Widespread success in business can be it’s own form for Reparations......” Trevor Millett.
The decision to establish a marketing department, the Sport Industry TT Conference, the 10 gold 24 athlete Welfare and Preparation Fund/Foundation and the “Replace Guns with Medals” concept during my tenure as president of the T&T Olympic Committee (TTOC) and the T&T Commonwealth Games Association (TTCGA) was not a hard one. It was an effort to break new ground and pave the way forward.
The vision was driven by an unwavering belief that business and commercial opportunities are missed because in T&T and the wider English-speaking Caribbean sport is treated strictly as a pastime and hobby and as a result, the true potential of sport as a business goes unrecognised.
The initiatives were intended to inspire and motivate entrepreneurship in sports. To encourage, in particular, young people to see sports not just as a hobby but as a business. To take calculated risks. To see and believe that striving for and achieving excellence can be a viable business.
There is the historical myth and stereotype that Afro-Trinbagonians don’t have “a head for business”.
The origins go back to centuries of slavery and colonialism. The legacy of the exploitation of colonialism, slavery and the Crown colony system still persists. Income and wealth inequality is still a lived experience.
Recently, a friend of mine and fellow Fatima College “old boy” Collin Young gave me a book to read called, “Having a Head for Business—Afro-Trinidadian Businesses in the Black” by Trevor M Millett. In the book’s preface, the author said:,“Being in business was just not a conventional Afro-Trinidadian aspiration.”
He did acknowledge that the situation is evolving and pointed out that, “The notion of being active participants in the business world is beginning to take root in the community’s collective consciousness.”
Millett further asserted that, “It cannot be denied that there are Afro-Trinbagonians in business but the impression one gets is that Afro-Trinbagonian children aren’t socialised to think about business as the first choice for their life path.”
Reading the book provided important insight, inspiration, motivation and I dare say confidence that the vision of a viable, sustainable, foreign exchange earning sports industry TT wasn’t a “fool’s errand” and an exercise in “imposter syndrome”.
The myths and stereotypes are the emotional and psychological remnants of the physical shackles of slavery and colonialism. As is the elitist concept that sport is leisure, a pastime and a hobby that one must be able to afford. It’s for the rich, privileged and entitled.
What’s the link between Millett’s book and the sports industry here in T&T—it’s the word industry—ie business. The sports industry isn’t given the needed support. It’s not considered a vital element of our national budget.
Name one Chamber of Commerce that champions the sports industry. Name one banking and financial entity that will grant a loan to a sports business proposal. Has there ever been in a national budget, measures to encourage and incentivise sport as a discrete industry?
Yesterday was budget day. In the lead-up, not one economic, finance or business expert advocated for the sports industry. And it’s most likely that in the post-budget conversation, it’s going to be more of the same.
