for leading the firm’s audit practice and also maintains respon-sibility for information technology and brand compliance. Prior to this, she was responsible for tax and corporate services. she has served in the past as the director of independence and ethics officer for the firm, and is credited with the systems, Application and Products (sAP) implementation for the firm.

Betty’s experience enables her to serve a wide range of clients, from well-known international corporations to small, family-owned busi-nesses, in industries that include banking, insurance services, mining, manufacturing and retail operations.

Betty was a member of Deloitte’s Caribbean & Bermuda Cluster (CBC) Integration Working Group, which was responsible for the

groundwork needed to integrate group of independent Deloitte firms in eight countries around the region.

she also served as a member of the CBC nomination committee responsible for the selection of the current CEO, and a member of the Partners Advisory Group which established the Deloitte Americas senior managers’ school (sms). she was also part of the original faculty of the sms.

Betty is a past-president of the Insti-tute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC). she has played a key role in the development of the regional

accountancy body since first being appointed to the board in 2001, and has chaired ICAC’s membership committee, its task force set up to review its articles of association, and a sub-committee which worked on an agreement for the free movement of accountancy professionals within the region.

Betty has also served as president of the Institute of Chartered Ac-countants of Barbados (ICAB), and she continues to serve as a member of ICAB’s council. she is also the international assembly representative for Barbados for the ACCA. •

After winning a Barbados scholarship, Carol Nicholls went to mcGill university in montreal, Canada, graduating with dis-

tinction with a bachelor of commerce degree with concentrations in accounting and management information systems.

On leaving university, Carol worked in the audit department of KPmG montreal as an audit senior from 1984-87, while also completing a diploma in public accounting through mcGill’s Faculty of Graduate studies & research. she became a chartered accountant under the Ontario Chapter of the CICA in 1987 before returning home and joining KPmG Barbados, where she had interned before attending university.

Having remained at KPmG since then, she has been promoted from the position of senior accountant to manager, then to senior manager and partner. today, Carol is the managing partner at KPmG Barbados, a position she has held since 2006, and a board member of KPmG Caricom. she manages a diverse client port-folio throughout Barbados and the Caribbean in such industries as telecommunications, international business, insurance, govern-ment and infrastructure, and education.

Carol has also been responsible for the mentoring and training of young recruits, and throughout her career she has held responsibility for the delivery and coordina-tion of training as well as risk management, independence and ethics.

Carol was the first female managing partner of a “Big 4” accounting firm in Barbados, and has also been a council member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB) for several years, serving as vice-president from 1996-1998 and president from 1998-2000, dur-

ing which time she was responsible for the revamping of the by-laws of the organisation.

Carol has also played a broader role in the business community, from promoting Barbados’ international business sector to serving as chair-man of the Joint Policy Working Group, which advises Government on matters related to international business, to serving as chairman of the fi-nance committee of the board of directors of both the National Cultural Foundation and Invest Barbados.

A mother of three, she is also currently a board member of the Carib-bean Broadcast media Partnership on HIV/ AIDs (CBmP) and an independent member of the Barbados Private Sector Association. •

Betty BrATHWAITemanaging Partner, Deloitte & Touche, Barbados

Carol NIChOLLSmanaging Partner, kPmG Barbados

BeTTY HAS PLAYeD A keY rOLe IN DeveLOPING BOTh The LOCAL AND reGIONAL ACCOuNTING BODIeS, ICAC AnD ICAB

CArOL wAS The FIrST FemALe mANAGING PArTNer OF A “BIG 4” ACCOuNTING FIrm IN BArBADOS



WOMENin Business

Leading

Vivian-Anne Gittens is the CEO of Nation Corporation, and Publisher & CEO

of The Nation Publishing Co. Ltd. mrs. Gittens is a certified management accountant and a trained financial management consultant. she has worked as a management consultant locally and regionally, and as a project and investment analyst with development agencies in the region.

she joined the Nation Publishing Co. Ltd. in 1993 as its chief financial officer, was elevated to vice-president in 1999, and appointed publisher and CEO on the retirement of Founder/Director Harold Hoyte in 2007. she became the Nation Corp. CEO in 2008.

The Nation Corporation is the parent company of Nation Pub-lishing, starcom Network Inc., and Printweb Caribbean Ltd; and

the majority shareholder of Innogen technologies Inc, an energy company.

The Nation Group itself is part of One Caribbean media Ltd., a public company and a pan-Caribbean media organization, headquartered in Port-of-spain, trinidad. OCm is the largest and most diversified media organization in the Caribbean, oper-

ating mainly in trinidad and tobago, Barbados, Grenada, and st. Lucia.

mrs. Gittens chaired the Public utilities Board for the last five years of its existence and served as the deputy chairman of the Fair trading Commission.

she has also served on the boards of sagicor Financial Inc., sagicor Life Inc. and the mutual Bank of the Caribbean, and cur-rently sits on boards of OCm, The Nation Corporation, The Nation Publishing Co. Ltd., PrintWeb Caribbean Ltd., Innogen tech-

nologies Inc. and GraceKennedy money services Caribbean, srL.With regards to volunteer organisations, she chairs the Nation’s

Healthy Lifestyles Project, the Future Centre trust, the Give Back Queen’s College Fundraising Committee and serves as a trustee for the Give Back QC Charity.

mrs. Gittens is married to Don Gittens, a chemist technologist, and they have two grown daughters, Eleanor and Jo-Anne, and four grand-children, Adana, Samuel, Benjamin and Joshua. •

Patricia Affonso-Dass was born in roseau, Domi-nica and moved

to trinidad at the ages of two and later to Antigua before her family settled in Guyana. she gained her bachelor of science degree, with honours, in hospitality and tourism management at Florida International uni-versity. Her love affair with tourism began 23 years ago with her first job with the Caribbean Hotel Associa-tion (now Caribbean Hotel & tourism Association).

Patricia has held many management positions with business hotels, eco-resorts, attractions and leisure properties in both Barbados and Guyana, where she was a founding member and president of the tourism Association of Guyana

since settling in Barbados in 1998, Patricia has managed Bou-gainvillea Beach resort, Ocean Park and Beach View Hotel, and, since september 2009, she has been the group general manager of Ocean Hotels, managing over 200 rooms across three separate three- and four-star properties: south Beach Hotel, sea Breeze

Hotel and Ocean two resort and residences.

A strong team leader, Patricia says that she is constantly encouraging and working with her managers and their teams at the hotels to surpass guest expectations.

Patricia recently completed two years of service as president of the Barbados Hotel & tour-ism Association, prior to

which she served in several positions on the same board over the past eight years, including chairperson of direct tourism services, chairperson of the marketing committee, and second and first vice-president.

As president of the BHtA, Patricia has been an outspoken ad-vocate for the industry on a number of critical issues and worked closely with the government on pending new incentive legislation for the industry. •

vivian-Anne GITTeNSCeO, Nation Corporation, and Publisher & CeO, The Nation Publishing Co. Ltd.

Patricia AFFONSO-DASSGroup General manager, Ocean hotels

In ADDITIon To her LeADING rOLe AT The NATION, mrS. GITTeNS hAS ALSO ServeD AS DePuTY ChAIrmAN OF The FAIr TrADING CommISSIon on THe BOArD OF SAGICOr FINANCIAL INC.

PATrICIA hAS BeeN AN OuTSPOkeN ADvOCATe FOr The TourISm InDuSTrY AnD WorkeD CLOSeLY wITh The GOverNmeNT ON PeNDING New LeGISLATION.



WOMENin Business

Leading

Lisa Gale is the executive director of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI),

and is the first woman to hold that position in the 188-year history of Barbados’ premiere private sector organisation.

In that capacity, Lisa became chair of Barbados ConsOC in 2012 and represented Barbados in El salvador at the annual ConsOC meeting that same year. ConsOCs are a consulting platform created by the Inter-American Development Bank to promote dialogue between civil society organizations in the 26 countries where the IDB operates.

Lisa has also represented Barbados at various meetings as a pri-vate sector official in places like Canada, Peru and The Bahamas.

Prior to joining the BCCI, Lisa worked as an economist with the foreign trade division in the ministry of Foreign Affairs & Foreign trade for over eight years. Overall, she spent almost a de-

cade working as a senior advisor to Government on international trade policy.

she also taught economics for three years at the university of the West Indies. After completing her masters’ degree in inter-national trade policy in 2007, Lisa took specialized training in tourism policy and hotel management. she believes that hard

work and determination have been the hallmark and driving force of her career, and says that “good leadership skills” have benefitted her not only professionally, but privately as well.

she is also a graduate of the school of International Broadcasting and the Pillars of the Palace school of min-istry and Corporate training.

Keeping a good work/life balance is important to Lisa.

she is married and has a young son, and participates actively in her church in dance, drama, motivational speaking and counsel-ling. she is very competitive, she says, loves games and “having a good laugh” or a “good discussion on any topic” with her friends and family. •

After starting her career in 1998 as a reporter with a leading daily

newspaper in trinidad, shelly Ann Hee Chung went on to gain corporate communica-tions’ experience in other sectors before joining mc-Cann Erickson as an account executive. At mcCann she became part of the core team to re-brand the then mobile brand “mpower” to bmobile.”

shelly Ann first joined Columbus in 2005 as manager of marketing and communications for its trinidad operations.

she has handled several different portfolios and directed many branding and communications projects in her time with Colum-bus. For the first five years at the company, shelly played a key role in supporting the development and implementation of the

marketing, sales, product and corporate communications strate-gies. she was also a leading voice for the company in various forums.

After resigning from Columbus 2010 to head a marketing and event management consultancy firm with her husband, shelly Ann returned to Columbus in 2012 as regional director of corporate marketing and com-

munications for the Flow brand, and was responsible for the regional branding efforts and coordination of major Flow product and channel strategies. she also supported the marketing, communication and launch activities for Flow World Barbados, which coincided with the launch of Columbus Barbados operations in April 2013.

today, shelly is vice-president for sales and marketing for the company’s Eastern Caribbean operations, and leads the residential sales, marketing and communica-tions portfolio in Barbados, st.

Lucia, Antigua and st. Vincent & The Grenadines.shelly holds several diplomas in public relations and marketing, and

earned a telecoms Executive mBA while working with Columbus. she is currently pursuing an mBA, specializing in strategic planning. Based in Barbados, shelly finds time for family life and recreation. In her spare time, she enjoys Zumba, the Latin-inspired dance-fitness program, swim-ming, and doing what she calls “boy stuff ” with her three young sons and husband. •

Lisa GALeexecutive Director, Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Shelly Ann hee ChuNGvP for Sales & marketing, Columbus eastern Caribbean Operations

LISA IS The FIrST wOmAN TO hOLD The POST OF exeCuTIve DIreCTor OF The ChAmBer SInCe THe OrGANISATION wAS FOuNDeD NeArLY 200 YeArS AGO.

SheLLY hAS PLAYeD A keY rOLe IN The rOLLOuT OF COLumBuS’ meDIA STrATeGIeS, AND IS A LeADING vOICe FOr The COmPANY IN vArIOuS FOrumS.



WOMENin Business

Leading

A recipient of the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award in 1977, sharon Christie aspired to excellence in her ca-reer. she became a Certified man-

agement Accountant in 1991 after working as an auditor at Pannel K Forster, an Accoun-tant at simpson Group until 1986, and as the supervisor of the Business Advisory Di-vision at PricewaterhouseC-oopers until 1991.

In that year, sharon be-came the Chief Financial Of-ficer of the Kensington Court Group, and was promoted to the post of CEO the follow-ing year, 1992.

The Kensington Court Group operates the subsidiaries H. Jason Jones & Co. Ltd., a wholesale and retail company specializing in frozen food and beverages and building products; and regional Business systems Inc., which provides sales, service and support for It-related business solutions, with special emphasis on the hospitality

industry.Four years after taking up the post of CEO, in 1996, sharon

became a chartered accountant, and went on to gain her mBA at the university of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus in 1998.

Along with her successful career, sharon is passionate about most water sports, especially sailing. “It brings a feeling of

openness and freedom, gives opportunity to my competitive spirit and encompasses the need for teamwork to achieve an embraced common goal,” she says.

she served at the Barbados yacht Club for over 30 years in various roles, up to and including those of vice-commodore and commodore. she also loves to travel and is an

avid amateur golfer.In addition to all her other pursuits, sharon has and continues

to serve on several councils and committees, including as a coun-cil member of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry since 2011, and as chair of The revitalisation of Bridgetown Committee since 2012. “Without passion, life has no meaning, so put your heart, mind and soul into even your smallest acts,” she advises. “This is the secret to life!” •

the name Gaynelle marshall has been synonymous with ‘radio’ in Barbados for

the better part of two decades, even though in the beginning, she didn’t envision her “stint” on radio lasting more than two years.

Gaynelle, who holds an as-sociate degree from Barbados Community College and a diploma in marketing manage-ment from BImAP, began her career on Voice of Barbados dur-ing its transition from 790Am to 92.9Fm at the then Barbados rediffusion services Ltd. - later renamed starcom Network Inc. - in 1995. she honed her talents in the fast-paced environment of the station, becoming expert in broadcasting skills, including interviewing, doing commercial voice-overs, remote (outside)

broadcasting, scripting and promotion design.In 1997 she moved over from VOB to the then 104.1 yEss

Fm, which later became Love Fm, and in 2001 took on the role of supervisor for that station, managing all on-air personalities, as well as programming. This was whole new territory for her,

and she faced many challenges in the day-to-day operations of a radio station, while new radio stations were emerging across the island.

twelve years later, the opportunity arose for her to leave starcom and be-come the programme manager for the new y103.3 Fm, a sister station to sLAm

101.1Fm, both members of the new Power Broadcast-ing Network.

The station was launched in late march 2014. The new challenge is exciting, and Gaynelle faces it with enthu-

siam. “It is my goal to bring the highest standard of radio to the region, and to ensure that radio continues to hold a place of high prominence in fast changing, Internet centric world,” she says. •

Sharon CHrISTIeCeO, kensington Court Group

Programme manager, Y103.3 FmGaynelle mArShALL

wIThOuT PASSION, LIFe hAS NO meANING,” SAYS ShArON, whO NOT ONLY LeADS her COmPANY, BuT hAS ServeD WITH THe BCCI AND ITS revITALISATION OF BrIDGeTOwN CommITTee.

Over The YeArS, GAYNeLLe hONeD her TALeNTS IN The FAST-PACeD wOrLD OF rADIO, ALL PrePArING her FOr A New rOLe AS PrOGrAmme mANAGer wITh Y103.3 Fm.



WOMENin Business

Leading

On October 1, 2012, after sixty years as one of the leading companies in its sector, realtors Ltd. was split into two entities. The first, realtors real Estate Ltd., does sales, long term-rentals, valuations and auctioneering, and the second, which retains the original company name of realtors Ltd., does property management and villa rentals.

On that day, suzanne Davis became the major share-holder, chairperson and managing director of realtors real Estate Ltd.

Back in 1987, suzanne had joined realtors Ltd. as personal assistant to the managing director, michael Parravicino. In that role, she says, she was able to learn the business from her boss, whom she has described as “the foremost of teachers.”

In 1993, suzanne was promoted to the post of manager of reservations and sales, and in 2002, upon michael’s death, she became general manager of the company.

In 2008, with the opening of a realtors branch at Hastings, Christ Church, suzanne became manager of south coast branch sales & prop-erty management, and a year later the company’s manager of real estate & business development. suzanne says that she became successful in her chosen field because of the rapport she has been able to build with her

clients and over the years has developed a loyal client base. since 2003, suzanne has served on the committee of Barbados Estate

and Valuers Association Inc. (BEAVA), first as secretary, then vice-presi-dent from 2004 to 2006. she first served as its president from 2007-2009 and once again, from 2011 to the present.

she balances her career with being a mother, wife, activist, and student of art. suzanne has also been involved with rotary Barbados as a partner in service, through which she started both the Junior and senior special Needs

classes at the ursuline school, as well as assisting with the opening of the school House for special Needs, on whose board she serves.

suzanne is responsible for introducing the on-going fund raising for these projects in the hope of building a new facility to be able to accommodate more students and to have a wider scope of activities for them. she is also very involved with other rotary fund-raising

activities for breast cancer research and care, the Geriatric Hospital and orphanages.

Of the company, suzanne says proudly that “realtors real Estate Ltd. has cultivated a sales department with vivacious energy,” whose personnel work together “to create the best possible experience for their clients.” •

Suzanne DAvISmanaging Director, realtors real estate Ltd.

BeSIDeS heLPING TO BuILD A mAjOr reAL eSTATe FIrm, SuzANNe heLPS rAISe FuNDS FOr kIDS wITh SPeCIAL NeeDS


HIGHLY CREATIVE from a very young age, Sunset Sealy graduated from Harrison College in 1998 and went on to obtain her bachelor of fine arts degree from the Barbados Communi-ty College, followed by a masters in advertis-

ing design from the Savannah College of Art & Design. She had began freelancing in the design and advertis-ing field while still a student at BCC, and in 2010, Sun-set established Strawberry Samurai, a creative design and photography agency. She says that was when she “began taking things more seriously,” attracting bigger clients which meant “more work.”

Now 32, Sunset says that the strength of her business lies in “capturing those amazing moments from the kiss on your wedding day… to producing ads that make people want to tear them out of magazines.” Her aim has always been to pro-duce truly “unforgettable” work. “I’ve learned a lot, I’m grow-ing, my work is definitely improving, so I say I’m on my way to achieving my objectives,” she says.

Sunset explains that her major challenge starting out was the general stigma associated with careers in the creative arts. “Being in the creative field, it was difficult at first to get people to understand that this was my way of life and not just a hobby.” She maintains that in her experience, creative professionals are not taken seriously in Barbados, and while she feels it is very slowly improving, it still poses a great chal-lenge to her and raises her ire in the approach some people have to her profession. “I’m not taking photographs for fun, I’m taking them to pay my bills,” she says. “So no, I can’t just ‘walk with my camera’ or ‘sketch it up real quick’ for you.”

Sunset does consider her business to be part of a niche market in Barbados, as the arts tend to be marginalized in fa-vour of more socially acceptable careers in medicine, law and the like. As such, she feels that there are few creative profes-sionals who truly strive for excellence, “because they figure ‘what’s the point?’”

She relishes the opportunities to preserve memories, cap-ture moments, and create arresting content. Like any small business, she would like “more business, more consistently,” but she says that she hasn’t noticed a huge decline in busi-ness even with the lean economic climate. “People are still getting married, getting pregnant, and having it all photo-graphed,” she explains. “People are still building business that need to be branded.”

At Strawberry Samurai, based from Sunset’s home, she handles

all the design and branding for her business, and for photography partners with her boyfriend, also a photographer. She explains that photography is generally done on location, and she outsources printers, makeup artists, designers, and the like. Social media, Sunset says, is vital to her business, having received “massive” exposure and referrals via her Facebook page and other social media platforms such as Twitter and her website. Sunset also exhibits work at various expos throughout the year, such as Animekon.

“My clients tell me that my business personality and my fun-loving character definitely reveal themselves in my work. I think I’m a different kind of creative to what exists presently, and it definitely works in my favour.” Sunset’s future plan, she says playfully, is to “take over the world of design and photography. Seriously.” •

YoungProfessionals

GrAPhIC DeSIGN

SuNSeT SeALYCreating ads that make people want to tear them out of magazines

“CLIENTS SAY MY BUSINESS PERSONALITY AND FUN-LOVING CHARACTER REVEAL THEMSELVES IN MY WORK. I THINK I’M A DIFFERENT KIND OF CREATIVE.”

Photographer, graphic artist and designer Sunset Sealy. (Photo courtesy Sunset Sealy)


ANDRE HAREWOOD, a self-professed “highly creative person with a background in writing and drama,” wanted a job that would be well suited to his strengths and talents. In his final year at the UWI Campus pursuing a degree in

English Literature, he answered an ad for radio announc-ers from the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation.

After a few interviews, he was offered the job., and began in 2004 as a trainee on 98.1 FM and 94.7 FM. Six years ago he moved permanently to Q100.7 FM. Andre tells Young Professionals that “learning how best to use the various computer programs for playing music and ads as well as for sound editing was relatively easy,” and he enjoyed his training.

He explains that developing exceptional time manage-ment is crucial, and that radio announcers need to have vocal training, as well as training in advertisement and news reading. Andre says he was also given courses in libel and defamation, which have served him well.

His greatest challenge has been in managing on-air call-ers and guests. “You can encounter guests with very strong personalities and views, or who meander off topic, or who are terrified of being live on air, or who have any number of quirks that might not make for good radio. I had to learn early on how to be helpful yet firm in making sure interviews ran smoothly and without grounds for a libel suit.” Andre, now 33, has been doing this for ten years, and still loves it. He enjoys the challenge of engaging his audience.

“It’s always a balancing act between trying to determine what our audience wants and how best to give it do them. There’s also the need to present things that go beyond simple entertainment and information, things to positively impact listeners’ lives.” He continues to say that planning each show to make sure it’s as engaging as it can be for listeners is extremely important. This involves selecting music, sourc-ing interesting news stories, inviting interesting guests and extensively researching the topics at hand, managing live events on-air, creating series of shows based on Independence or Crop-Over, for example, and little personal touches like his “weird trivia” tips, all in an effort to be both entertaining and informative. “Q FM is very much about community outreach,” Andre notes.

He says that he tries to keep things light-hearted on air, and also to share inspirational stories which really connect with people, espe-cially during these rough economic times. “I’m usually the one in the studio when the other announcers go out and have their face-to-face interaction with the public, but I also connect with my listeners via phone calls, requests, emails, and we’ve recently had a chat room set up on our website.”

Andre says that the way his career is perceived by the public is mixed. “On one hand, there’s the sense that you’re doing something special, and there’s an appreciation for that. On the other hand, some people think all you do is turn on the mic and start talking, that anyone can do it.”

Knowing what he personally puts into each of his radio shows but also the misconceptions that surround any creative job, Andre says, “we radio announcers are a special sort. You have to be special to sit in a little box and effectively talk to yourself for hours on end.” •

BrOADCASTING

AnDre HAreWooDenjoys the challenge of engaging, and sometimes inspiring, his audience as a radio personality.

KNOWING THE MISCONCEPTIONS THAT SURROUND ANY CREATIVE JOB, ANDRE SAYS, “WE RADIO ANNOUNCERS ARE A SPECIAL SORT. YOU HAVE TO BE SPECIAL TO SIT IN A LITTLE BOx AND EFFECTIVELY TALK TO YOURSELF FOR HOURS ON END.”

Broadcasting personality André Harewood. (Photo courtesy André Harewood)

YoungProfessionals


Tamica Lawrence, born in Trinidad to a Trinida-dian mother and a Barbadian father, came to live in Barbados at the age of two. She at-tended Harrison College and then went on to study medicine at the UWI St. Augustine Cam-

pus in Trinidad. After medical school, Tamica came home to Barbados to do her internship, and then returned to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to begin her postgraduate training in obstetrics and gynaecology.

Tamica chose this specialty, she says, because she found that it fit her personality best. “The patients requiring an OB/GYN’s services are not always sick,” she explains. “Even when they are sick, generally their prob-lem can be solved, (whereas) in some specialties the inevitable is just being delayed, and I find that depress-

ing.” The added bonus for

her is that caring for a mother and baby, which is for the most part a happy time for the patients and their fami-lies, provides a “unique perspective” for her.

Tamica says she did not enter the medical profession for the po-tential financial return. Rather, she chose to

pursue Medicine because, “I like the puzzle of disease…putting the pieces together until they fit into a diagno-sis. You can only help a sick person if you can figure out what is wrong with them!”

Tamica muses that studying medicine is challenging be-cause of the sheer volume of material involved. As a young person, it can be hard “to watch all your friends having time off and enjoying themselves when you’re exhausted and stuck in the library,” she says, adding that “it was also really hard to be away from my family and support system while studying overseas.” She goes on to tell how, during her final exams, she

became so ill from stress and the heavy work load that her mother had to fly out to be with her and take care of her so that she could complete her exams.

Tamica says that the current economic climate has only affected her in that, as a doctor at a hospital, there is always a small worry that contracts can be terminated if the hospital has a problem with funding. Another challenge she faces is studying while still working the long shift hours kept by doc-tors. She does plan to specialize further when she completes her postgraduate course.

For Tamica, the rewards of watching a patient get bet-ter and being able to leave the hospital through her efforts, alongside those of her team, are exceeded “only by the experi-ence of happy mothers who squeal when they see me and hand me the babies I delivered.” •

meDICIne

TAmICA LAwreNCefinds her true calling as a doctor in obstetrics and gynaecology

DURING HER ExAMS, SHE RECALLS, SHE BECAME SO ILL FROM STRESS THAT HER MOTHER HAD TO FLY OUT TO TAKE CARE OF HER SO THAT SHE COULD COMPLETE THEM.

Dr. Tamica Lawrence. (Photo courtesy Tamica Lawrence)

YoungProfessionals


FROM AN EARLY AGE, says Ben Norris, he was interested in pursuing a career in law. While at Harrison College, he says, “I enjoyed writing and problem solving. I also focused on business studies, accounts and history - not quite your

‘typical’ combination!” Benjamin explains that he went for this combination because “they are areas of core competency and transitioned well into the legal profes-sion.”

Now an attorney-at-law in the litigation group at Clarke Gittens Farmer, where he also did his internship, Benjamin says that he never intended to go into that area of the profes-sion, but rather “just sort of ‘fell’ into it.” He specializes in civil litigation, real estate law, foreign judgments and labour and employment, among other things.

After completing his secondary education, Benjamin ob-tained his bachelor of laws degree with honours from the University of London in 2006. He went on to complete the legal practice course at B.P.P. Law School at Holborn and a masters in international business and management at the University of Westminster in 2008. He then undertook legal studies in New York, being admitted in June 2010 as an attor-ney and counselor at law in all courts of the state of New York. Completing his transitional course in 2011 at Hugh Wood-ing Law School in Trinidad and receiving his legal education certificate, Benjamin was admitted to the Barbados bar that same year.

Benjamin recalls that during his undergraduate studies, he struggled with some of the more abstract concepts and prin-ciples of law. It was when he moved to the professional train-ing that his “love and appreciation for the legal profession” truly began to grow. “At this stage I could see the correlation between legal principles and their real world application...to solve clients’ actual problems.”

The current economic climate has affected Benjamin in that, as he says, there has been an increased demand in the recov-ery, insolvency and litigation fields. While it means a heavy workload for him, he maintains that he is excited for the “op-portunity to gain experience in different areas and deal with many different problems and issues faced by our clients.”

Benjamin is very particular about his approach to clients, aiming to not just be a lawyer but also an adviser in an effort to find the “optimum solution” to his clients’ needs. So far he considers himself fortunate to have assisted in several high-profile matters in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal. Future plans include branching out into more real estate law. He also hopes to be involved in some Caribbean Court of Justice matters in the future.

For him, a young newlywed, “juggling work commitments while keeping a reasonable work/family life is always a chal-lenge,” Benjamin says. He explains, however, that his wife is very understanding in his push to “soak up as much knowl-edge and experience” as he can while still being “fresh in the field of law.”

As he continues on his journey in the field, Benjamin main-tains that he is grateful for the opportunities having been afforded to him working with Clarke Gittens Farmer. “I enjoy litigation,” he explains, “and the diversity it brings to my career. I enjoy tackling new issues head-on and being able to find real-world solutions which may not always be based purely in law or the court room.” •

LAw

Ben norrISFinds a growing love for the law in its real-world application

AS A NEWLYWED, HE SAYS, JUGGLING WORK AND FAMILY LIFE CAN BE A CHALLENGE AS HE TRIES TO GAIN MORE KNOWLEDGE AND ExPERIENCE IN THE LAW.

Attorney-at-Law Benjamin Norris. (Photo courtesy Ben Norris)

YoungProfessionals


and gave me a shot,” he says, “and four-and-a-half years later, here we are, with two radio stations and doing well.” Those two stations are the hugely suc-cessful slam 101.1 Fm and its new sister station,

y103.3 Fm.Looking back,

he thinks mr. Elias gave him the shot because of his “fighting spirit.” But the reality was that there were already well over a dozen radio stations on the island,” says richard, “so it was knocking on doors and sometimes be-ing told ‘no’. But it was nothing that I have not been ac-customed to from the time I left uni-versity - being told ‘no’ and having to prove why I think

it should be ‘yes’. That’s life.”south Central, born out of desperation, is now

a growing young company. Clients include smJ Jaleel (beverages); Power Broadcasting (slam 101.1 Fm & y103.3 Fm radio stations); The Na-tional Cultural Foundation (arts and culture); Coconut Walk, Bridge street mall and sky mall (retail space); Burger King (fast food); EtAs Vocational training (education); Baje International (event promotion); Laff It Off Productions (annual comedy revue); The Ackee

tree (restaurant); Esso Hastings (service station); and sandals Barbados (all-inclusive resort).

Deejays and artistes represented by south Central in-clude rupee, Bobo, Nikita, salt, Gorg, CiCi, Infamous HD, DJ rass, Wizard, Verseewild and smokey Burke, and King Bubba.

BAJE INtErNAtIONAL, meantime, was en-joying growth in both numbers and brand im-age. “We used to do a band with 2,500 people on the road, but we limit it now to 1,500,” he

says, “because the experience is what really builds the brand, not the numbers. We also measure our success by how many people know us globally - we get hits from all over the world.” In fact, he says, half of Baje’s revellers are from abroad.

Baje International, he says, “has been such a powerful catalyst for me, in terms of catapulting my brand out to the world. I owe Baje so much for that, you know, because entertainment screams loud. When you’re in entertainment and you do well, people hear you. you can work in an office all day and do brilliant things and no one may ever know who you are. so I’ve always taken the value of Baje and balanced it with financial gain, because without it I would have had to invest so much money, time and effort to get my name and what I do out there.”

“The old man would be happy.”His younger brother Kashka manages the real estate

holdings left by his father for the family. “I think the old man would be very happy, with me going out there and taking the family name in new directions, and Kashka being the anchor and keeping the family business solid.”

richard got married three years ago to the former michelle Gay. richard has two sons, 16-year-old Agyei and 15-year-old Kai, and a nine-year-old daughter, Jada, from previous relationships. Early this year, the couple had their first child together, whom they named Cruz.

Looking to the future, richard says he is excited, both for his businesses and the country. “When I look back at the last five years and all that has happened, I am just thankful. To be honest, I love what I do.”•

it was nothing that i had not Been accustomed to from the time i left university - Being told ‘no’ and having to prove why i think it should be ‘yes’.

“

“Just read our “up close and personal” stories on Richard Haynes, Gordon “ButchStewart, Ralph Taylor, Elias Habib, Paul Altman and Bernie Weather-head, or any of our profiles of rising young professionals, and you’ll see what we mean. We’re passionate about our report-ing and we hope it shows.

We are read. By thousands of entrepreneurs, ex-ecutives and professionals in Barbados, both in print and online.They represent an upscale demographic. If you want to reach this market, give us a call.

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It’s business. And it’s personal.

RICHARD HAYNES - Continued from page 11

InBusiness


oUTlook

InBusiness

an EConomy In SErIoUS TroUBlEby Ryan Straughn

THIs ArtICLE examines the issue of profits, taxation and its relationship with business con-fidence. By necessity the private sector builds their various busi-

nesses in the pursuit of above-normal profits rather than normal profits.

Normal profit is profit that is just sufficient to ensure that a firm will continue to supply its existing goods or services. Further, if the level of profit earned in a particular market is too low to generate a return on capital employed comparable in other equally risky markets, then the firm’s resources will be transferred to some other use. Therefore, it is the pursuit of above-normal profits over the long run that by nature incentivizes the firm, business person, entrepreneur, partners, and shareholders to continue reinvesting.

All firms from time to time may realize real eco-nomic losses but have a legitimate expectation that over the long term their profitability would more than make up for periodic losses. Thus, as a matter of course, the management of all firms routinely examines the overall market dynamics in order to assess and address the following:

• Whether it is worthwhile pursuing the existing line of business

• whether diversification of product and services offerings will deliver greater returns

• whether to devise appropriate exit strategies.Naturally the performance of firms is largely de-

termined by market forces in general but certainly also by the level and intensity of economic activity. As business people we all want to pay less by way of taxation as this allows for more returns to investors and shareholders along with enhancing the oppor-tunity for firms to reinvest more into the company to allow for greater expansion whether domesti-cally or in foreign markets.

Governments and central banks must always be concerned about the state of the domestic economy since it is the clearest barometer for both business and consumer confidence. more specifically, the business climate should and must inform public policy because it is firms and their associated em-ployment generation opportunities that allows a

wide range of taxes to be levied in order to provide public goods and services. The vibrancy of the domestic busi-ness climate also plays a significant role in attracting foreign investment. When local firms are making above-normal profits, this demonstrates that the strength of the economy is sup-porting possible new entrants to the market (foreign or domestic), the pursuit of other opportunities and therefore the activation of new investment.

Figure 1 shows the performance of corporation tax revenue collection over the period 2006/2007 to 2013/2014.

The objective observer not knowing the complete circumstances surrounding the Barbados economy could only conclude that there was some drastic re-duction in the rate of tax levied on firms. Because there is simply no other reasonable explanation for the performance of this category of taxation over the period.

A policy to depress economic activityThis brings me to confidence. The objective ob-

server/new investor would be horrified to know and note that it is the expressed policy of both the Gov-ernment of Barbados and the Central Bank of Bar-bados to depress economic activity in the domestic space. The proper translation is that this twinned fiscal and monetary policy effectively means that firms will over the foreseeable future observe less than above-normal profits, which erodes business confidence.

With the exception of tax rates on international business companies, which projected a net loss of $23 million in the last two years, there was no re-duction in corporate tax rates, but the decline in corporate taxes collected over the past six consecu-tive years is the clearest and most decisive indica-

Ryan Straughn is Managing Director of Abelian Consulting Services

if the level of profit is too low to generate a return on capital, the firm’s resources will Be transferred to some other use.

““

outlook

InBusiness

Fiscal Year Corporate Taxes ($ million)

% (+/-)

2006/2007 445.5 2007/2008 521.0 16.9% 2008/2009 447.2 -14.2% 2009/2010 372.8 -16.6% 2010/2011 294.2 -21.1% 2011/2012 286.1 -2.8% 2012/2013 261.4 -8.6% 2013/2014 181.5 -30.6%

tion of the trading environment firms have been operating under. What is particularly alarming is that the absolute level for the fiscal year 2013/2014 is approximately 60% less than in 2006-07.

Therefore, unless one is enticed by significant concessions and other tax incentives it would be difficult for any new entrant to enter the Barbados market space and invest significant capital when existing businesses are experiencing significantly less profits than in previous periods.

These numbers indicate an economy in serious trouble because when businesses, foreign-exchange earning or not, fail to realise even normal profits, then the management of firms have to make criti-

cal decisions as they relate to the continuation of operations.

Without the specific details available, I conclude that the magnitude of the reduction in corporate tax revenue must span across the various sectors and industries of the economy. Though some in-dividual companies may be doing better relative to their competitors or even when compared to their own past performance, these figures communicate an environment that is particularly hostile to doing business.

Declining return on investment Our ability as private enterprise to attract new

investment has been deliberately compromised by both fiscal and monetary policy, and these latest figures are the proof of the pudding.

The private sector is by no means a homogenous grouping but we all exist to deliver returns on in-vestment to our shareholders, business partners and investors. We all employ persons or engage services to provide the range of goods and services we offer to our clients and customers. Therefore, as business people we must be concerned when our fiscal and monetary authorities embark on policies and programmes that inhibit the realisation of our long-term goals. Even more importantly, is that the private sector must also be prepared to act if only in its own self-interest.•

Performance of corporation tax revenue collection 2006-07 to 2013-14

inbusiness summer 2014 edition

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