Cohort 2
Trincargo, 40 years in the business
We were hit by Ransomware recently. As a result, we were forced to start over a platform that took five years of effort. This halted our progress in a major way.
Nevertheless, it did not stop our main perspective on growth – which is to become a serious competitor in the shipping sector. For us, Trincargo must be present on the list of Top 10 logistical companies offering multiple shipping services. We want to expand our services, first, to the region and beyond.
After viewing testimonials from the first cohort, we saw this as an opportunity to expand our business knowledge for our desired growth.
Coming out of Scale Up T&T, we have learned to ensure our vision resonates throughout the organisation. We need to focus on specific growth-oriented tasks and execute them. We also have to invest in human capital to support
our capacity for growth. We need the right people in the right places.
We feel better prepared to effect the growth tasks required.
General Manager
GISCAD, celebrating 20 years
We look at growth as being Number One in the industries we choose to be in, in each of the territories in which we choose to operate. This also means expansion throughout the Caribbean and into chosen Latin American markets.
For our team, it means building them to run increasingly more challenging and complex organisations throughout the region – and having them grow in the roles, professionally and personally.
We signed up for Scale Up T&T so that we could understand the immense value of mentoring and guiding through our experiences, knowing that we still have a long way to go and accepting helpful guidance to get there.
All of our senior and mid-management personnel participated in Scale Up T&T to get a broad cross-section of inputs, and we allowed everyone to take ownership of the outcomes.
There have been a few eureka moments. We have received takeaways – primarily from the interaction with other participating companies – but we are very enthused about the growth in our team’s abilities and confidence.
Managing Director
MCS Software, established in 2002
While developing our business, we faced many challenges. This included the cost of hiring and keeping qualified programmers to develop new
products. This kept us from creating more software to remain competitive.
For us, this is what growth means – more products to offer, more staff to develop and more income and profit, which benefits our staff internally and the business community externally. We realised the company became stagnant and needed external help to move forward.
Participating in Scale Up T&T gave us renewed focus and energy towards developing our growth strategy and allowed us to be more open-minded
about trying new ideas. We are surely enthusiastic and optimistic about the progress made so far.
Our biggest lesson from all of this: We cannot do it alone. We need a team of well-placed people who are not only good at what they do but also
enthusiastic about it.
General Manager
Managing Director
Forward Industries Limited,34 years in operation
Among our accomplishments is purchasing our property after years in operation. Ten years later, we constructed a factory and administration building at e TecK Park, Caroni. While we celebrated these wins, we also faced challenges – cash flow got tight, and we had no choice but to pivot to new revenue streams at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
For us, growth means people. Without them, we could not develop a profitable, successful business. When we signed up for Scale Up T&T, we recognised the opportunity to grow our entrepreneurial team.
The biggest lessons we learned were defining our purpose and identifying other revenue streams that would lift our growth curve. Since then, we have seen the downward curve move upward; we are paying more attention to our team as we have reintroduced our awards and recognition programmes.
We are satisfied with our movement, and we are excited to move forward.
Chief Executive Officer
Chairman
Newtown Medical, 14 years in private practice
We transformed from a doctor’s office, which existed for 12 years, to a private hospital established over the past two years. During that transition, we faced many challenges, including finding the right staff, and setting up operating systems. As a new business in the last two years, getting the brand recognised in the public domain was another challenge.
While my concept of growth relates to increasing the number of people we serve, staff capacity and revenue, these cannot come to fruition without executing a series of actions. This would involve thinking and acting differently to build our capacity.
Following our enrolment in the Scale Up T&T programme, we noted increased accountability, better management, improved operating efficiency and a reduced cost of doing business.
The progress has been great! We cannot wait to see what happens next!
Medical Director
Carpenters’ Edge, celebrating 21 years
We started with three members of staff in 2002. Now, we have 18. Our business carries exclusive product lines, which has resulted in an increased customer base and sales.
But even with those milestones, over time, hiring the right staff as well as finding a central location to run our wholesale/retail operation were challenges. For us, growth means expansion, a happy and comfortable workforce, satisfied customers, and a steady and manageable increase in business. And, we wanted to be consistent.
We were happy to have found Scale Up T&T. We have learned that communication is vital. We have scheduled departmental, management, and regular company meetings, so everyone is in the know. We outsourced an HR company and procured additional financing to rapidly progress our intended growth.
We are pumped and excited!
Managing Director
Director
Trinidad Brushware Limited, family-owned business operating since 1981
Participating in Scale Up T&T was the vehicle to learn new things, to get an outside perspective and welcome the help we need to grow our company. Since then, we have grown. We have started a new product line. We have changed different styles of management skills.
We have started celebrating our small wins and rewarding our employees more. The biggest lesson we have learned is that every company has the same challenges. Growing is something that happens every day; it never stops and we have to learn to appreciate the small wins and learn from the disappointments.
Managing Director
Managing Director
Caribbean Transportation Consultancy Services (CARITRANS), operating since 2012
Signing up for Scale Up T&T meant understanding what it takes to grow a fledgling business into an enterprise, garnering the tools necessary to transform our company to that level. And over time, as we become more experienced as a company, we understand what works and what does not work.
Growth means tangible and intangible progress toward specific goals and objectives. It means recognising and acknowledging the development of employees’ wellness, skill sets, and overall company experience.
This provides the enabling environment for increased revenue and expansion. Once the staff develops, you grow!
Chief Executive Officer
Pascal’s Bakery, in operation since 1985, founded by Peter Pascal
Growth equates Pascal’s Bakery playing a significant role in the Caribbean’s food security. It means producing a range of product lines that facilitates import substitution. In addition, it means being an integral player in building a resilient Caribbean food ecosystem based on values that foster trust, communication and integrity.
Since enrolling in the Scale Up T&T programme, we created a ‘Growth Story Wall.’ This wall changes weekly, showcasing our company wins to all our employees, customers and suppliers. As we continue cultivating a
celebratory culture, we are witnessing the significant benefit as our people are more motivated and in harmony with the company’s vision of cultivating togetherness while sharing a loaf.
Founder
Chief Executive Officer
Ecliff Elie, in the fashion industry for over 30 years
Growth means everything to me. It means knowing where you want to be in your personal and professional life and developing a road map to get you there in a timely manner. It means creating a list of SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) steps to get you where you want to be. My growth perspective is aligned with and applied to my business strategy. We continuously assess where we are and where we want to be. One of the biggest lessons learned during Scale Up T&T is ensuring every team member understands the company’s vision to move the entire organisation forward.
Since joining Scale Up T&T, we have implemented celebrating small wins and employee recognition for performance. This has resulted in our employees being more motivated to achieve, which has positively impacted the culture of the business. This has kept the team more focused on Key Performance Indicators and has resulted in a 10% increase in productivity. As a business owner and entrepreneur, this progress makes me feel like the business has a positive future ahead, and if we continue on this path, we expect the business to experience growth by 100% within the next six months.
Chief Executive Officer
Corrosion Coatings, established in 2014
Growth means introducing something unique as well as delivering a consistent quality job on time, safely, and within budget.
Our reason for signing up for Scale Up T&T was to enhance the way we do business. Our goal was to learn and broaden our knowledge on business ethics, management and leadership. While doing the programme, we learned to make small changes to get successful outcomes as well as acknowledge employees and clients. Since then, we have noticed that we are more efficient at doing in-house paperwork and task planning. We also have better sales and HR support, which has resulted in better cash management and increased sales. But more importantly, we have a better understanding of our employees and clients.
Sales Director
Accounts Manager
VISL, in operation for approximately five years
Growth in a very basic sense means generating more cash than you are spending, and over time, this cash surplus should increase. We can look at growth as hiring more employees, getting larger contracts and doing more for society in general. However, without that basic cash generation other growth initiatives cannot materialise.
As primarily technical people, we realised that we needed to build our business know-how in order to grow the company. We were looking for a direction to take that would allow the business to scale, that would allow us to expand our customer base and our offerings. We had no doubt that VISL had potential, but how could we minimise our risk? The Scale Up T&T programme advert described exactly what we were looking for.
General Manager
Executive Director
Precision Air Control, in operation for 38 years
Growth means having the company run efficiently with a trusted team and a less hands-on approach from management.
Using some of the tools and techniques taught to us by the Scale Up T&T programme, we are beginning to see a shift in the way we do business to align with our perspective of growth. One of the biggest lessons we learned from Scale Up T&T is that people are capable if given the chance. If you put more trust in employees, they work hard for the company and want to achieve its growth. It has been phenomenal. Time is always hard to find, but our team enjoyed the process and we got more done in a short time by applying the techniques introduced to us.
Managing Director
Engineering Director
General Manager
ICONS Co. Ltd, marked its 17th anniversary in January
Growth is an ongoing state of improvement, not aimed at being the best at something, but at being your best at what matters. We always learn from our experiences so that we can improve. However, this was somewhat siloed in that sales would only learn and grow from sales engagements. Likewise, professional services would only learn and grow from project deployments.
Scale Up T&T has offered the perspective that growth is a cohesive organisation-wide objective everyone needs to understand their respective roles in the achievement of success. There has been a noticeable change in the mindset of the leadership team and the sales team that is now driving a much stronger emphasis on closing deals. We’re no longer laid back and waiting for when it comes; we’re pushing to make it happen.
President & Chief Executive Officer
Vice President
Managing Director