The TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce, which has been serving the business community since 1879, has new leadership, with Kiran Maharaj as president since April and Stephen de Gannes as its CEO since February.
Maharaj has a background in media and entertainment, she worked as a freelance journalist over 20 years ago and was a freelance correspondent for CNN World Report for two years. Maharaj is the managing director of Caribbean Lifestyle Communications, Music Radio 97.1 FM, The People’s Station Radio 90.5 FM and Heartbeat Radio 104.1 FM. She is also the president of the Media Institute of the Caribbean and former president of the TT Publishers and Broadcasters Association.
De Gannes graduated the University of the West Indies as an electrical engineer in electronics and telecommunications. He worked for Neal and Massy and TSTT in several junior managerial roles and his most recent post was vice president at Trinidad Systems Ltd.
Maharaj and de Gannes sat down with Business Day and discussed some of their plans for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and the developments they want to put in place to better serve their current membership and inspire others to join.
Roles of president, CEO
First they touched on their respective roles and responsibilities as president and CEO.
Maharaj said, “As a non-profit that represents the business community, my role is to ensure that the larger vision and the objectives of the chamber, based on feedback from its members and the advice of all board directors, are implemented. I also ensure that I am in touch with the CEO and the management team to have all of the ideas, initiatives and objectives fulfilled.”
She said she offers advice wherever she can, but understands de Gannes is the one who is mainly in the hot seat.
She added, “My keen interest, and luckily it’s de Gannes’ as well, is that vision of helping MSMEs develop while also supporting the needs of not just the MSMEs, but among the larger organisations who are members.”
Maharaj said she knows the turbulence that can affect the community greatly and so she understands the importance of innovation and implementing change on the advice of the board and CEO.
Coming from an engineering background, de Gannes said his main reason for joining the chamber was to make TT a better place instead of complaining about it. He said being CEO will help him be a part of that positive change and make TT an example for other Caribbean nations.
“I see a tremendous potential for TT to be a really world-class leader in many things, and I would like to be the example that other countries compare (themselves) to, instead of the other way around. However small we are, there are a lot of things here that we’re very unique in.”
Plans for MSMEs
De Gannes said part of the plan is firstly, to engage with owners of MSMEs through the chamber's Nova Committee. He said the chamber has planned an event next month for MSME owners to learn about different ways of operating and to train them to follow stipulated business
