FOR SOME, money is regarded as the root of all evil, but Ian Chinapoo, CEO of Guardian Holdings Ltd, has always seen it differently. Chinapoo considers money an enabler.

“Over my career in banking, I have seen that some of the most unassuming, humble, simply dressed people could be the wealthiest,” Chinapoo said during an interview with Business Day at Guardian Holdings’ head office in Westmoorings. “And you know what they did with their wealth? They focused on building their communities, supporting their loved ones; some of them have never moved out of the original house they were living in. You can use the knowledge of finance to improve the quality of life for people and their beneficiaries.”

In one way or another, Chinapoo has been teaching people about finance for more than 28 years.

Now, after almost a year as CEO of one of the longest-standing insurance and holdings companies in TT, Chinapoo is using his passion, experience and knowledge to ensure policy-holders and their beneficiaries are financially independent for generations to come.

Finance is his profession

If you asked a Spartan what his profession was, he would say, “War.” If you ask Chinapoo what his profession is, he would say, “Finance.”

Chinapoo said he had been teaching finance to people from as far back as 1994, even before he graduated from his executive MBA (EMBA) degree at UWI. In the final year of his degree he began tutoring first-year students.

“My lecturers thought I helped people explain finance concepts pretty simply, and there were people in the EMBA who were not coming for the financial background. I was tutoring people who had never done finance before and teaching them MBA-level financial concepts.”

That course is now known as Finance for Non-Financial Managers, at the Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business, a programme he says thousands of people have now passed through.

“I have taught in the EMBA programmes; the IMBA (International Masters in Business Administration) programmes; I have designed a masters in international finance programmes; I have taught in what was the diploma in human resource and is now the masters in human resource."

Coming out of university, Chinapoo worked with CIBC First Caribbean International Bank, Citigroup and Massy Holdings.

He said his passion for educating people in finance went on as he went further in his career. He started in Clico insurance in his early 20s, then moved on to Citigroup, where he worked in several areas, including the treasury and price risk management; foreign exchange; credit; corporate banking and lending; investment banking; structured finance; capital markets; and business leadership.

At CIBC he launched the Capital Markets group, which is now the investment banking group. Then he went to Unit Trust, where he worked in asset finance, and the Massy Group, where he worked in corporate finance.

In October 2022 he was appointed CEO of Guardian Holdings, the last leg in his journey in a financial career. He said he hopes to continue leading the compa