The 2022 Hall of Fame inductees at the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce Champions of Business awards gala, Langston Roach and Nicholas Galt, shared stories of struggle and triumph at the awards gala held at NAPA in Port of Spain on Thursday night.
They were among six winners celebrated at the gala which was themed leadership and legacy. The two business stalwarts were inducted into the hall of fame and would join 38 other business leaders inducted over the 17 years the programme has been running.
Roach, while accepting his award, expressed gratitude to the Almighty, family, staff and supporters. He said when he started his business in the 1970s, there was a conversation bandied about which suggested that black people did not have the acumen to run a business.
“I wanted to prove them wrong,” he said.
In a subsequent interview, he said in 1985 he had almost given up on his entrepreneurial dreams but persevered and took his business to where it is today as Langston Roach Industries Ltd.
“I remember closing my businesses in Port of Spain, going to my home in Santa Cruz and sleeping through the entire weekend. There was no communication. I just got up to eat and then I went back to sleep. I was just dealing with myself and my thoughts and how I would do in the future. I extended that weekend into two weeks. At the end of that period, I told myself I had a point to prove and a mission to fulfil so I started over.”
He said one of the strategies of starting over was keeping the expenses as low as possible. He said to keep the expenses low he would do most of the chemical mixing of his cleaning products.
“Instead of hiring someone to do the mixing, I became the mixer. I would do as much as possible on my own and would only hire when we needed external help.”
[caption id="attachment_987580" align="alignnone" width="656"] June-Ann and Anthony Henry, owners of A&J Homemade Ice Cream, won the 2022 entrepreneurship award at the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce awards ceremony, NAPA, Port of Spain on Thursday. - AYANNA KINSALE[/caption]
He said his tendency to lead from the front and to keenly observe the buying habits of his customers helped him to pivot. Now, Langston Roach markets its products to over 2,000 trade and commercial customers throughout TT.
“My greatest legacy is to leave my children with a better future than I inherited myself,” he said. “My parents gave me the best that they could have offered at the time but I am leaving my children much better off than I was when I started.”
He said each of his children have multi-million dollar businesses.
Galt, chairman of the TSL Group, also thanked family, friends, co-workers and God for his success as an entrepreneur, but he also noted that his journey was a difficult one racked with disease and hard times.
“Its been a long journey to get here,” he said in a subsequent interview. “I feel grateful that the chamber has recognised the work that I’ve done over the yea
