Giving back to the community

August 27, 2001

Never judge a book merely by the cover! You have to read verse and chapter! That's folk wisdom reflective of the depth of native wit and imagination.

When I first walked into the Sweet Lime/Ma Pau establishment at the corner of Ariapita Avenue and French Street one Friday evening last year, I surely was not expecting more than the usual fare of good ole talk, fine rum and polite conversation so typical in such establishments around Port-of-Spain.

Mutual friends introduced me first to John Wallis, CEO of Ma Pau and chairman of the Sunny Group of Companies, and later to his petite Namibian wife who, when she came in from management classes, took time to compare and contrast for us life in Namibia and T&T. And though that was fascinating enough, it was her husband's easy mannerism, calm control and management techniques that were illuminating.

I listened to John Wallis's recounting of a particular management problem that had arisen sometime before and how he had dealt with it. The exact nature of the problem is not important. What struck me was the critical intelligence and logic that he brought to bear to the process of problem solving. That was indeed unusual.

You got the impression that here was a manager genuinely concerned about solutions that brought development. It was clear to me that he had experienced a great deal and had come as a result to formulate a particular style and way of dealing with life.

Not surprisingly, John Wallis had some of the most interesting stories and startling anecdotes to relate about his experiences all over the world. Most of all there was a lot to be said about the relationships that he had forged with people all over. As he quipped, he had learnt something from each of the different cultures with which he had come into contact.

About his social life and business interests here in T&T one could sense that already deep links have been and are being established. Though not only in the traditional ways expected.

Ma Pau is a corporate citizen, par excellence. Somehow in T&T when a person says "corporate citizen", which in fact signifies a positive, immediately the large multinationals in the oil, energy and petro-chemical sector come to focus. But "bigness" has nothing to do with the quality of relationship with the people at the roots of society, which in this particular case is the symbolic positive to which we referred. Such thinking will eventually change due in no small part to the activities of the Ma Pau/Sunny Group in the service and entertainment industries.

Of course the very nature of the service and entertainment industries would put groups like the Ma Pau/Sunny Group much more in touch with the masses of people on a daily basis than the highly specialised areas such as petro-chemicals, where job activities would tend to involve mainly professionals and skilled middle-class elements who comprise only a very small percentage of the population. And that small percentage do in fact contribute significantly to the country's development.

But the question is: what about the unskilled, the unemployeds, the unemployables , the needy, and the some 15 to 20 per cent who exist beneath the poverty line and may never in this life ever prove able to access secondary and/or tertiary academic and technical training? That's where private organisations, like Ma Pau Recreation Club, play their part in the awesome process of nation-building.

Ma Pau, an institution that caters for adult casino-type entertainment, provides a labour-intensive service environment that creates jobs in a wide and varied range stretching from computer programming and data entry to the manning of gaming-tables and bar-tending. Youths who are ambitious have been known to utilise these jobs to get ahead by financing their own studies, training and personal development.

At Ma Pau's, middle management and supervisory staff with decision-making responsibilities are comprised primarily of young people, mainly female at that. And these young women are showing clearly that just as in any modern society women are quite capable of shouldering responsibilities and providing leadership.

If that were all, it would be great, but Ma Pau has been quietly giving back to the national community in many other ways.

They have been known to assist the Sisters of the Cluny with a special scholarship fund and have contributed to the extending of the educational facilities at Eshe's Learning Centre, where many of the nation's children go to seek remedial training owing to various problems common today in the processing of language.

In like manner they have funded the establishment of the Muhammad A Shabazz (MAS) Foundation that is geared to provide scholarships to needy students, orphans and youngsters who have been socially displaced, as well as provide medical expenses for those who are suffering from dreaded diseases and ailments.

In fact, in regard to medical assistance, Ma Pau's activities are more than exemplary, having provided grants to the needy for almost every conceivable ailment and surgical procedure known to humanity.

Geneve Hall, a supervisor at Ma Pau, indicated that their annual Christmas treat for the children of Sea Lots, and particularly Ma Pau's "Form A Line And Eat" programme that provides 100 meals weekly to needy persons, came about as a result of a suggestion from employees and it is done without any publicity, for the aim is merely "to make a difference."

A concept like "Form A Line And Eat," we are assured, could only have come from a Trini mindset, no one, anywhere else in the world, could formulate that. But again, allowing the native creative wit to flow is quite typical of Ma Pau's approach and style.

Much in keeping with Ma Pau's affinity to the roots of society, their choice of sport for funding fell on football - the sport that is most played and enjoyed by the less privileged. They have sponsored two clubs that are heavily community oriented: Falcons (Belle Eau Road, Belmont) in the PYM League and Kandahar United (Five Rivers, Arouca) in the Eddie Hart League.

In addition, they have pledged financial support to the Northern Football Association of the TTFA, which embraces 22 clubs from Under-12 to Premiership Division, to the tune of some quarter million dollars over the next five years. Interestingly, no one has ventured to declare the total annual sum that the Ma Pau/Sunny Group contributes through these charities in their quest to give back to the national community. But again that's their style! Such people need to be recognised and praised by society.