Vincent got BHP in his hands

On leaving Fatima College, Pereira, the only son of Sheila and the late Vincent Pereira’s three children, went to Albert College, a boarding school in Belleville, Ontario; then to the University of Guelph and completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Chemistry. Coming back home he did a Masters Degree in Petroleum Engineering at the University of the West Indies, showing great foresight in his choice of study.

"Knowing that I was going to live and work here in Trinidad and Tobago it was clear to me that the energy industry was an industry that was growing and had potential so I just wanted to be a part of that," says Pereira, who went to AMOCO straight out of university as a petroleum engineer at Galeota and spent the first couple of years working offshore, as well as in the office doing "engineers’ work." A move to the head office in Port-of-Spain brought more engineering work, and a return to Galeota to a higher level type of engineering work connected primarily with the company’s oilfields.

Pereira then started on the first rung of the corporate ladder doing more commercial type of work back at head office, and although he had enjoyed working offshore, he found it very exciting learning other things in head office, such as, leading teams, developing strategies, working with plans and budgets, while using his operational understanding to make things more efficient and more effective.

Pereira, with wife Nimi and then infant daughter Kiran, who is today one of our top tennis players, was seconded to Houston for five years. Here again this was a good lead to today’s job as it gave him a much deeper understanding of the corporate level type of activity with which a big international company like Amoco gets involved. He saw it in Egypt, the United Kingdom, Norway, and of course the United States.

"It gave me a much broader understanding of the business, so it was absolutely a good move."

Interestingly enough, he came back home just at the time of the BP (British Petroleum) and Amoco merger and started a new journey with bpTT in 1999 as vice president commercial for one of the three Trinidad and Tobago business units. And in the next five years worked in five different jobs in bpTT, "all vice presidential in nature but in various capacities," explains this down-to-earth man. "This was very interesting, I was being exposed to many, many parts of the business and very quickly at that. So I am into my sixth job in six years, just a different company."

BHP Billiton is a leading global resources company whose purpose is to create value through the discovery, development and conversion of natural resources and the provision of innovative customer and market focus solutions. To this end, BHP Billiton Trinidad and Tobago’s town offices are located at Stanmore Avenue and the PowerGen and Victoria Avenue buildings, until completion of the Invaders Bay Towers, where they will occupy two floors.

The company has five platforms north east of Trinidad, one operational rig, an offshore terminal with oil storage facility in Guayaguayare to store all of the company’s produced crude oil prior to shipping off the south east coast.

"We ship to various places, such as, the United States Gulf Coast," said Pereira, and with a twinkle in his eye added "one cargo ended up right here at Petrotrin." BHP Billiton’s operating centre for this part of the world is in Houston, while the corporate centre of the entire corporation is in Australia.

But there are other facets to Vincent Pereira, who expressed a deep interest in people and developing the Trinbagonian’s capability. How do we create great people here in Trinidad and Tobago is the question that fascinates this man. So he participates where he can, and serves on the Advisory Council of Trinidad and Tobago, the board of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association, and the board of the South Chamber of Industry and Commerce. He is also president of the Lawn Tennis Association of Trinidad and Tobago and is treasurer of the Tranquillity Square Lawn Tennis Club where he plays tennis a few times a week.

"I am deeply interested in creating a great piece of business for BHP Billiton in Trinidad and Tobago and developing the Trinidadian and Tobagonian through my work brings the same challenge as with our business BHP. We need to create people with the capability that is as good as, or better at thinking than, people out there in the world. We need to create people here in Trinidad and Tobago who are internationally competitive.

"If we are going to create businesses that are competitive on a world scale, the only way that works is defining people who are competitive on a world scale. I have never been unimpressed by human capability. Give somebody opportunity, give them resources, and they can do good things. The question is how do you continue to leverage that to create great outcomes for the business and for the people?"

Pereira is seeing success although we have a long way to go, and he is seeing progress all around, and the one thing that sort of thrills him is being a part of it.

"We just have to make sure we have good people here in Trinidad and Tobago under whom we can do great."

The other thing which is of great interest to BHP Billiton’s president of local operations, is the role that business has to play in being a partner in the development of societies like the one here in Trinidad and Tobago.

"Business has the capacity to take on big challenges and bring choices and solutions to Trinidad and Tobago, and in doing that business plays a big role in the development of a country. I see it as something not alien to, but as a partner to, the development of a country. There are defined roles for business and for government but there is a joint space where working together can create huge outcomes in a very positive way for both company and country. I find this role fulfilling and exciting.

"At the end of the day I do not think our business here in Trinidad and Tobago can be successful and thrive if the society within which we operate is not being successful and is not thriving, so therefore, we have a role to play in the entire thing that is happening. From my point of view it may seem like enlightenment, self-interest but quite honestly it is reality."