Brighton Dube (centre), Founder & CEO of Concargo Transportation stands with (L to R) – Solange Gopaul, Concargo VP of Operations; Kern Phillip, Concargo Director of Operations; Tim McKinney, Concargo Logistics Operations Manager (USA); Jeniece Scoon, Investments Officer, InvesTT; and Christopher Maharaj, Concargo VP of Operations. (Image courtesy invesTT)

Concargo Transportation, a warehouse, transportation and logistics company based in Indiana USA, has chosen Trinidad and Tobago as its regional home as it seeks to capture Caribbean and Latin American customer markets.

Concargo is one of the largest minority-owned companies in the State of Indiana.

Brighton Dube, the company’s African American owner/entrepreneur, outlined his rationale for choosing T&T.

“My key deciding factors in choosing Trinidad and Tobago were the investment climate, which I found to be very welcoming to foreign investment, the politically stable environment, a relatively low rate of electrical power disruptions compared to other places where I’ve worked, and the available supply of an educated pool of workers,” he said.  “Where the job market is not enough to meet the supply of labour, companies like mine find that most attractive.”

InvesTT president, Sekou Alleyne, sees Concargo’s entrance as a boost to the local logistics industry, and an employment opportunity for youth.

“We are pleased to welcome Concargo to Trinidad and Tobago. They are young and innovative and have a unique method of delivery that will revolutionize warehousing and logistics in T&T,” Alleyne said.

He added: “InvesTT is excited to work with Concargo in expanding their opportunities, specifically the establishment of their BPO dispatch offshore logistics initiative.  Our team stands ready to assist Concargo and facilitate their future re-investment into T&T.”

Concargo owner/founder, Brighton Dube revealed that establishing an office in this country was more attractive to them than “working with a partner here”.

“Setting up our own office in Trinidad rather than working with a partner here is certainly more affordable for us. InvesTT was very instrumental in reminding us to keep this country in our expansion plans. The Caribbean as a whole is a big market, and we want to be able to use our own employees. We plan to invest a lot of money in training,” he said.

Concargo began operations on Wrightson Road, Port of Spain in July 2022 with a vibrant and energetic office staff of 11 local employees—dispatchers, managers and administrative staff—and has plans to recruit at least 10 drivers. In the initial stages, the company will introduce house-to-house product delivery via motorcycles, in addition to the more traditional use of vans for larger items. Future plans include provision of dispatch services to other international logistics firms, with Concargo acting as the outsourcing agent.

Brighton Dube says he is very proud already of his initial staff complement in T&T.

Kern Phillip, a talented young local Director of Operations who manages the office while Dube is away, also expressed great pride in working with Concargo:

“One good thing about foreign companies coming to T&T is that there are lots of new jobs available. I’m a recent university graduate and I’ve seen the struggle to find employment in T&T after graduation—after so many years of studying, you can’t use your talent,” he observed.

“In a logistics business like this one,” he said, “there’s opportunity for self-improvement and growth. Critical thinking skills come into play in order to solve logistic issues because in the transportation business there can be many different ways to move something. Therefore, it requires thinking outside of the box.”

Phillip added: “At Concargo, we believe in teamwork and we treat everyone equally. We encourage a lot of team bonding as this is how we generate ideas. We want to create an encouraging working space where people will want to come to work and enjoy their work. We want people to build their careers with us instead of for us.”

Brighton Dube also emphasized that Concargo Transportation is not just a money-making venture.

“In addition to providing efficient and cost effective solutions for our customers, we have a strong interest in corporate social responsibility just like we do in the USA,” he assured, “and we’d like to give back to and make an impact in the community in any way that we can.”

Main Article Link : https://www.guardian.co.tt/