By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 05, 2024

I was a member of the Central Bank board when Lawrence Duprey’s case came to its attention. Amid the charges and counter charges, it was difficult for the board to obtain CLICO financial records, which would have allowed us to see what was taking place within his company. Aware of its responsibility, the board felt it had to act. It acted, and the rest is history.

What I didn’t know then, but can now appreciate, is the tremendous impact Duprey’s company had not only on our country’s economy, but what it meant for black people. At its peak, “CL Financial comprised over 65 companies across 32 countries, with assets exceeding US$100 billion.” The Central Bank was forced to intervene because of “allegations of mismanagement of CLICO and mismanagement of its income and assets to the detriment of its policyholders and mutual funds investors.” (Express editorial, August 26.)

The Express editorial sought to soften the blow by trying to share the blame around. It suggested: “The failure was not CLF’s alone, but also revealed serious lapses on the part of auditors and the Central Bank itself, which has a particular duty to monitor insurance companies.”

This event was an important turning point in the history of black entrepreneurship in the country. It dampened the self-confidence of black people (especially black businesses) and their ability to accumulate wealth. Mea culpa: I also supported the board’s action.

Lawrence took over his uncle’s (Cyril Duprey) business in 1936 when he founded Colonial Life Insurance Company Ltd, the first locally owned insurance company, which he developed into a world-class company.

Cyril started his company when black people in North and South Trinidad displayed an active entrepreneurial spirit. It was a time when most businesses along the Eastern Main Road from Port of Spain to Arima and from Cipero Street to Skinner Park and the Coffee in San Fernando were owned by black people. Black business people and black grassroots organisations brought PNM to power in 1956. In retrospect, the blow against Duprey reflected negatively against all black people.

Recently, Allan Warner, another outstanding black businessman, was arrested and charged with illegal mining without a licence.

He felt unduly put upon by a zealous government. He argues that the rules of the business game in this society are stacked against black business: “There is a national cake and, to some extent, I [as a black businessman] am at a disadvantage because of the mind thing, and for the black man to get out of that situation, something major has to be done to change the thinking.”

However, a friend has pointed out: “Warner’s parroting of his blackness is not the same as Duprey’s suffering for being black.”

Warner blames the rise of crime among black young people in deprived areas to the lack of jobs in black businesses. The other groups (Indians, Syrians, etc) employ their own and pay them good salaries. Black youths are stuck at low-paying jobs at fast food joints. One only has to look at who are employed in road-paving to appreciate the truth of this observation. Warner says, “It is a dangerous thing for a country where 34% of the population is excluded by whatever means from this national pie.” (Express, August 4.)

Warner excuses the PNM from any blame in the construction of this economic scenario. He reduces the black condition to a defect in what he calls “the mental thinking of black people”.

My sense is that a “black mentality”, whatever that is, cannot be separated from the overall economic and business forces that shape the business climate of the country.

I do not believe the contemporary black people in business can be reduced to the failure of the shortcomings of any individual; nor do I share in the “Horatio Alger” myth that glorifies a “relentless demand for lonesome achievement and personal responsibility”. If this were so, there would be no need to elect a government.

However, one cannot be unmindful of how black business people are treated when non-black people seem to get away with crimes that are worse than those crimes attributed to a Warner or a Duprey.

The irony is that after all was said and done, Duprey had enough assets to pay all his debtors. In this context, the treatment of Derek Chin and the MovieTowne cineplex seemed rather lenient.

Perception may not always be reality but the onslaught against black business people sure looks like a concerted plan to drive them out of T&T’s economic landscape. To paraphrase Seneca, the Roman philosopher, “Appearances may be deceptive, but they certainly betray the hopes of man.”

We betray the dreams of black business people when we treat them as social pariahs in T&T’s economic landscape.