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October 2017
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Brent Eversley, Kristle Gangadeen, Keron Bascombe, and their associates, are not uncommon in their generation. They demonstrate the smarts, the agility and enterprise to be innovative and worthwhile contributors, not just in Trinidad and Tobago, in the world. Through YLAI, they will be hosted in the USA during October and November with opportunities to learn and teach, to share experiences in – but not exclusive to – agriculture, clean energy, e-commerce, education, entrepreneurship, health care, hospitality, marketing, and branding, among other fields. BUSINESS WITH FRIENDS Brent Eversley belongs to a “liming group” of five friends who met at university and stuck together after graduation “to do small promotions, parties, and entertainment gigs.” The group created a model cooperative: two years of talk (research and development) created a plan, which they are executing, managing to ensure growth and sustainability. With Eversley’s leaning and leadership, they entered the wide open field of agri-business. In 2012, they launched Green Farm Nation and started hydroponic lettuce production a year later on a 5,000 sq ft house lot. Last month, they moved to a three-acre field in Carlsen Field, Chaguanas. Using small space technology, they grow several varieties of lettuce, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and micro-greens for local supermarket chains. Each of the five directors: Eversley, Myron Edwards, Micah Sobers, Fidel Wellington, Marvin Edwards – have different expertise and career paths – finance, engineering, tourism and marketing, agribusiness. Brent runs the farm. But they all come together for the weekly harvest. There are other regular meetings to assess the business, to plan the way forward. Eversley is fully employed as operations director of the farm. He holds a BSc in Agribusiness Management with a minor in Environmental and Natural Resources Management. A five-year stint working through the ranks of the Trinidad and Tobago AgriBusiness Association (TABA) provided hands-on experience and further training: greenhouse technology, project management and farm management. When he was retrenched from TABA in 2012, Green Farm Nation was born. The next business development is agro-processing: they have already started in a modest way “de-leafing” lettuce and packaging in ready-to-use containers. They are looking at inputs to traditional food manufacturers – dried chadon beni or pepper mash – while developing their own processes and products. “We have unique agri-products that the world requires,” says Eversley. “Our vision is to be competitive at local, regional and international levels. We are working with a network of agri-business producers throughout the Caribbean – from soaps to fresh food. People don’t like to share their techniques, but we can share information.” GRANDPA’S ORIGINAL RECIPE Kristle Gangadeen, a marketing graduate from UWI in 2009 and the Arthur Lok Jack Business School in 2015, co-founded Awe’dis (Awesome Distributors) in 2013. The first product was Grandpa’s ponche de crème sold at the seasonal artisan markets of that year. The idea for Grandpa’s emerged when Johan Sherwood, Gangadeen’s student colleague at business school offered his grandfather’s recipe for a test marketing case. This exceptional ponche de crème kept paranderos coming to Grandpa’s door every Christmas. “We have used the original recipe, based on local rums and spices,” says Gangadeen, “and we will introduce a new flavour, caramel cappuccino this Christmas.” This month, she launched her website www.grandpasTT.com, and is also on Facebook. This year, Gangadeen was retrenched from the Tourism Development Company. A national scholar, she grew up in Santa Flora where her grandfather and father worked in the energy sector. Today, she is happy to have a small business with huge potential, and intends to develop it carefully. “We will use recipes for awesome TT traditional foods, elevate them, market locally and then push on the world market.” Gangadeen became aware of the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative when she attended the launch of Virtual Reality Pan created by Dingolay Ltd, owned by an alumnus of YLAI. SMARTPHONES FOR AGRICULTURE Keron Bascombe is in agribusiness but has no farm. His fields are the hearts and minds of farmers, aspiring agri-preneurs and ultimately, communities everywhere that grow healthy on the products of farmers. He started his blog promoting agribusiness in 2011. Today the Tech4Agri website is a forum and education site, a virtual hub and network for everyone involved in agriculture and agro-production, in Trinidad and Tobago and regionally. ascombe considers himself a “freelancer in agricultural journalism and communications.” He uses and trains others in the use of social media – “mobile journalism” and smartphone technologies (filming and editing) – to promote “innovation in agriculture, research, agribusiness, entrepreneurship, science etc.” Tech4Agri works throughout the Caribbean, with seven volunteer members in Trinidad, and three partners from Dominica and St. Kitts. Although most farmers may not be into the new communication technologies, their children are. Tech4Agri provides training in the use of social media for communication and management; attracting a younger generation back to agri-business by sharing information and fostering inter-generational communication. “Not everyone has the opportunity to pursue further education – especially in agriculture – but the website is a regularly updated source of information from around the world.” See http://www.tech4agri.com/ for news, training opportunities, innovations in agriculture education and practice. Bascombe says, “Tech4Agri is changing the way we communicate about agriculture, and hoping to change the dynamic of the sector, attracting young people back to the important business of food production.” UWI supports a small office on campus for Tech4Agri; and some funding comes from the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) which is based in the Netherlands. “I am a consultant with CTA; and I volunteer with the Young Professionals for Agricultural Research and Development (YPARD) serving as the country representative for Trinidad and Tobago.” Bascombe is an ambassador for the Thought for Food Organisation; and Tech4agri serves for the next three years as the Youth representative (local) on the Steering committee of the Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR). Bascombe is currently working on his Master’s in Agri-business communication at UWI St. Augustine. |
Applying their education, preserving traditional values, and expanding communications through social media tools, three graduates of The UWI have been awarded opportunities to network with Young Leaders of the Americas through an initiative of the US Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago.