Dr Dass, the brick-maker

But central Trinidad doctor and past president of the Trinidad and Tobago Medical Association (TTMA), Dr Rohit Dass, 49, chose a brick factory as his next area of investment.

He already owns a medical centre (Freeport Medical Centre); a health care distribution company (RD Global Marketing and Distribution); and a home for the aged (Wings of Care).

So how exactly does a doctor become a brick-maker? Business Day asked Dass during an interview at his office at Freeport Medical Centre.

“I always had this dream of making something unique,” Dass says, adding, “I mean you can always buy something and sell it back so we were thinking of so many different products when we did an analysis of what was happening in Trinidad in 2012, and we realised that the construction industry was doing extremely well, and hence the reason why we thought about manufacturing bricks.” His family considered several business options which included the manufacturing of garments or the importation of clothes to be sold on the retail market.

Dass continues: “We were thinking about diversifying, going into other areas of business, but we found that the clothing industry was already clustered and construction was doing very well so we are very excited about this project.” The project--- RD Premium Bricks Limited--- began in 2013 and is due to be completed and commissioned by April.

“This is a brick plant that is supposed to produce four-inch, six-inch, and eight-inch concrete bricks and it’s one of the newer machines. It’s known as a Colombia 1600 machine and is a fully automated machine and has a capacity of 30,000 blocks per 12- hour shift ,” he says.

The factory is located at Demerara Road, Arima on fi ve acres of land. Dass estimates here are three major block factories operating in Trinidad so the competi tion is “not very high.” He explains during the construction phase, the plant employs 43 workers and when operational will employ 36 administrative and technical full time staff members.

Asked about the project’s cost, Dass, who will hold the post of chief executive officer and general manager, laughs saying, “It’s a very costly project.” The blocks, he explains, will be sold directly to hardware stores, construction companies and the regional market.

Dass was born in Caparo and attended Presentation College, Chaguanas. He was one of the fi rst persons from his village to win a national scholarship in 1988. After working at San Fernando General Hospital, he entered into private practice at Freeport in 2000, as a single doctor’s office which mushroomed into Freeport Medical Centre in 2007.

“We had a nice smooth upward climb where we started off as a single doctor’s office, and now we are a one-stop shop where we provide all the basic services - X-ray, ultra sound, full lab services, drug testing, and minor surgery,” Dass says.

The centre also provides mammography testing for breast cancer, which Dass observes is “very common” in women.

Asked about the prevalence of medical clinics sprouting up around the country, he says this is due to the public perception that they are not receiving proper health care at public health institutions.

The Ministry of Health, he says, faces a “very challenging” situation regarding the delivery of health care, and notes the answer lay in a partnership between the public and private sectors.

His medical centre has already partnered with the Health Ministry to provide kidney dialysis treatment and is willing to expand the partnership to provide CT scan and stress testing services to the public.

Dass notes his investments, including the brick factory, represents his faith in the economy saying there are opportunities available to entrepreneurs who are willing to invest in the nation’s future.