5 days Ago By [email protected] (Vishanna Phagoo)
Dale Parson, the new president of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA), has ambitious goals. He plans to continue trade missions, increase non-energy exports, embrace and foster small to medium enterprise growth, and build a Caribbean Trade and Convention Centre, which he has been advocating for for some time. In his inaugural address at the TTMA leadership discussion and networking event held last Wednesday at the Hyatt Regency (Trinidad) in Port of Spain, Parson said he wants to prioritise non-energy exports, aiming for a target of 71% over the next five-and-a-half years.
“I will set a strategic export goal to grow non-energy exports from $6.2 billion at the close of 2024 to $10.6 billion by 2030, reflecting a conservative 71% increase in non-energy exports over the next five and a half years,” said Parson.
He said moving non-energy manufacturing exports to $10.6 billion by 2030 is not an audacious goal but a necessary one. He appealed to manufacturers for their support and willingness to achieve this.
“Today, what we are seeing with (United States President Donald) Trump’s imposition of trade tariffs on US imports and placement of a tax on Chinese-built ships – US berthing fees – is similar to some extent to what we saw during the Covid-19 period when manufacturers faced many trading and shipping challenges,” said Parson. He continued: “I stand before you today to say that we in the manufacturing sector are resolute, we are dynamic, we are positively disruptive, and I am stressing the word ‘positively’ here. We will find opportunities; we will work with our Government to continue to carve out niches where they can be found for our members.
” Parson said in every disruptive event, there are opportunities and the low-hanging ones must be carefully sought out. He said there needs to be a push for greater opportunity regionally as well, not just within Caricom. “We will not be inactive due to tax impositions placed by the US market; we will adapt and be innovative and dynamic, and that is what my term will seek to bring to the forefront for our members.
I hope to have a discussion with our very amenable Minister of Trade and charter a course that will allow for manufacturers’ sustainable and continued growth and expansion,” he stated. Parson added that if there needed to be measures in place to further incentivise and prioritise exports, then it will be done. “It may call for some outside-of-the-box thinking, but now is the time.
The multilateral framework that is governing world trade is changing before our eyes, and we have to find our niche and opportunities in this context,” he told the audience. As for embracing and fostering growth of SMEs in T&T toward commercialisation for local retail and export, he said he plans on carving out niche opportunities for this sector. “I assure you that my time as president will be spent carving out niche opportunities for SMEs in the country.
There are a number of initiatives that have already started, such as the Action Export project, Scale Up, SheTrades, pop up shop participation among others, but there is more that can be done and TTMA will continue to work with Global TT (formerly Export TT), EximBank and the Ministry of Trade to create achievable opportunities for SMEs in the country,” promised Parson. ‘Manufacturing powerhouse’ As for the Trade and Convention Centre, Parson said he wants to work with the Government to acquire a 20-acre parcel of land in a centralised area with highway access to construct a 200,000-square-foot Caribbean Trade and Convention Centre to host the TTMA’s annual Trade and Investment Conference and other events that foster global trade. “This will assist our vision to position T&T as the regional manufacturing powerhouse for the next 25 years.
The 3D images of the convention centre are already prepared and proposed to have training and conference rooms for manufacturers’ access and mini-incubator warehouse space to foster and nurture the growth of our SMEs. This vision is not just one for the TTMA and the manufacturers; it is one for positioning T&T as the business hub of the Caribbean, and it is one for promoting business tourism,” said Parson. He added that a convention centre of this magnitude can be beneficial for T&T as it can attract international trade shows, international conferences, international events and international conventions.
He said it can also have spiralling benefits to the tourism and business sector, allowing the country to earn additional foreign exchange. In an interview with the media after the discussion, Parson said this project is something he has been proposing for quite some time but it did not come to fruition because he was never the president before. “The thing is that we have been occupying the Centre of Excellence, which is roughly about 80,000 square feet.
And we have outgrown the Centre of Excellence. We have over 300 exhibitors every year, so we have surpassed pre-Covid-19 figures, and we are seeing more and more companies want to participate in TIC,” said Parson. He noted that 20 additional acres are also needed with the 200,000-square-foot facility to create parking facilities.
Before his appointment, Parson was vice president of the TTMA. He is the chief executive officer of the KPL Group Ltd (Kaleidoscope Paints). He has a Bachelor’s degree in engineering and a Master’s in strategic leadership and management from The University of the West Indies.
He is completing his PhD in business administration with a concentration in marketing. Parson is also a member of the Board of Engineers of T&T (BOETT) and the Association of Professional Engineers of T&T (APETT). The TTMA stated on its website that as the CEO of the KPL Group, a regionally recognised privately held organisation, Parson has acquired extensive knowledge and experience in manufacturing, competitiveness, international trade, management, international business operations and strategic planning.
“His background provides the TTMA board with a broad scope of expertise in the manufacturing industry, particularly in strategic planning, trade agreement negotiations and competitiveness. Mr Parson is currently the chair of the TTMA’s Infrastructure Committee (formerly Transport and Logistics),” the website state. Parson replaces former president Roger Roach, whose tenure came to an end on April 9.
Roach spent two years in the position and focused on growth, as manufacturers were grappling with forex constraints emerging from Covid-19 restrictions..
