Emerald Foods boss sounds alarm bell over FTAA

Local businessman, Trevor Maingot, is dead set against the implementation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) scheduled for 2005. He believes that it will be “detrimental” to the small business sector of Trinidad and Tobago, leading to increased competitiveness and massive unemployment. “I believe,” said Maingot, Managing Director of Emerald Foods International Limited, “that we, in Trinidad, will be used as a dumping ground for large corporations to add income to their overheads.” “We certainly will not be able to compete with them in that respect.” Emerald Foods International Limited is one of the eight finalists in the Republic Bank/SBDC Excellence in Business Awards, carded for October 7 and one of two finalists in the Food and Beverage Category.

Speaking from his warehouse located at the Fernandes Industrial Estate, Eastern Main Road in Laventille, Maingot applauded the idea behind the competition. “It is a very good concept,” he said. “It encourages the business people to strive to be better and be noticed as being excellent in what they do. That is really needed and a lot more should be done.” Maingot further called on more incentives to be put in place for small businesses.
“A lot more can be done for the small businessman or the cottage industry,” he said, “especially by the government. There are a lot of difficult issues we are forced to deal with.” A six-year old family business started by Maingot, his father Trevor Snr and  brother, Richard in Canada, Emerald Foods is responsible for the production of the Tropical Grove and Everlee Fruit drinks which can be found at a number of independent supermarkets throughout the country. Emerald Foods is also actively involved in the national School Feeding Programme.

The drinks are available in six flavours — citrus, fruit punch, guava, grape, mango tango and apple — with all flavouring materials being acquired locally. Maingot said that the company was presently weighing the possibilities of producing a 100 percent fruit drink within the next year. “Right now, we are testing the market with 100 percent fruit juices and also some drinks that have a 40 percent juice content,” he noted. “Once we find that the product is accepted and has a demand, we will then look at bringing in equipment to manufacture the 100 percent fruit drinks.” Emerald Foods is new to the Trinidad market, having previously concentrated on exporting its goods to other Caricom countries, namely St Lucia, St Kitts, Antigua, Barbados, Grenada and Dominica. Export figures for last year amounted to approximately $6,400,000. According to General Manager, Shaliza Baksh, they have recorded a significant increase in their local sales for this year. “Where before 80 percent of our business was export, today it stands at about 65 percent. More emphasis is being placed on the local market right now,” she stated. “Trinidad has come a long way in terms of the quality of its products,” Maingot noted. “We have done extremely well in coming up with high quality products and we are continuing to go that way, which is good.”

Maingot hopes to bring on board an Export Sales Manager early next year to target areas like Santo Domingo, Guatemala, Columbia and Panama. He also hopes to have his own factory by then. The company presently employs 46 persons and has a second base of operations in Ontario, Canada where the juices are packaged. Maingot said that the decision to move the business from Canada came after he recognised a demand for the product throughout the Caribbean region. “We decided,” he said, “to start a pilot project doing exports from Trinidad to enable customers in the other islands to save a considerable amount of duties.” “Being a Caricom product, freight was cut by 50 percent, so it was a definite advantage for us to go that way.”

However, it was not easy sailing for the company, since two years after its establishment in 1997, it was hit by severe financial difficulties which threatened to cripple the business. Maingot credits his staff and their undying support which helped to pull the company out of its two-year slump.
“The employees have played a great role in getting Emerald Foods where it is today,” he asserted. “I think,” he went on, “that we run a very good operation here. As far as we are concerned, our quality is excellent. We have never compromised on quality.” “We are constantly looking at new flavours, new ideas for packaging and so on,” he noted. Like the majority of local business people, Maingot admitted that the crime situation was a serious concern for him.  However, he said, he refused to dwell on it, choosing instead to go on with his life. “Yes, I am a bit more observant and cautious,” he maintained, “but I can’t say that it has given me any ideas to shut up shop and leave.”