IBI GROUP PROJECT  ROADMAP

TTCA Membership: To be updated, yearly subscription.  

INTRODUCTION:

It is very important to look back before we can discuss the best fit to revitalize the small business sector and the financial resources budgeted or available to undertake the MI Group Moruga / Tableland Economic Job Creation Task.  Building a sustainable community.  Providing the ILO footprint with basic needs.  

1.  Food.

2.  Clothing.

3.  Shelter.

4.  Security 

5.  Health and Essential Services.

My Experiences: History

1.   I started a business in the early 70s.  Income was $271,104.00.  We employed 10 to 12 persons part-time and some full-time.

2.   We established Conza Tailoring Establishment - A Boutique at Belmont Circular Road.  My first loan was from Mr. Bird, the Marketing Manager at Republic Bank Park Street.$17,000.00 TT.

3.   Jawara Mobota incorporated Conza Garment Limited, and we established the Garment Factory on George Street, Port of Spain.  

4.   We employed 45 women full-time manufacturing garments for Stephen and Johnstons, Numbers, Kirpalani, exporting to Barbados and Venezuela.

5.   We invested in the Construction Sector, Mike and Associates Construction.  We employed 30-40 men based on the company's activities.  The HDC John John Fire Victims Project was our first government project.  I almost lost my life due to non-payment by HDC.  Workers smashed up my office and attacked me at my home.

6.   The company lost over $ 1.5 million, and the following projects were all abandoned due to government policy.

a.    Fish Processing Plant and Ice Plant in Moruga. Canadian Development Bank, Mr. Don Frazer, the bank's Consultant, conducted the feasibility study.  Minister Mahabir said my project was a government project.  Ministry of Agriculture - The Government built a fishing facility on Moruga Beach.

b.    Purchase Cocoa Estate - 10 Acres.  Rehab Estate and plans to build a 12 Room Resort Hotel.  The National Petroleum and Government stopped maintaining access roads, and when we tried to keep them ourselves, the Ministry of Agriculture refused to permit us.  The drawings and plans are still with the Engineering Division.  The last time we spoke to the Agriculture Department was in 2019.  The Ministry of Agriculture has had all our project documentation since 1983.  We are in 2025.  Nothing was done to coordinate or support my company in achieving its objective: developing our cocoa estate.  

   c.  Due to Government Policy, the Textile and Garment Sector went bankrupt.  Reasons: The Government's issuance of import licenses to local retail stores to import foreign garments and the shutdown of the Textile Mill in Arima were significant factors.  The country had oil and gas. 

Conza Garment Limited Was a Member of the Cit-tural Art Gill Association.

Dr. Eric William, the Prime Minister, stopped the importation of foreign tailor-made suits and established training in the following subjects at John S. Donaldson Technical Institute: 1.  Garment Construction, 

2.  Designing and Pattern-making, Textile. 

3.  Training Small Businessmen.

                    The Government Shutdown all Those Institutions. 

We were members of the Garment Manufacturers Association, with Mathew Gonzales as President.  The government established a Garment Monitoring Committee, appointed Jeweler Jack De Limer as President, and opened the license system for local retailers to import garments using our foreign exchange.  The following items were imported.

 Ladies' underwear, sleeping clothes, 

Shirts, 

Suits, 

Denim pants, 

T-shirts, 

Hats, 

Shoes, 

Safety Wear.  

Products Glamour Girls, Juman, Elite, and Kay Shirt Factory were exported.  Trinidad and Tobago lost 120 garment factories.  See the Pounder Report.  Inquire Into The Textile and Garment Industry.

I lost my company, and I migrated from Trinidad under life-threatening circumstances.  I refused to be silent and spoke my mind when I appeared in front of the Commission of Inquiries—the Pounder Inquiries.

John S. Donaldson Jr., an Ambassador, arrived in the US and spoke to Trinidadians and Tobagonians at Mega Evas College.  Encouraging us to come home. 

On my return home, I incorporated  Project Management Limited for Joyce Stewart, Trinidad and Tobago Overseas Collation.  (TTOC).  I was fired, and I established Inch By Inch Construction and Manufacturing Limited. 

IBI completed many government contracts but faced one major issue: timely payment from the government.  In this case, 15 years have passed, and the matter remains before the Court of Arbitration for a decision, despite the government's concession.  The HDC, the line ministry refused to negotiate and settle the claim. 

I had to sell commercial property #1 on Winston Mahabir Street, San Fernando, to pay debts and legal fees, and abandon projects we had been pre-qualified to tender for. 

1.   Inter Connect.  A Consortium of Small Contractors.

2.   Joint Venture with American Company - Transfer of Construction Technology.  Site visit to San Fernando for the Mayaro Project.  Pre-qualified.Debe To Point Fortin. 

RECOMMENDATIONS: 

CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURING SECTOR:

1.     Training of Work Study Engineers and Arbitrators professionals.

See the Uff Commission  Report - Inquiries into all Aspects of the Construction Sector,  Recommendation Of the Trinidad and Tobago Contractors Association,  Management Development Center- World Bank Funding, Managed by ILO.

RECOMMENDATIONS AGRICULTURE SECTOR:

1.     Management Development Center- World Bank Funding, Managed by ILO.  

2.     Centeno Training Facilities, UWI Institute of Agriculture.  ( ECIAF ).

Rev. Bishop Victor Phillip, Chairman / Director, Inch By Inch Construction and Manufacturing Limited, Mission of Faith  Management Organization.  President. 

MI Group.

IBI GROUP

                       INCH BY INCH CONSTRUCTION

                   AND  MANUFACTURING LIMITED

                                                 MISSION OF FAITH MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION        

     PERSPECTIVES ON BUSINESS RESILIENCE IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

                                                  ILO REPORT 

IBI GROUP Summary: According to the Trinidad and Tobago Central Statistical Office.

Mini micros have one employee, including owner/manager, and a sales turnover per annum of TT$250,000;

Micro-enterprises have 1 to 5 employees and a turnover of up to TT$1,000,000;

Small enterprises have 6-25 employees and a sales turnover of up to TT$8,000,000; 

While medium enterprise has a complement of 26-50 employees and a sales turnover of up to TT$10,000,000.

Moreover, Trinidad and Tobago has approximately 20,000 – 25,000 SMEs, representing roughly 85 percent of all registered businesses and contributing more than 30 percent to the country's GDP.

Business Resilience:

 A strategic objective intended to help an organization withstand, adapt, and thrive in the face of shocks that are internal and external, as well as known and unanticipated.  A highly resilient organization is more adaptive, competitive, agile, and robust than less resilient organizations and rebounds from adversity strengthened and more resourceful.  The six dimensions of resilience are:

1.      Financial resilience,

2.      Operational resilience,

3.      Technological resilience,

4.      Organizational resilience,

5.      Reputational resilience.     

6.   Business model.

The interconnecting management process identifies potential threats to an organization and their impacts on business operations, assesses the consequences if realized, and provides a framework for building organizational resilience with the capability for an effective response that safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand, and value-creating activities.

             Development of a Business Continuity Plan Includes Four Steps

(i)    Conduct a business impact analysis to identify time-sensitive or critical business functions and processes and the resources that support them;

(ii)    Identify, document, and implement to recover critical business functions and processes;

(iii) Organize a business continuity team and compile a business continuity plan to manage a business disruption; and

(iv)  Conduct training for the business continuity team and testing and exercises to evaluate recovery strategies and the plan.

                                         Hazards And Risks In Any Given Year

SMEs in Trinidad and Tobago face the following hazards and risks.

1. Corruption,

2. Crime,

3. Extortion,

4. Theft,

5. Earthquakes,

6. Floods,

7. Other extreme precipitation events,

8. Hazardous material spill,

9. Industrial fire,

10. Livestock disease,

11. Pandemics and epidemics,

12. Protests and civil unrest,

13. Ransomware and other cyber-attacks,

14. Strikes,

15. Tropical cyclones and other storm events,

16. Utility outage (electricity, water, internet),

17. Wildfires, Workplace accidents, and

18. Biodiversity loss.

Resilience-focused SMEs are essential catalysts for developing business resilience policies in Trinidad and Tobago, given their agility, entrepreneurship, and ability to innovate, as well as their role in providing livelihoods.

The research uncovered that many of the hazards and risks faced by individual companies would indicate the primary resilience focus areas of the respective organizations.  These focus areas were broadly categorized into organizational (strategic level), operational (day-to-day operations), reputational, and technological.  Without a business continuity plan in place, organizations tend to focus on mitigating identified risks rather than on future, unknown possibilities.

Challenges:

In their efforts to become more resilient, SMEs face multiple challenges in developing and implementing business continuity plans and strategies.  These tend to cluster around the following areas:

1.  Lack of skills and know-how regarding risk management and business continuity;

2.  Scarce financial resources to allocate to the development, implementation, and sustainability of a business continuity plan, as well as limited access to contingency funds to finance recovery activities;

3.  Lack of awareness of risks and their potential impact on business, and Inadequate incentives geared explicitly toward addressing business resilience.

                            Key Takeaways From Research Findings

i.  There is a multitude of risks affecting local SMEs, but many of them are not fully prepared to face those risks in terms of preparedness plans, access to contingency funds, and insurance.

 ii.  The top business resilience trend is the focus on operational resilience factors such as finance, 

human resources, and supply chain issues.  Organizational resilience was the second most common trend, reflecting businesses' adjustments to a changing operating environment.  Technological resilience was the third emerging trend for businesses, as they sought to address technological advances and cyberattacks.

 iii.   The ECA members do understand that there is resilience training available to them, and they do trust the ECA to deliver practical training.  Member interviews also revealed a clear scope to expand the SURE project in more industry-specific ways. 

iv.  There needs to be constant communication with SMEs on the benefits of planning as a risk-mitigating activity, and the adoption of a more long-term focus for business continuity. 

v.  There is a need for SMEs to continue collaborating and to network to be able to solve problems, as opposed to remaining very isolated and experiencing problems that other companies have already dealt with, often only collaborating to share risk-related warnings.

iv.  Within the public sector, there are several support entities, such as NEDCO, TTBS, and the Enterprise Development Division of the new Ministry of Youth Development and National Service.  These entities are significant parts of the SME business ecosystem; however, they often operate in silos, and there is currently a period where the Government's strategic policies for SMEs are being revised to include long-term business resilience initiatives, as opposed to short-term measures outlined in the Roadmap to Recovery document of the Ministry of Planning and Development.  

Public entities need to operate more uniformly, and their service offerings need to be better communicated to stakeholders as a comprehensive offering to help SMEs prepare for and overcome challenges that test the resilience of their businesses.

Recommendations:

1. The evidence compiled in this study points to four critical success factors for building SME resilience in Trinidad and Tobago.  These are.  Building capacity and providing applicable guidance for SMEs to strengthen their organizational resilience.

2. Accessing external support mechanisms for financial strengthening in terms of risk insurance and contingency funds in the event of a severe disruption.

3. SMEs are working more collaboratively amongst themselves and with wider industry associations to broaden their networks and develop workable solutions to address hazards.

4. Developing a more unified and coordinated Governmental support framework that has a strategic focus on business resilience among SMEs

Company Limited (NEDCO) Interviewee:

Strategic Planner Theme:

State Implementation Of Business Resilience Policy:

 The research team was advised that NEDCO, a State enterprise, has a mandate to develop MSEs in Trinidad and Tobago.  The seven pillars of NEDCO's 2018 revised mandate broadened the company's scope of operations.  Apart from financing and training, it now includes policy and strategy development; nationwide coordination of entrepreneurial development; implementation of MSE programs, development of marketing networks, and advocacy.

Key Insights:

The Government's Micro and Small Enterprise policy 2014-2016 guides NEDCO.  The government's Policy for medium- and large-sized enterprises is issued by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

 The four entities that comprise the State's MSE portfolio are:

1.      The Enterprise Development Division,

2.      NEDCO,

3.      The Co-operative

4.      Development Division and 

5.      Friendly Societies.

NEDCO Oversees the MSE Sector.

 The Government's policy framework lacked a focus on business resilience, instead focusing on capacity.  To that end, NEDCO introduced a pilot project to access TTS:626, the Standard for best practices for MSEs. "The pilot stopped, but the intent was to introduce MSEs to competencies and to treat the gap as it relates to their management practices.  This was the ‘baby standard’ to ISO 9001." This project was executed with the now-dissolved consultancy arm of TTBS.

NEDCO is currently working together with TTBS to revise a similar project aligned to the National Quality Policy. “TTBS uses NEDCO as a funnel for relevant standards to MSEs.” NEDCO creates an access point for MSEs with TTBS standards.

There Is No Specific Legislation:

There is no specific legislation development for SMEs in Trinidad and Tobago. "There isn’t a voice or an appreciation for this sector.  Medium and large enterprises are the louder voices." There is little appreciation for the challenges that MSEs face.  A petition can be made to have legislative change through the policy arm at MYDNS.

 A contributing factor to this lack of voice is the shortage of reliable data on stakeholders of MSEs and their challenges, which prevents periodic assessment of their issues.  NEDCO will undertake business ecosystem mapping shortly to help resolve this.  Currently, there is a lack of a unified cross-governmental policy for MSEs; however, “as it relates to business resilience, coming out of COVID-19, the Ministry of Finance did a good job of being a repository for all interventions for the business community, including MSEs.”

This is how NEDCO administered the Entrepreneurial Relief Grant.  The Roadmap to Recovery document (version 2) addresses a unified MSE policy and business resilience.  It provides a medium-term policy framework to attain Vision 2030.

 The interviewee agreed with the proposition that the Government should draft an updated unified SME policy strategy document with a focus on business resilience.

 A recent incentive for MSEs on business continuity was a rebate for investing in technology, which would have been announced in the 2021/2022 National Budget statement.

 The interviewee agreed that such incentives would encourage more MSEs to invest in developing and implementing business continuity and disaster recovery plans and strategies.  "MSEs understood the need for a continuity and resilience plan when they had to access the Entrepreneurial Relief Grant.”

NEDCO has applied for additional project funding to develop a UNIDO Workbook for individuals to develop strategies to address risks and ensure business continuity.  The company was also considering offering new financial products, some of which were geared toward risk financing.

 Having completed the SURE Pilot Programme, the interviewee agreed with the proposition that there is a need to strengthen the capacity of NEDCO to incorporate business continuity planning (BCP) into their feasibility assessments of SME loan applications, through the enrolment of its frontline staff in the ECASURE business resilience training program, or some type of other training.

 Business Resilience initiatives and business continuity planning can be incorporated into NEDCO's offerings to SMEs. As we advance, they "need to now look at global risk assessment and do so routinely." Although the Government already has the Roadmap to Recovery document, which incorporates business resilience, some aspects may have been underserved, and NEDCO can internally review it to develop additional policies.

Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) Interviewee:

Senior Economist at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

 Theme:  Understanding the Existing Business Resilience Policy for Medium Enterprises:

The interviewee indicated that MTI is one of the Government's frontline ministries.  The MTI's core responsibility is to grow trade, business, and investment, particularly by driving the non-energy sectors of the economy and aggressively developing business and industry.

Key Insight:

The Government's two primary policy documents concerning SMEs are the Trade Policy and Roadmap to Recovery.  The latter document takes business resilience into account.  Both documents include provisions for SMEs; however, neither has a general policy specifically addressing that group.  SMEs can benefit from all the Ministry's incentives.  The MTI has a Business Development Directorate, within which there are units to address niche growth sectors, such as the creative industries (music and fashion) and the commercial and leisure maritime industries.

University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) Interviewee:

Chairman of the Board of Directors

 Theme: Long-Term Future-Mapping for Business Resilience Amongst Entrepreneurs:  

The interviewee advised that in 2004, the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (GORTT) established the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) with a mandate to educate and train nationals toward achieving the goals of its Vision 20/20 Action Plan.  Emphasized in the Vision 20/20 strategy was that of tertiary education and training.

 As an entrepreneurial University, we prioritize creating and encouraging opportunities for students to thrive and develop their businesses.  UTT's more specific, entrepreneurial mission is to serve as an engine of innovation and enterprise, fostering an ecosystem that supports entrepreneurial mindsets among staff and students.

Key Insights:

The UTT Board of Directors has had preliminary discussions on how to incorporate business resilience and business continuity planning components into its programs.  The Institution does not currently have a Business Management Programme.  However, the Board is open to establishing a school for business continuity and disaster recovery planning and management.  This would dovetail with the Cyber Security Programme that was launched in 2021

Conclusion:

 The study highlighted the fact that the business resilience ecosystem in Trinidad and Tobago is operating in silos, and these are some of the following impediments to SMEs improving their business resilience:

 i.      an outdated, fragmented, and inappropriate Government SME policy framework that lacks a focus on business resilience.

 ii.  insufficient attention and lack of coordination among different Government agencies to mainstream business resilience in their policies and programs.

 iii.  low level of business resilience management among SMEs, including slow progress in the formulation and implementation of business continuity plans.

iv.  SMEs focus on survival and ensuring that their businesses remain operational and profitable, which hampers their ability to do more strategic planning and futureproofing of their organizations—no institutional linkage with technical education for training in business resilience.

                          Perspectives on Business Resilience in Trinidad and Tobago: 

   (ILO Research Report)

Bibliography: 

AMCHAM Trinidad and Tobago (18/02/2021). 

AMCHAM T&T Builds MSME Business Continuity Planning Capacity. 

BC Management (2021).  BC Management Evolving Resiliency Strategies Report 2021. 

Enterprise Research Centre (2018).  Business Resilience in an SME Context: A Literature Review. 

Government of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards. 

Trinidad and Tobago Standard Security and Resilience – Business Continuity Management Systems – Requirements, PCTTS/ ISO -22301.

Government of Trinidad and Tobago, Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development, Enterprise Development Division (2014). 

Micro and Small Enterprise Development Policy for Trinidad and Tobago 2014-2016. 

Government of Trinidad and Tobago, Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (2015), “Business Continuity Management Strategy for the Public Service.” 

Harvard Business Review (2020). A Guide to Building a More Resilient Business. 

Intact.  ISO-22301 - Benefits of a Business Continuity Management System. 

International Labour Organization (2021).  A framework to support small firms in developing countries to navigate crises and build resilience.  

Head OFFICE: 115 Tasker Avenue, Cashew Gardens, Carlsen Field, Longdenville, Chaguanas. 502719. 

Contact: 1+(868)615-7821 

Email: management.org.mof@gmail.com inchbyinchdev@gmail.com

Website:https//www.inchbyinch@missionoffaitharchdiocese.com Google Site.