Mr. Gabriel Faria, CEO of T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce, speaking to Entrepreneurs

The University of Trinidad and Tobago Business Accelerator/Incubator, uSTART functions as an engine of innovation and enterprise, fostering an ecosystem that supports entrepreneurial mindsets of both students and staff of the University. uSTART fosters this ecosystem through the provision of a physical business space and business development services inclusive of access to hosted seminars, workshops, and other educational opportunities originating at uSTART with our partner organisations.

On Tuesday 6^th December, uSTART hosted its final session for 2016 – a Master Class and Q&A with Mr. Gabriel Faria, CEO of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Mr. Faria has over thirty-five (35) years of experience spanning across several sectors both locally and internationally. These sectors include: services, durables, FMCG, CSD, spirits, brewing and the media industry. Mr. Faria has held senior executive positions at Carib Brewery Limited, Guardian Media Limited, Angostura Holdings Limited, S.M. Jaleel & Co. Limited, Neal and Massy Trinidad Limited and T. Geddes Grant Limited.

The Master Class is a platform where industry experts and innovators impart their knowledge and experience to not only uSTART entrepreneurs, but also to those within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Further, these sessions foster capacity building and create the avenue for synergies within the uSTART Facility. This session attracted an audience of thirty eight (38) entrepreneurs and staff, and they were afforded the opportunity to engage Mr. Faria and learn from his experiences.

Mr. Faria spoke on issues relating to:

• The state of the T&T economy and the opportunities present for innovation.
• The positive view of disruption of standards and tradition in business.
• Issues faced by businesses across many sectors.
• The use of technology to improve business operations.
• Self-sustainability and the need to increase the supply of foreign exchange by exporting goods and services.

The results from the feedback survey conducted illustrated that the session was a success, with an average rating of 8.5 out of 10. At the end of the Master Class and Q&A, the entrepreneurs took the opportunity to network with Mr. Faria, along with the other companies. This brought to the fore, a key lesson coined by one of our visionaries, Professor Abhijit Bhattacharya, "your network is your net worth".

uSTART wishes to thank Mr. Gabriel Faria for speaking with the entrepreneurs as uSTART continues to strive to achieve UTT and uSTART's mission, "To be an entrepreneurial university designed to discover and develop entrepreneurs, commercialise research and development and spawn companies for wealth generation and sustainable job creation towards the equity enhancement of the quality of life of all individuals, families and communities of the republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean."

For a video of the session click on the Facebook Logo: 

From Left; Brian Perry (Coded Arts), Mr. Gabriel Faria (CEO, TTCIC), Jamilia Alexander (Vise Versa Fashion)