NEWS
Dancing the stress away
Over a hundred patrons turned up to De-stress at the top floor at the Port Mall last Saturday night in the second edition of the dance fitness-based event. De-stress was conceptualised by 25-year-old Ameika Louis; the proud owner of Dance Fitness Tobago and Ile Dingolay - Movement Studio at the top floor of the Port Mall. The event, designed for participants to let off some steam, was an opportunity for everyone, not just dancers or fitness enthusiasts, to free themselves from doubts and negative energy for 2-3 hours. Read more here
Term Finance Holdings wins Business Technology award
Term Finance Holdings has won the 2020 Business Technology award in the Champions of Business awards ceremony. At the start of 2015, Oliver Sagba founded Term Finance Holdings Limited, a web-based credit and loans operation based in Port-of-Spain, with just two people—himself and another employee. Nearly five years later, Term Finance has a staff count of 15. Eleven are in Trinidad and four are country managers based in Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia and Barbados. Nick Farah, who specialised in modern banking technologies at RBC in both Canada and Trinidad, joined the team the following year as Regional Manager, in what was a significant capture for Sabga’s startup. On November 15, Sabga and Farah won the coveted bmobile Business Technology Award at the TT Chamber’s Champions of Business Awards. Read more here
POLITICS
AG: Weed decriminalisation will cripple gangs
Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi on Saturday night defended the decision by the government to decriminalise a certain amount of marijuana rather than legalising it. Speaking at a local government meeting in Diego Martin, Al-Rawi said legalising it will cripple any possible industry. “With the decriminalisation, the money that gangs live on will be taken away from them. But there are those who wants legalisation and a free for all. If you want full legalisation you are crippling the economic opportunity for people who could make financial progress.” Read more here
Duke retains post as PDP leader unopposed
Watson Duke, leader of the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP), retained his position as the political leader of the party at the party’s first-ever internal executive elections help at the Belle Garden Multi-Purpose Facility yesterday. No one else contested the post. Duke founded the PDP in 2016 to fight the Tobago House of Assembly’s January 2017 elections. His party won two of the twelve electoral districts, breaking the monopoly held by the People’s National Movement in the 2013 THA election. Read more here
BUSINESS
SFC, GHL advance
This week, we at Bourse take a look at the financial performance of two major players in the Non-Banking Finance sector, Sagicor Financial Corporation Ltd (SFC) and Guardian Holdings Ltd (GHL), for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2019. Read more here
REGIONAL
Taxi Threat - PM Vows To Quell Traffic Chaos In Town Centres
If Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ resolve to curtail the traffic chaos created by lawless motorists in town centres holds true, the widespread indiscipline in the Corporate Area and other urban centres will come to a halt. While acknowledging the right of persons to earn a living in the taxi industry, Holness singled out that group yesterday, warning that a zero-tolerance clampdown on disorder would take effect early next year. “I want the taxi men and road users as well to appreciate that there can be no prosperity in chaos and disorder,” Holness declared to cheering Labourites at yesterday’s 76th annual conference at the National Arena in Kingston. Read more here
T&T manufacturers say seeking to tap all opportunities here
The Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) led a Trade Mission to Guyana, from Wednesday to today, to engage in mutual trade with Guyanese companies. A release today from the group said that the major objective of the mission is to expose the membership to markets in Guyana, especially in the area of non-energy exports. “Guyana is a growing market and is projected to have the largest growth in GDP next year (worldwide) and so it is important for the T&T business community to capitalize on our geographical advantage and so leverage all opportunities for investment, sourcing of inputs into manufacturing, exports, joint ventures and collaborations with our neighbours from next door”, the release said. Read more here
‘We’ve ended the nightmare of drug wars’
Attorney-General, Basil Williams on Saturday evening laid out the coalition government’s successes while in office to a large Guyanese audience in Antigua and Barbuda. And, thanking them for their contributions to the country, he also urged them to return to the “green, green grass of home”. Williams is on the island for the 50th Plenary and Working Group Meeting of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) in Antigua, which opens today. “I know that many of you have left Guyana for various reasons; some to seek greener pastures, others to enhance your education and professional experience,” he began. “I assure you that the government which I represent values your contributions. All of you in some way or the other would have contributed, and still contribute, to our people’s well-being. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Lorry driver Mo Robinson admits plot after 39 migrant deaths
Hong Kongers show not only the depths of their discontent, but also their power
Hong Kong's protest movement grabbed the world's attention with million-strong rallies and city-stopping unrest. But it won big on the weekend by staying silent. The landslide victory for pro-democracy candidates in Sunday's district council elections is a stinging rebuke to the city's government -- and an example of what protesters can achieve given the opportunity. By avoiding unrest and trusting voters to support them, protesters scored a bigger victory than if they had disrupted the polls. They also demonstrated that far from devolving into anarchy, as some on the government side have claimed, the protest movement can -- unlike the police, Beijing or the city's leaders -- control when and where the unrest takes place. Read more here
25th November 2019