The festival, organised by Sheldon Blackman and Derek Hearn, takes place each year with instalments in Tobago and in Trinidad.

Last weekend musicians, friends and fans gathered to share live music, food, art and vibes at Friendship Riding Stables in Canaan.

On Saturday and Sunday, the festival will continue at the Blackman Ranch, Seebocus Trace, Piparo.

Members of the Blackman family will share their signature musical legacy, with performances from Marge Blackman and Jamoo; Nehilet Blackman and AGB; Nailah Blackman (Work Out) and Sheldon Blackman backed by the Friendship Band.

Other musicians and singers slated to perform include Gillian Moor, Ozy Merrique, Marcos Mayers and the Lazarus Project, Joel Beazer and more.

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Friendship Festival, now in its fifth year, is a family-friendly camping out festival gathering great music, theatre, arts and craft, workshops, food, drinks and good people.

Admission is free and the public is invited to join in. Action begins from 1 pm on Saturday to 4 pm on Sunday.

The student performance will be on the greens at the Department of Creative and Festival Arts on Gordon Street, St Augustine, on Saturday at 5 pm.

Percussion on the Greens will feature a plethora of interesting combinations of traditional and ethnic percussion instruments all orchestrated to challenge one’s imagination of different percussive timbres. The combination of instruments range from tuned percussion (concert bells, xylophone, vibraphone, marimbas, chimes and timpani) to battery percussion (drums, and auxiliary percussion).

The audience will hear a variety of musical genres that feature rhythmic and melodic percussion pieces specifically composed for percussion ensemble.

Patrons are encouraged to walk with their blankets to this picnic-styled event.

For more info: 663-2141, 645-1955 or michelle.wellington@ sta.uwi.edu.

Tickets are $60 for adults but students pay $30.

A conversation about commercial banking, however, cannot occur without a discussion on the issue of technological innovation, and moreso since commercial banks are becoming increasingly computerised and digitalised in this modern age. In fact, technology has taken on an ever more significant role in the delivery of banking services as well as in the ways that banks conduct business and general operations.

A separate conversation has to take place, however, regarding whether the technological advances of the commercial banks are reflective of the technological literacy of the population, or whether those of us who are not as technologically savvy are being forced to pay fees and charges to enter into banking halls versus using automated teller machines (ATMs) and online banking.

The assumption can be made that banks are investing in technology to ultimately increase efficiencies and therefore reduce costs, and also increase their own profitability. In fact, in an era of such dynamic technological change, commercial banks and other financial institutions must constantly innovate in systems, products and services in order to remain competitive. However, one must consider that no matter how compelling an innovation might be, it is the consumer who will ultimately determine its success.

As one writer puts it “the process of technological diffusion is driven by the needs of the market place rather than by the inventions of engineers”.

Another consideration for technological innovations in the commercial banking sector is the reduction in demand to hold money, especially since the use of ATMs now affords the consumers access to funds at any time.

Consequently, there may be the need for larger level of balances.

It becomes clear, therefore, the introduction of new technologies in the banking process must be reflected in monetary policy particularly in such issues as liquidity ratios and the demand for money.

It can also be said to benefit national productivity as customers may not require as much time-off from work to conduct banking transactions.

Generally speaking, technology is changing the banking industry from brick and mortar branches to the reliance on digitized and networked banking services.

It has fundamentally changed the mechanism by which banks interact with their customers by using more web-based applications and computer terminals and reducing the need for customers to visit branches.

Ironically, the key to survival for commercial banks is customer service since in Trinidad and Tobago the banking sector has been described as “oligopolistic” much to the annoyance of the banking sector. Customer loyalty will be determined by the bank’s ability to innovate and deliver products and services at arms-length in a manner that still feels personal to the consumer. Personal service and convenience are still very critical factors one considers in their banking relationships, but these are now defined differently. To achieve this, banks may consider taking a more involved role in the technological education of their customers rather than the use of perverse disincentives as a tool to discourage persons from transacting business within the branch network.

The question now arises whether technological innovation in the banking sector has satisfied the needs of the customers in Trinidad and Tobago. It can be argued that while there might be a significant relationship between customer satisfaction and technological innovations, the associated increase in transaction costs have proven disadvantageous to customers.

This increase in cost could be attributed to the high cost of investment made by the banks in these technological innovations.

It is apparent that banks need to properly identify the needs of their customers in the development and introduction of any new technologies to ensure that these products and services actually meet the needs of consumers.

The return that banks expect as a result of their investment in technology should also consider the impact of the change the investment creates. Banks should recognize that the benefits associated with technological innovation will not be realised if that innovation does not originate from customer needs and will in fact lead to a more dissatisfied customer.

Perhaps what we may see soon enough in Trinidad and Tobago is the appearance of digital competition in our local banking industry, in the form of technological giants such as Google and Amazon and other forms of competition such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The financial services industry will become a banking, information, and technology industry. The question is not whether the banking industry will transform, the question is really how.

Does Trinidad and Tobago have the enabling legislation to ensure that we are able to allow these innovations and financial technology companies? The challenge here for policy-makers is to create an environment whereby the banking industry is allowed to evolve whilst simultaneously ensuring safety and soundness of the banking sector.

Dear Embracing Technology, The human spirit must prevail over technology– Albert Einstein The office today hardly resembles the office of Albert Einstein’s era in the early 1900s where the switchboard was literally a board and the computer took up a lot more space than your desk. Yet today his advice remains relevant, as we comb through email threads, attend virtual meetings and teleconferences from the comfort of our chairs all while trying to keep up with LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and more.

The virtual team has become a mainstay in corporate life. In a study published by The Academy of Management Executive, the authors describe a virtual team as a “group of people who work independently with shared purpose across space, time, and organisation boundaries, using technology to communicate and collaborate.” Virtual teams allow organisations to bring together people with the best expertise, regardless of where they live. The challenge now is for our skills to keep up to stay relevant.

Challenge If you thought communication was an important skill in the workplace, wait until you are in that teleconference call and your manager can’t see your facial expressions.

Your mood and tone become even more important than ever when you are on that call. According to research, your tone accounts for 38% of what is communicated, and your words are 7%, whilst 55% of your communication is your body language. We must agree based on our experiences, that different tones convey different messages, even when the same words are used.

Communicating by email and instant messaging can be equally challenging, especially when a virtual team includes members from different countries and cultures. Believe it or not, the written word also has a tone and it is easy to be misunderstood.

Tip Remember there are no visual clues when you are on that teleconference call, so ensure your tone is consistent with the message you want to deliver and be clear and crisp when speaking.

Likewise, review your email and check your choice of words for opportunities to be misunderstood. Is the tone of the email rough or courteous? How would it be received? Did you include all the relevant information in the email? Sometimes we write as though people have a sneak peek into our minds. Make sure the tone is pleasant, that the information is thorough, and the reader has all the information so he can respond accordingly and take action.

An important part of communicating clearly is knowing how to listen. Listening is an underestimated skill in the workplace.

If your manager called you in his office for a meeting, would you bring your laptop and work on another report while he is speaking to you? If you don’t do it in a face-to-face meeting, then why do it in a virtual meeting? Always use active listening skills when someone else is speaking, never multi task when you’re listening. Give the other person your full attention; not only will you understand them better, it’s also a sign of respect and courtesy.

Communicating with instant messaging is considered to be a less formal form of communication.

Nevertheless, pay attention to the possibility that your message may be misunderstood, particularly if it has emotional content. Agree with your team that it’s acceptable to use emoticons, and then use them to clarify any message where the emotional meaning could be taken the wrong way.

Challenge Communication technology is a good thing but with the ease and benefits of communication technology, we risk becoming disconnected in a connected world.

Building sound relationships at work is critical for building an effective team, whether it is a virtual team or not. The main question is how do we build an effective team, when the research and development department is outsourced to a company in India, the digital marketing gurus are in Canada, the website guys are in Croatia, and your accountants are on Level two, #66 Pembroke Street? Tip To build an effective team you must build the relationships. You must be deliberate and intentional in building a relationship with your virtual team.

An important part of establishing a relationship with anyone, virtual team or not, is building and maintaining trust. Trust evolves differently in virtual teams than normal teams in the office. In an office, team members build relationships through social interaction and collaborative work, which leads to trust. Researchers call this benevolent or interpersonal trust.

However, in a virtual team, colleagues build trust through reliability, consistency, and responsiveness – this is called ability-based, or task-based trust.

Make an extra effort to keep your word to show you are reliable. If you agree on a deadline, or you make a promise to action an item, do what you promised to do. When you demonstrate your integrity and work ethic, your team members will learn that they can rely on you.

Remember to be sensitive to your colleagues in different time zones.

You may be expecting a bit too much for your colleague if you expect them to be highly vocal or engaged in the meeting scheduled at 3 am his time, while you just came back from having a tall caramel macchiato from the Starbucks around the corner. If possible, try to schedule important meetings for times when you’re both in the office.

Communication technologies are here to stay and you should use the very same technologies such as Twitter and LinkedIn to build relationships and stay relevant.

Working in a virtual environment requires a different mindset and a deliberate way of interacting.

Remember, business, like life, is about building relationships. The human spirit must prevail over technology if you want to remain professionally relevant.

AFETT is a not-for-profit organization formed in 2002 with the goal of bringing together professional women and engaging in networking opportunities, professional training and business ideas. ASK AFETT is a column meant to address issues and concerns of professionals seeking advice to assist in progressing in their careers. Today’s response was written by Charlene Pedro, AFETT President- Elect; Managing Director – Conventus Consultinc, corporate coach and trainer. Learn more about AFETT at www.afett.com or by contacting the Secretariat at admin.afett@gmail.

com or 354-7130. Search for AFETT Events on Facebook and follow @ AFETTEXECS on Twitter.

As an AMI accredited agency, the Pepper team is required to complete continuous education every year in accordance with the AMI Manifesto. Pepper’s executives will also attend training sessions with industry experts during the AMI’s bi-annual round-table meetings. Through AMI, Pepper’s team will contribute to and participate in an array of training sessions dealing with technical, ethical and practical knowledge on areas such as law, business growth, relationship building, negotiation skills, digital trends and more.

This group of less than 100 privately owned agencies continues to invest in the betterment of members with the goal of positively impacting their clients. “Pepper was enthusiastically and unanimously voted into the Velocity network at our just concluded meeting in San Diego, California. Everyone is looking forward to learning from and with Rebecca and Dennis (Ramdeen),” said McLellan.

The Velocity network has a mix of advertising agencies, PR firms, marketing shops, digital marketing, and design firms with the desire and drive to grow their business to the next level. The network members meet in person twice a year and stay in touch throughout the year. They share resources, partner on business, seek counsel and enjoy each other’s support.

Since its inception in 2005, Pepper’s client base has grown and now represents a broad range of clients in the private and state sectors, including food and beverages, quick service restaurants, supermarkets, banking, insurance, media, pharmaceuticals, education, health, housing, petroleum, manufacturing and industrial. Pepper is an integrated agency that supports clients with brand positioning, traditional advertising, media planning and buying, new media solutions and events.

Minister Gopee-Scoon commended the executive team of Grand Bay Paper Products on its operations, and acknowledged the efforts made by the company in restructuring, financially and operationally. She indicated that the company is poised to grow from strength to strength and it is currently a net foreign exchange earner serving several markets in the Caribbean, in particular, the Cuban market. She challenged the executive team to also look closely at the Venezuelan market for market penetration.

Senator Rambharat envisioned other opportunities in what the facility had to offer. “Apart from viewing the success of Grand Bay Paper Products in manufacturing, exports and waste recycling, I am here to accelerate our discussions on pilot farm trials utilising the calcium carbonate by-product of your process on agricultural lands, to boost soil productivity.”

Kevin Marcilliat, the company’s managing director said, “We could not have made it this far without the support of our stakeholders. We are proud that we are creating and pioneering this industry in Trinidad and Tobago. We have been converters in the Caribbean for many years and to have a papermill here is historic. We are here to provide employment and grow foreign exchange as well as to increase trade.”

He outlined the major accomplishments for the company in 2016, some of which included the opening of new market opportunities in Cuba and Haiti, increased sales in existing markets such as Jamaica, Guyana, Belize, Barbados and Aruba and sales pipeline growth with Pricesmart Members Selection and America Fresh product lines.

“Today is a very special day for us,” said Kerry Mohammed, chief marketing officer of ATCO. “We are proud to mesh such a quality, exotic brand of drinks, with an exceptional singer, songwriter and performer such as Neval. Together, this is a winning combination and we know we can make your lives sweeter with Rita.”

Founded in 1990, Atlantic Trading Company is the distributor of a number of brands in the Caribbean, including Disney, Satco, Marvel, Nuby, Powerhouse and Lucasfilm.

A former Digicel Rising Stars winner, Chatelal is known for his melodic vocal style that shines through on some of the Caribbean’s most popular love songs.

Chatelal will be featured in the full spectrum of the company’s marketing appearing in their print, television and digital efforts.

ATCO held its signing and launch party on Valentine’s Day at Trincity Mall.

The Barbados-born Hope replaces Yannick Ottley, who was dropped from the squad on the basis of his horrid run of form this season, having scored only 92 runs in eight innings, at an average of 11.50. Hope, on the other hand, have amassed 410 runs in nine innings at 51.25.

Denesh Ramdin, who led the Red Force to the semi-final stage at the Regional Super50 competition, was unavailable for the rest of the season due to family commitments, according to a media release issued by the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB).

Another person who was ruled out of contention was Barbados-born all-rounder Roshon Primus, who is recovering from an undisclosed injury.

All-rounder Anderson Phillip, off-spinner Bryan Charles and left-arm spinner Khary Pierre were included in the Four Day squad for the first time this season, while opener Jeremy Solozano and all-rounder Jyd Goolie were recalled.

Trinidad and Tobago Red Force squad: Kyle Hope (captain), Isaiah Rajah, Jeremy Solozano, Jyd Goolie, Nicholas Alexis, Anderson Phillip, Steven Katwaroo, Imran Khan, Yannick Cariah, Khary Pierre, Bryan Charles, Sheldon Cottrell, Marlon Richards.

He saw the need for such action after referencing an International Women’s Day message from the United Nations Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who said, “we want to construct a different world of work for women…we have to start change at home and in the earliest days of school so there are no places in a child’s environment where they learn that girls must be less, have less and dream smaller than boys.” She added, “This will take adjustments in parenting, curricula, educational settings and channels for everyday stereotypes such as TV, advertising and entertainment… it will take determined steps to protect young girls from harmful cultural practices like early marriage and from all forms of violence.” Rowley, in his own message on the occasion said those are some of the issues currently engaging the attention of his Government,

In addressing some of those very issues, especially domestic violence, during his inaugural conversation with the Prime Minister series at Maloney, Rowley told women in part at the meeting, “You called on the Prime Minister to do something about crime. I am not in your bedroom, I am not in your choice of men.” He added then: “You have a responsibility to determine who you associate with and know when to get out and the State will try to help. But in his Rowley in his International Women’s Day message yesterday Rowley placed some emphasis on the need reshaping the behaviour of men and boys in Trinidad and Tobago,

“Where we as a people need to make a stronger effort is in the protection of our children and women from the incidence of domestic violence,” he said. “We cannot continue to pat ourselves on the back for the local and international accomplishments of our girls and women if at the same time newspaper headlines bombard us with evidence that all is not right in many of our households,

This is as much a concern for me as it is for my Government since it points to a real need for increased efforts aimed at re-shaping the behaviour of our men and boys.” Rowley reminded that gender related matters and issues affecting the country’s children had been placed by him within the portfolio of the Office of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister added that the Gender and Child Affairs Division of his Office remains focused on facilitating gender equity and equality by developing policies that promote the equal advancement of women and men,

He referred to related actions of this Division “by offering programmes which seek to deconstruct stereotyping and more recently, by designing a community based action plan which emphasises the need to reduce Gender Based Violence, specifically violence against women and girls in communities, and to provide help for potential perpetrators and improved support for victims.” Rowley acknowledged the possibility of challenges as plans are implemented, but he added that we must believe that ultimately we will see positive changes in behaviour and attitudes,

“Moving forward,” the Prime Minister continued, “I give you the assurance that all avenues will be employed by this Government to maintain a level playing field for our girls and boys, women and men to succeed in fulfilment of their abilities and aspirations, without prejudice for disability and mindful of the fact that gender discrimination, especially in the world of work, may only serve to derail a nation from its own trajectory of economic advancement and progress.” Rowley noted that another of the 2017 International Women’s Day themes is to “Be Bold For Change” and to strive for a better working, more gender inclusive world,

“As your Prime Minister,” he said, “I want to encourage the girls and women of Trinidad and Tobago to take full advantage of all the opportunities that are open to you – education, internships, decent work, advocacy, political participation – never give up on your dreams.” The Prime Minister added, “As men and women, girls and boys; working together in an environment of mutual respect and understanding, we will build a better and stronger Nation.”

The country first ever woman prime minister also called for all to work individually and collectively to effect change so women can occupy their rightful places as equals in the world. The theme for this year’s celebration of International Women’s Day is, “Be Bold for Change”, and she said this theme is most appropriate given the threat under which women live today, and the discrimination they face.

“In this country, women are under threat as never before, while an impotent administration stumbles along without any policy for guidance,” Persad- Bissessar said, adding that media reports tell stories of violence against both young and old women. “How can we be complacent when we hear horrendous reports of children at the mercy of men, even in what is supposed to be the sanctuary of their homes? Sexual violence against women is also taking place in dark corners and some women, who are seen by predators as objects rather than persons, remain quiet and even harbour feelings of being the ones to blame,” the Siparia MP said.

The Opposition Leader said citizens have a duty to raise their voices and take action, “to demand a more inclusive world for women in which gender must never be a barrier to progress. All of us have an obligation to stand up and speak out against every act that makes women lesser persons, and, we need to do it until we effect the change that our society and the world must make in the 21st century.” According to Persad-Bissessar, “Women represent half of humankind. Statistics from the World Bank show that we are half of the global population and here in Trinidad and Tobago our numbers have passed 49 percent of the total population.

Yet we remain mired in a never- ending struggle for equity with our male counterparts in every facet of national life.” She said that the World Economic Forum has predicted that the gender gap will remain wide open for decades to come and will not close entirely until 2186. She stated, “We cannot wait that long. One day is too long.”