Anthony Sabga’s last dream

Two years later his father Namie would leave Syria for Trinidad.

Sabga would follow in 1930.

“The journey was traumatic, but the transition to a new culture was more so,” Sabga wrote in his 2015 autobiography, A Will and a Way.

While Sabga, who died yesterday at the age of 94, had many stories to tell, in a sense the story of his journey to Trinidad at such a young age is the ultimate testimony to the nature of the man.

“The journey was traumatic, but the transition to a new culture was more so, with our community having so few resources and being so isolated,” Sabga wrote. “My formal education was one of the casualties of that dislocation.

Because of the language barrier, I faltered in school and never caught up.” Sabga continued, “Late in life you can be philosophical about early hardships, but I still remember them vividly. The memories of those days still affect me, although there is no doubt that the move from Syria to Trinidad was the best thing that could have happened for me and my family. I could say now it made me always alert for different ways of doing things, it made me turn what some people saw as deficiency into strength — a trait that would define my life in and out of business.” Today we pay tribute to Sabga who was undoubtedly a champion of free enterprise. He moved from humble beginnings to great success through sheer hard work.

In the process, he played a pivotal role in the development of the Trinidad and Tobago economy, overseeing enterprises in all kinds of industry and projects such as the Grand Bazaar, which is today one of many of his successes. His companies have provided employment, generated tax income and opened doors for investment opportunities. No doubt this is why the State was able to salute his contribution in 2011 with the conferral of the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

A lot of Sabga’s success was due to his formative years in Syria.

In Anez, he grew up in a barter economy where you traded whatever you grew or made. Peddlers and gypsies would pass through this village. Sabga would later use the gypsies’ tactic of making a regular route through areas untouched by commerce in rural Trinidad where he sold refrigerators.

But all of Sabga’s success could have easily not come. In his childhood he barely survived a deadly epidemic due to the efforts of a wandering mystic. This mystic took an iron ring, set it on fire and used it to brand Sabga’s forehead.

“The scar is still there on my head. I don’t know what he did, but I am told I was the only survivor of this epidemic,” he wrote in his book.

But the death of Sabga is not just a loss to Trinidad and Tobago and to his family. It is also a loss to the region.

While Sabga was loyal to his adopted homeland, he also had a vision of a regional grouping of Caribbean States.

“I foresee that the ANSA McAL Group will remain steadfast providing employment and investment opportunities for our citizens,” he wrote. “But dearer perhaps to my heart is my wish for the Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence to bridge that gap that the short-lived Federation of the West Indies couldn’t.” Here was an individual who was the perfect example of the modern citizen: a product of globalisation, a free market and immigration.

But he was also someone who set goals not only for himself, but the society in which he operated. This was an entrepreneur with acumen and conscience.

Perhaps his last dream for the region may one day come to pass. May he rest in peace