Board Of Directors
Our Focus
The main focus of the Chaguanas Chamber Industry & Commerce is to represent Chaguanas businessmen on both local and national issues. Whilst this remains the Chamber’s core function, its activities have been expanded by the current Board of Directors to include other areas on interest affecting C.C.I.C. members.Current Board Of Directors
Baldath Maharaj
President
I am the Cluster Manager at First Citizens Bank where I commenced my employment in 1991. I enjoy dealing with a network of people to assist in providing simple and practical financial solutions to complex problems. My fulfilment comes from seeing my clients succeed after proper counselling and having the desired level of financial freedom.
As an employee of the institution, branches where I managed were awarded Branch of the Year on numerous occasions. I was also nominated for Manager of the Year finalist.
Academically, I studied Auto Mechanics before moving on to my field of study. Thereafter, I completed the Professional Postgraduate at The Chartered Institute of Marketing and MSc Marketing from the University of South Wales.
I led several non-profit organizations and joined the Chaguanas Chamber in 2012. I am currently the Vice President of the Chamber.
Vaalmiki Arjoon
Vice President
Dr Vaalmikki Arjoon is a lecturer at the University of the West Indies, where he currently lectures in Finance, Economics and Econometrics at the Department of Management Studies, and at the Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business. Prior to joining UWI, he lectured in Financial and Macro- Economics at the University of Nottingham in the UK and at their campus in Ningbo, China.
Dr Arjoon also collaborates on several research projects with regional central banks, the World Bank and the Bank of International Settlements. He is also a regular commentator on economic and financial matters in the local mainstream media.
Dr Arjoon currently serves on the council of the Institute of Banking and Finance of Trinidad and Tobago, where he plays a key role in promoting professional education in the local Banking and Finance sector. He is also a member of several professional international Economics associations, including the Royal Economic Society, the Leverhulme Institute for Globalisation and Economic Policy, and the Western Economics Association. In the past six years, he has also worked closely with several chambers of commerce throughout the Caribbean region and currently serves as the Vice President of the board of directors of the Chaguanas Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
He also travels regularly to present his research on emerging financial markets at many Economic and Financial conferences, both academic and professional. In addition, he supervises MSc and PhD theses at UWI, and has also published several of his research studies in the field of Financial Economics in a number of leading international peer reviewed academic journals.
Daniel Austin
Director
Kevin Ramgoolie
Treasurer
Sajjad Hamid
Director
SME & Family Business Advisor
SME & Family Business Advisor Sajjad Hamid is an entrepreneurship educator who teaches at a Trinidad and Tobago community college. He lectures at the College of Science, Technology and
Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT) in entrepreneurship, family business management, and marketing.
He writes a bi-weekly column, Entreprenomics, in the T&T Business Guardian newspaper. He has published over 180 articles that advise small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and family business owners to grow their ventures.
Previously, Sajjad worked as Business Development Manager for a Fortune 500 company in the southern Caribbean. He developed a network of automotive distributors in Guyana, Suriname, Curacao, Aruba, Grenada, St Lucia, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.
Sajjad owns a consulting and training company, Entrepreneur Central Ltd. He assists SME owners in growing their ventures through training and consulting. He has conducted training on starting an entrepreneurial venture, succession planning for family enterprises, developing an entrepreneurial mindset for insurance agents, and finding opportunities in economic adversity for entrepreneurs.
He has also developed the Entrepreneurial Neuroselling System for medium to large firm sellers. The selling system uses neuromarketing, psychology, and behavioural economics with the entrepreneur's mindset. Sellers of professional services can now use this technique to successfully target SMEs and family ventures. Some clients include Guardian Life of Caribbean, Sagicor Life, Maritime Financial, and Pan American Life Insurance Group.
Sajjad developed the Knowledge Solopreneur Development Model, which shows knowledge workers how to transition to knowledge entrepreneurs through an iterative process. It uses four dimensions: developing the entrepreneurial mindset, designing an innovative product offering, using business development to sell it, and delivering an innovative offering.
He is the author of Build Your Legacy Business: Solopreneur To Family Business Hero. This book takes the entrepreneur from mindset development to starting and growing their ventures. The solopreneur can reference the book to transform their business into a family firm and so leave a legacy behind.
Sajjad has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Marketing) from the University Of Florida (U.S), an MBA (General Management) from the University of Reading (U.K), and a Master of Science in Business Psychology from Franklin University (U.S) and an Advanced Certificate in Family Business Advising from the Family Firm Institute (U.S).
Sunil Moonasar
Secretary
Mr Moonasar, possesses a BSc in Chemistry and a Masters in Health Administration with an ‘eye’ for process and systems management in the ophthalmic distribution sector. He leads a team with 24 members, coaching and providing a sustainable environment for them to develop and thrive.
Mr Moonasar also serves on the Board of Directors at Island Roofing and Hardware Solutions Limited and is a Shareholder of Giant Screen Entertainment (IMAX TT).
An avid father of four, he loves to spend quality time at the beach in Mayaro with his family. A lover of sports – Tennis, Cricket, Football, Table tennis and Badminton…always up for a good challenge.
Safraz Alsaran
Assistant Secretary
Sarfraz N. Alsaran is a highly organized and self-driven individual, passionate about the field of Legal Services. Possessing seventeen years’ experience as an Attorney at Law, he has gained an extensive insight into managing contentious matters and advocacy in the various Courts of Trinidad and Tobago as well as the Privy Council where he was Junior Counsel to an appointed Queens Counsel.
Mr. Alsaran was admitted to practice Law in Trinidad and Tobago in 2006. He is the holder of a LLB (Hons.) Degree from the University of London and Legal Practice Certificate (LPC) from the University of Staffordshire in the United Kingdom.
He worked for both the private and public sector (Solicitor General’s Department at the Ministry of the Attorney General) and thereafter established his own private practice, Sarfraz N. Alsaran & Co. in 2015.
Mr. Alsaran is an accomplished communicator with excellent organizational, decision making and time management skills and have a proven track record of consistently meeting and regularly surpassing demanding performance goa