OMG Digital Magazine OMG Issue 291 11th January 2017 | Page 30

OMG Digital Magazine | 291 | Thursday 11 January 2017 • PAGE 30
Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles held a meeting regarding Tobago’s autonomy on Tuesday (January 9) with Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal
Affairs Fitzgerald Hinds and Minister of Planning and Development Camille Robinson-Regis. Also in attendance at the meeting, held at the Administrative Complex,
were Tobago Hotel and Tourism Institute board member Dr. Levi Guy-Obiakor, Tobago Regional Health Authority Deputy Chair Ingrid Melville, Lawyer Deborah
Moore-Miggins, THA representative Allan Richards, and THA legal representative Gilbert Peterson. Photo courtesy THA Department of Information.
‘ALIBABA’ TELLS HIS STORY
Entrepreneurs can provide a better service by getting
mentorship from other successful business owners.
That’s the advice of businessman Brian “Alibaba” Taylor,
who runs Alibaba Sea Breeze Apartments and Alibaba
Tours. He’s been well known as an entrepreneur in the
tourism industry for the past 25 years.
He said learning from successful people helped him
grow his business. “If you want to be a good service
provider,” he explained, “you must link with somebody
who has been in the business before, and who has a good
reputation and standard, and learn from them.” Taylor
said he’s always wanted to be an entrepreneur, which
he believes also contributes to Tobago’s development.
“I always had in my mind, that one day, I would own my
own things.
My best investment [was] tours and guest houses,” he
said, adding that he once rented vehicles to visitors
as well. Taylor is featured for January on a new video
series developed by the Division of Tourism, Culture,
and Transportation called “My Tourism Story”, which is
being aired on social media. The programme is helping
entrepreneurs share their journeys in the tourism and
hospitality industry, and to help them build further
awareness of their brand. It is also a way of encouraging
potential entrepreneurs to get involved in tourism, and
to make a positive impact on the island.
To find out more about the My Tourism Story series, visit
the Facebook page of the Division of Tourism, Culture
and Transportation.
GOOD PERFORMANCE
THA Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles is happy with his administration’s performance over the
past year since taking up office in January 2017. He highlighted the THA’s work to manage
its financial challenges with a reduced budgetary allocation in fiscal 2017. “We came into
office at a time when for the first time over the last four to five years there was parliamentary
reduction of approximately $450 million,” Charles explained at Thursday’s (January 4) post
Executive Council media briefing at the Administrative Complex. “In addition to that, we
had in respect of our reduced resources, to liquidate a back pay debt to Tobago Regional
Health Authority (TRHA) workers.”
Charles said his team of experts was able to settle this $140 million TRHA debt in the shortest
possible time. “We were able to maintain employment levels throughout the year and that
is no small feat. Let’s not take that lightly,” the Chief Secretary stated. This, he said, ensured
that the Tobago economy remained “largely buoyant” by maintaining employment levels.