11222022 BUSINESS

Investor wants

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor

A CONTROVERSIAL Aus trian developer is demanding an astonishing $3bn-plus in damages and interest from the Government after it blocked his bid to acquire Abaco’s Treasure Cay project.

Dr Mirko Kovats, a Lyford Cay homeowner who has permanent resident status in The Bahamas, is alleging that this and his other local real estate deals “have been subject to undue influence by the Government” which he is accus ing of “interference in a private commercial transaction”.

Legal filings in the US and The Bahamas, which have been obtained by Tribune Business

disclose the extent of Dr Kovats’ legal battles that have embroiled not only Treasure Cay but also the 384-acre South Ocean devel opment in southwestern New Providence (see other article on Page 1B). And he is also setting his sights on south Long Island, and some 3,200 acres of real estate

Legal battle hits Albany’s South Ocean ambitions

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A CONTROVERSIAL

Austrian investor says he has cut 60 percent of planned rooms from his proposed South Ocean redevelopment to “accom modate Albany” even though the property remains entangled in litiga tion he initiated.

Dr Mirko Kovats, a Lyford Cay home owner and Bahamas permanent resident, is alleging that members of the Davis administration are linking the dispute over South Ocean - the 384-acre tract in southwestern New Providence that is one of the island’s few remaining sites for major resort devel opment - with his efforts to acquire Abaco’s Treasure Cay project (see other arti cle on Page 1B).

Asserting that the two projects are not connected, the Austrian implied that the Davis administra tion had refused to grant him approval for Treas ure Cay’s purchase as a means to exert leverage over him with respect to

South Ocean and advance the Albany development’s interests over his.

It is unclear how Dr Kovats can be drawing up development plans for South Ocean when he is still embroiled in a Supreme Court legal battle with the current owner over his efforts to acquire it. The Austrian and his Bahamas Island Consortium vehi cle initiated action against the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension Plan (CCWIPP), and its IF Propco Holdings (Ontario) 39 Ltd vehicle, in 2020 in a bid to force it to close the sale with him.

Dr Kovats is understood to be arguing that CCWIPP and its investment vehicle have a binding sales agree ment with himself, which they broke in a “breach of contract”, and that they should be forced by the Supreme Court to complete the 384-acre tract’s sale to him.

The Canadian pension fund, which took over South Ocean after Ron Kelly defaulted on his loan repay ments, has been seeking

located in close proximity to the newly-unveiled $250m Calypso Cove cruise port.

The papers reveal that the Aus trian, who lives at McCullough on Clifton Bay Drive, initiated Judi cial Review proceedings against

from

Cable chief optimistic $2.8m profit is trend

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

CABLE Bahamas’ top executive is voicing opti mism that $2.8m first quarter profits represent the start of a trend with its fibre network set to cover all New Providence “on a home pass basis” by yearend 2023.

Franklyn Butler, the BISX-listed commu nications provider’s president and chief execu tive, told Tribune Business he anticipates the near-$5m year-over-year positive bottom line reversal for the three months to endSeptember 2022 is a sign of things to come “save and

except for extraordinary items”.

With no such impedi ments in sight, he disclosed that Cable Bahamas is mulling whether to employ the extra $50m generated from its $219m capital

raise earlier this year to help Aliv refinance or use it to pay off $26m in Series 13 US dollar preference shares that remain on its own balance sheet.

With that raise having locked in long-term capi tal, Mr Butler told this newspaper that Cable Bahamas is preparing to “accelerate” the roll-out of its $80m-$85m fibre-to-thehome network investment on New Providence with effort presently moving into the heavily-populated Carmichael Road area.

“We have already rolled it out in areas like Adelaide as well as Coral Harbour. We’re coming from the south-west moving deeper into the Carmichael area now,” he said. “We are

seeing initial feedback that has been very, very posi tive. We have just shy of 100 customers on trial, and the feedback has been very positive.

“We anticipate that as we roll-out into 2023 we will be launching fibreto-the-home in earnest through this Christmas hol iday season into early New Year. We’re doing some testing of back office sys tems now. We have just shy of 100 customers testing that, and giving feedback on the in-home experience and the like.”

Cable Bahamas plans to build-out its fibre-tothe-home infrastructure, in a bid to keep pace with

Bahamas First ‘could not meet increased demand’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS First has been unable to meet new property insurance demand that “exceeded our expectations” despite securing additional rein surance capacity for 2022 in a bid to generate growth.

Patrick Ward, the BISX-listed property and casualty insurer’s presi dent and chief executive, told shareholders in the company’s 2022 third quarter report that it has been forced to “refocus” on existing homeowner and business clients due to

the lack of additional rein surance capacity.

“Because capacity for catastrophe-related prop erty business is becoming more difficult to secure on the global reinsurance markets, even at signifi cantly higher prices and more restrictive terms, we have not been able to accommodate as much new property business as we would have wished in either jurisdiction (Baha mas and the Cayman Islands),” Mr Ward wrote.

“Prior to the start of 2022, we secured some additional capacity in anticipation of organic growth, but the actual demand has exceeded our expectations. The lack of additional capacity has

Manufacturer: 12-hour shift doesn’t break law

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A FREEPORT manu facturer last night said just three maintenance staff “withdrew” their labour over a new 12-hour shift system implemented to support the company’s expansion.

PharmaChem Tech nologies, in a statement, confirmed it had pro vided the trio with their legally-entitled

severance pay and other benefits after they “repu diated” the new system that is intended to sup port the “start-up phase” of manufacturing further drugs to help combat HIV/ AIDS and other infectious diseases.

Asserting its belief that the move has not breached employees’ contracts, or violated Bahamian labour laws, the company explained that the changes were needed after it “recently completed the

construction of a new multiproduct manufacturing facility” that will produce “the next generation of active pharmaceutical ingredients for products to fight the HIV/AIDS ‘war’ and other infectious diseases”.

It added: “The plant is now in the start-up phase of validating two new processes. As with most start-ups, we are experiencing significant technical, equipment and process delays which now

require 24/7, 12-hour shift rotation support from the mechanical, electri cal and instrumentation staff to ensure that we have adequate coverage to meet equipment chal lenges and on-going routine maintenance.

“It is not unusual for employees to be placed on 24/7 shift rotation. In fact, more than 50 percent of the present employee comple ment including production,

caused us to refocus our priority on existing custom ers for the remainder of the year as we take steps to manage our exposures and ensure that we are posi tioned to look after their requirements.

particularly challenging, as more and more reinsurers announce their intent either to withdraw or reduce their exposures within the region. Nevertheless, we are confident that our strong relationships with

SEE PAGE B5

AERIAL VIEW OF TREASURE CAY TOWN CENTRE

FRANKYN BUTLER

RECYCLABLE POCKET LIGHTER FIRM IN JOB FAIR RECRUITERS

A COMPANY seek ing to recruit 23 staff for manufacturing recyclable pocket lighters was among the employers present when hundreds of Grand Bahama residents attended the ‘Labour on the Blocks 2.0’ event at the weekend.

Sebastian Leguizamon, owner of Compadre, said the company has designed an automated assembly line that will make the lighters in Freeport. Promis ing good, high-paying jobs and on-site training for the 23 positions the company is seeking to fill, Mr Leguiza mon: “[I’m] very impressed with the Government, how proactive everybody is and, again, it makes investors very comfortable.

The latest job fair, held at St George’s Gymna sium, was hosted by the Department of Labour in collaboration with the Min istry for Grand Bahama, as it sought to bring private businesses and government agencies together under the same roof for job seekers.

Some 29 businesses and government agencies were present, including Ernst and Young (EY), Deloitte and Touche, Sawyer’s

Fresh Market, Quality Ser vices, Baker’s Bay, Grand Lucayan, Universal Security, Grand Bahama Shipyard, Cyber Tech, Freeport Con tainer Port, the University of The Bahamas, Pelican Bay, Sandals, the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI), and gov ernment agencies such as the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Royal Bahamas

Defence Force, Immigra tion, Bahamas Customs and the National Training Agency.

Leslie Lopez, Disney Cruiseline Bahamas’ human resources manager, said the company is seeking to fill several positions including landscaping, maintenance,

custodial and beach life guards. It is also scouting out job seekers to fill 200 key positions at its new destina tion, Lighthouse Pointe, in Eleuthera in 2024.

“We’re just getting heads up and seeing what the talent is like in Freeport. So far it’s been great. We’ve met some exciting persons who

are ready to work for us and help us in carrying on that journey,” he said.

Anna Albury, human resources manager at Ocean Cay, a 95-acre private island owned by MSC (Mediter ranean Shipping Company) Cruises, said the company is currently recruiting 25 persons across areas such

as room attendants, food and beverage runners, heavy equipment operators and lifeguards.

“Currently we have a total of 142 staff on the island, and we’re looking to increase our numbers tremendously and we are global international great company to work for,” she said.

Scotiabank launches digital payments solution package

SCOTIABANK (Baha mas) says it is now offering a package of e-commerce solutions under the Scotia eCom+ brand that will enable companies of all sizes to accept online payments.

The services include Scotia Hosted Payment Page (HPP), Scotia Vir tual Terminal and Scotia Web Service API (appli cation programming interface). The bank, in a statement, said these three solutions are designed to increase access for all Bahamian businesses want ing to accept e-commerce payments.

“Across the Bahamas there are several businesses, including micro retailers

and social media-based businesses, that have been offering virtual services and online shopping options,” said Gregory Stuart, Sco tiabank (Bahamas) director for corporate and commer cial banking.

“Many of them started offering services during the pandemic using a variety of makeshift payment solu tions. However, this is now an opportunity for such cus tomers to streamline these payments with an afforda ble, easy-to-access solution that will also help them to manage risks.”

The Canadian-owned institution said Scotia eCom+ and its solutions will help its corporate customer

base expand by providing solutions that facilitate the seamless processing of pay ments regardless of where customers are located. These gateway payment services allow for faster deployment and a more cost-effective end-to-end solution for the customer.

“The Scotia Virtual Ter minal option, for instance, is a cost-effective, simple to use and convenient solu tion that is ideal for small businesses who previously could not afford the cost of deploying e-commerce payment options in their business,” Mr Stuart added.

“Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) [can] accept payments from any where in the world on any

device, in a safe and reli able manner, and it offers convenient scalability as the business grows.” With the Scotia Virtual Terminal, payments are facilitated via a secure payment link that is shared with custom ers by e-mail, SMS or social media.

Scotiabank (Bahamas) said the next step in the e-commerce payment solu tion chain is Scotia eCom+ Hosted Payment Page Ser vices (HPP). It added that this is best suited for com panies who already have a website, and wish to offer online payment capabilities.

Mr Stuart said Sco tiabank’s payment gateway

allows for quick and easy integration with most of the major shopping cart software that is often used by small businesses, such as Mailchimp Stores and OpenCart. The Scotia eCom+ Hosted Payment Page (HPP) also supports multi-currency transactions.

“One of the most attrac tive things about these solutions is that Sco tiabank will manage all payment industry certifica tion requirements, thereby reducing cost and time to deploy the service by the customer,” Mr Stuart added.

For companies with their own personalised online

structures, and which need transaction security in their e-commerce, the bank said Scotia API allows busi nesses full integration. This solution can be incorpo rated into a company’s new or existing online platform for maximum integration, which gives firms simple - and full - control over business processes and pay ment pages.

Scotiabank (Bahamas) said the new systems also offer fraud protection for both buyers and businesses, using methods such as twofactor authentication, and the ability to access online real-time reporting to manage sales transactions.

SEBASTIAN LEGUIZAMON, owner of Compadre, a recyclable pocket lighter, said he was hoping to find 23 employees from the pool of job seekers at ‘Labour on the Blocks 2.0’.

LESLIE LOPEZ, Disney Cruiseline Bahamas’ human resources manager, said the company was participating in ‘Labour on the Blocks 2.0’ in anticipation of filling several positions, including 200 posts at its new destination, Light house Pointe, in Eleuthera in 2024.

JOB seekers headed to St. Georges’ Gymnasium on Saturday, November 19, with resumes and other supporting documents in hand for the Grand Bahama job fair hosted by the Department of Labour and the Ministry for Grand Bahama Photos:Lisa Davis-BIS and Ministry for Grand Bahama

Mini speedboat excursion invests $200k to ride wave

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A TOUR and excursion provider says its plans to offer a “different experi ence” for both Bahamians and tourists after investing more than $200,000 over the past year in its launch.

Demetrius Hepburn, chief executive of Cruising Adventures, told Tribune Business the business plans to hire nine employees ini tially after being receiving financial support from the Bahamas Entrepreneurial

Venture Fund, the Govern ment-sponsored venture capital fund.

“We will hire nine people altogether. Our plan is by Spring Break time we have over 26 boats in the water, so we’re going to be running tours and giving people an opportunity to self-drive the boats them selves. Instead of sitting on the boat, they get the opportunity to drive the boat, so we take them on a guided tour around the port,” Mr Hepburn said.

The vessels are mini 15-foot speed boats able to accommodate a maximum

of two persons. Mr Hep burn said he learned how to build the boat from ship builders in Mexico, and brought the patent back to The Bahamas where he employed locals to manu facture the first 10 boats that launched yesterday from beneath the Sir Sidney Poitier Bridge behind the Malcolm Park.

“We ran through unfor gettable experiences, trials and tribulations building these boats, purchasing materials, wasting materi als. It was all a part of our growing pain,” Mr Hepburn said.

“We went to Mexico, got the training in rebuild ing the mold, shipping the mold and getting the team the materials. It was a lot of logistics. I’m excited about it because right now a lot of tourists complain that there is not much on the island to do when they come. We have the same thoughts we’ve been having for the past 15 years, so we’re just excited to give the country a different experience and a different tour for locals and international tourists.”

Typical island excur sions are guided-only. The experience Cruising

Adventures will offer is set to give patrons a new view of Nassau and downtown Bay Street by allowing them to take charge of the boat.

Mr Hepburn said: “My vision for this company is to branch out to as many families as possible, creat ing jobs and opportunities for Bahamians in the tour ism market with these mini speedboats. Also to develop a workshop and course on boatbuilding, teaching people the craft of building boats. We can do it. In the very near future our brand would be located

in countries like Turks and Caicos and Jamaica, where tourism is at a present high.”

Prime Minister Philip Davis KC, who was present for the opening, pledged his support for the company and said he will speak to the cruise lines so that they send passengers to Cruising Adventures. “We have mil lions of tourists that come on the cruise ship, so one of the things we need to do now that we are aware of this is talk about con necting the cruise ships to this adventure,” Mr Davis added.

REGIONAL INVESTMENT SUMMIT EYES BAHAMAS AS LOCATION

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

THE CARIBBEAN Export Development Agency (CEDA) wants to bring the Caribbean Invest ment Forum (CIF) to The Bahamas following this year’s successful staging in Trinidad and Tobago this November.

Deodat Maharaj, the Caribbean Export Devel opment Agency’s (CEDA) executive director, told Tribune Business his organisation’s mission is to stimulate “greater regional investment” with this year’s event focused “exclusively” on businesses rather than policymakers.

“The response in Trini dad was overwhelming. We had to stop registrations because we had over 600 people registering, and 95 percent of them were actu ally business people: Less talk and more business. So we created the platform for business to engage with business, and it blew our minds because the success

was overwhelming,” he said.

The Caribbean Invest ment Forum is typically held in Miami, New York or Toronto, so this year was among the first occa sions it has been held in the Caribbean. The goal is to ultimately keep it in the region for business-to-busi ness contacts only.

Businesses use the forum to make pitches for financ ing and capital to a global audience of investors. Mr Maharaj said: “Of course we want to get investment here; there’s no debate about that. The bigger chal lenge is that an investor wants to raise the project, and that means we have to do a lot of work in develop ing projects.

“So the country pitches were a bit different in that we are asking investment promotion agencies to come forward with projects to present at the conference and present to potential investors.”

The focus for this year’s Caribbean Investment Forum was the areas of agriculture, e-commerce and digitisation, innovation

and technology as well as the green economy, plus transport and logistics.

“So the pillars of the over all Caribbean Investment Forum was to focus on sec tors that will not lead to peripheral changes, but the transformation of our econ omies,” Mr Maharaj added.

Financial institutions including Republic Bank in Trinidad, the National Commercial Bank (NCB) from Jamaica and devel opment banks were also present at this year’s Forum. “People ask where is the money coming from at these investment forums.

What was different was, for the first time, you had people with the money talk ing; talking about the areas that they are investing in, the areas for which people would like projects to be proposed,” Mr Maharaj said.

The Bahamas is among the primary contenders to host next year’s Caribbean Investment Forum. “We do look forward to working with jurisdictions across the Caribbean, including The Bahamas, to ensure that this Caribbean Investment

Forum and its brand stays in the Caribbean, and that countries across the region, including The Bahamas, have the opportunity to host this,” Mr Maharaj added.

“We have been talking to several countries. So, of course, we will also speak to The Bahamas because we think The Bahamas has a very good business envi ronment, good location and the other countries as well. But we would want at least to have one of these con ferences in The Bahamas because it’s a good place to do business. The Baha mas may be closer to North America, but Bahamians are Caribbean people.”

COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMAS IN THE SUPREME COURT COMMON LAW AND EQUITY DIVISION

IN THE MATTER OF ALL THAT piece parcel or lot of land containing 3,784 square feet on a plan No. 2018127-1 situate on the Eastern edge of Lexington Avenue approximately 206 feet South of Wulff Road in the Southern District of the Island of New Providence one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

AND

IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION OF FREDERICK EMERSON ARNETT

AND

IN THE MATTER OF THE QUIETING TITLES ACT, 1959

The Petition of FREDERICK EMERSON ARNETT of Jerome Avenue in the Eastern District of the Island of New Providence one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, in respect of:-

ALL THAT piece parcel of lot of land containing 3,784 square feet on a plan No. 2018127-1 situate on Eastern edge of Lexington Avenue approximately 206 feet South of Wulff Road in the Southern District of the Island of New Providence one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

Copies of the filed Plan may be inspected during normal office hours at the following places:

NOTICE

(a) The Registry of the Supreme Court, Ground Floor, British American Building, Marlborough Street, Nassau, Bahamas

(b) Michelle Y. Campbell & Co., Chambers #55 Mackey Street, Nassau, Bahamas

FREDERICK EMERSON ARNETT claims to be the owner in fee simple in possession of the parcel of land hereinbefore described free from encumbrances.

And the Petitioner has made application to the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas under Section 3 of the Quieting Titles Act, 1959 to have his title to the said tract of

To all our patrons and clients:

Effective Monday 28th November, 2022, all files for which Bazard & Co. has carriage, will be transferred to the attention of Ms. C V. Hope Strachan of Hope Strachan & Co., Chambers, Equity House, Mount Royal Avenue, Nassau, The Bahamas.

Should you not wish for your file to be so transferred, please contact Bazard & Co. at 326-0126 on or before the 26th November, 2022.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your patronage. Cheryl E. Bazard

land investigated and the nature and extent thereof determined and declared in a Cer tificate of Title to be granted by the Court in accordance with the provisions of the said Act.

Notice Is Hereby Given that any person having dower or right to dower or an Adverse Claim or a claim not recognized in the Petition shall on or before the expiration of thir ty (30) days after the final publication of these presents, file in the Supreme Court and serve on the Petitioner or the undersigned a Statement of his claim in the prescribed form verified by an Affidavit to be filed therewith.

Failure of any such person to file and serve a Statement of his Claim on or before the expiration of thirty (30) days after the final publication of these presents will operate as bar to such claim.

Dated the 3rd day of November A. D., 2022

Michelle Y. Campbell & Co.

Chambers #55 Mackey Street Nassau, Bahamas

Attorney for the Petitioner

Investor wants $3bn damages from Gov’t

the Government on Octo ber 27, 2022, after the Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA) rejected his efforts to acquire the remaining 1,600 acres at Treasure Cay from Robert and Stefan Meister via a $22.325m deal.

Documents detail a series of meetings between with the Prime Minister, Cabi net ministers and other senior government offi cials, with Philip Davis KC at one point purportedly telling Dr Kovats: “Don’t let me down” were the Government to approve the Treasure Cay sale. The Davis administration ulti mately decided against this, confirming its decision to Dr Kovats in the BIA’s June 16, 2022, letter.

The Lyford Cay resident appears especially unhappy with the Government’s escalating demands that he post a performance bond to guarantee the Treasure Cay redevelopment he prom ised will actually happen. The sum required rose from an initial $5m to $25m by the time that Dr Kovats’ commercial attorney, Greg Cottis, met with the Prime Minister on August 24, 2022, in a final bid to avoid litigation and move the pro ject forward.

It is unclear how the total $3.127bn damages sought by Dr Kovats have been calculated, although they appear to represent lost sales revenues and profits that would accrue to him if his Treasure Cay plans were approved. They seem to have been calculated using a report produced by the CBRE Group, an international real estate firm, for “updated Albany/ South Ocean development plan proceeds” as well as based on property values

at Abaco’s Baker’s Bay project.

Many observers are likely to be highly sceptical at the damages calculation sub mitted by Dr Kovats and his attorney, Damian Gomez KC, the former minister of state for legal affairs, as well as their prospects of Judi cial Review success. One source, speaking on con dition of anonymity, told Tribune Business: “How he can take the Government to court and expect to win is beyond me. They can turn anyone down. That’s the nature of the beast.”

The concern for The Bahamas is that prime tracts of real estate, extremely valuable for driv ing future development, investment and job crea tion, face being potentially tied-up for years in expen sive, time-consuming court fights. Several sources have suggested that litigation is frequently employed as a hardball negotiating tactic by Dr Kovats as a means to an end in securing his desired outcome.

His various legal bat tles have been exposed through documents filed in the US federal district court for Delaware on Friday. Dr Kovats is seek ing “discovery” from a somewhat bizarre set of parties, including Elek tra America Hospitality Group, the failed Grand Lucayan buyer; the princi pals behind the proposed $250m Calypso Cove cruise port for Long Island; rival Treasure Cay purchasers; and Rothschild & Co, the Government’s debt adviser.

The purpose appears to be to uncover evidence that Dr Kovats has been treated in a harsh and dis criminatory manner, thus supporting the Judicial Review bid to “quash” rejection of his Treasure

Cay purchase obtain Supreme Court declara tions that the BIA and National Economic Council (really the Cabinet) “failed to act fairly” and “acted irrationally” over how they treated him.

In his filings, Dr Kovats said it took almost two years of negotiations before he secured a deal to acquire Treasure Cay’s remaining undeveloped 595 acres, plus 1,000 acres of additional property, from the Meis ters on February 9, 2021. To consummate the purchase, exchange control approval from the Central Bank was required by Dr Kovats is a non-Bahamian. To achieve this, a “no objection” letter was needed from the BIA.

Following the September 16, 2021, general election, Dr Kovats alleged that himself and Mr Cottis were asked to attend a meeting one week later by Ches ter Cooper, deputy prime minister, to update the new administration on his vari ous real estate projects in The Bahamas. Also present was John Pinder, parlia mentary secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Invest ments and Aviation, and then-BIA director, Candia Ferguson.

Besides Treasure Cay and South Ocean, the Aus trian has also been pursuing development of a 121-unit condo complex at Love Beach which received Town Planning Commit tee approval just prior to the 2021 general election. After the BIA did not reply to “follow-up corre spondence” sent after the meeting, Dr Kovats alleged he was then informed by The Meisters of a Decem ber 2021 meeting that took place without his knowledge.

Present were the Meis ters; M. Craig Roberts, their

attorney; Phylicia HannaWoods, current director of investments; and Jerome Fitzgerald, the Prime Min ister’s senior policy adviser. Eventually, Dr Kovats and Mr Cottis, his attorney, met with Mrs Hanna-Woods and Mr Fitzgerald on Jan uary 25, 2022, at which the latter allegedly said “the Government of The Bahamas has no desire to interfere in a private com mercial transaction”.

The Austrian then met briefly with the Mr Davis and Myles Laroda, min ister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, on Feb ruary 4 but this “was cut short by the Prime Minis ter due to unexpected and unrelated business”. They reconvened on February 7, 2022, when Mr Davis was briefed on the Treasure Cay redevelopment plans and both Love Beach and South Ocean.

“Noting that the Love Beach project was under going final construction architecture for permitting, the Prime Minister ques tioned Dr Kovats’ ability to also pursue both his Treas ure Cay and South Ocean projects,” the Judicial Review action alleged.

“Dr Kovats explained that although the South Ocean project had com menced in 2014, his immediate focus and pri ority was Treasure Cay following the devasta tion caused by Hurricane Dorian. To this end, Dr Kovats explained that he wished to commence recon struction of the marina immediately and had already had multiple discus sions with Jimmy Mosko of Bahamas Marine Construc tion in this regard.

“Dr Kovats further explained to the Prime Minister that two restau rants would be immediately

constructed, one at the marina and the other on the beach, as currently there existed no proper food and beverage facilities within Treasure Cay. In response, the Prime Minister said: ‘If I approve Treasure Cay, don’t let me down’.”

The Austrian investor described the next several months as “a back-andforth” with the Government as he sought to obtain the necessary approvals to close Treasure Cay’s pur chase. However, it was at an April 7, 2022, meeting that the Prime Minister “intimated concerns had been expressed to him by unknown sources that Dr Kovats would not develop Treasure Cay”.

To ease such fears, Mr Davis inquired as to whether the developer would lodge a $5m perfor mance bond to be released once the marina was com pleted. This was increased to $10m at a subsequent meeting on May 4, 2022, but Dr Kovats “did not consider such a request appropriate in the context of a private commercial transaction”.

“On June 20, 2022, I received a copy of a letter from the BIA refusing my application to the Cen tral Bank to acquire the shares of Treasure Cay Ltd. Amazingly, that same letter contended that an application had never been made formally,” Dr Kovats alleged.

“On August 24, 2022, one of my attorneys [Mr Cottis] met with Bahamian Prime Minister ‘Brave’ Davis in an attempt to resolve the dispute. My attorney also provided a set of renderings in furtherance of the master plan delivered previously to the BIA and Prime Minister.

“During that meeting, the Prime Minster again demanded a performance bond for a private, com mercial transaction. While I was not amenable to a bond, the Government had previously suggested bonds of $5m or $10m. During this meeting, my attorney inquired about the bond that would be required,” Dr Kovats continued.

“The Prime Minister responded that a $25m bond would be required, representing 10 percent of the $250m project value. In lieu of a bond, I provided a financial reference state ment from my bank and offered a personal guar antee, even though these were not required to pur chase private property.” His Judicial Review added: “There is no lawful basis for imposing any bond upon Dr Kovats.”

The Austrian financier has also initiated legal action against the Meis ters and their company, Family Adventure Hold ings, demanding that they uphold the February 2021 sales contract or, in the alternative, return his $2.233m deposit equivalent to 10 percent of the pur chase price.

“Notwithstanding this inexplicable aversion to my investment in rebuilding Treasure Cay in the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian, I remain deeply committed to not only acquiring Treasure Cay but restoring it beyond its former glory as not merely the pride of the Bahamian Family Islands but, more so, the entire Caribbean,” Dr Kovats alleged.

“It follows that I will not be dissuaded and certainly have no intention of walk ing away and reneging on my contractual obligations with the Meister family, who have been seeking to sell and exit Treasure Cay for over 25 years..... I am already here 27 years, but now denied the ability to complete my contrac tual obligations under a significant commercial transaction between private parties.

“With all due respect to Mr Fitzgerald, this is very much government ‘interference in a private commercial transaction’.” However, the Government will likely feel it had solid reasons to reject Dr Kovats as Treasure Cay’s buyer despite his production of clean police records from both The Bahamas and his native Austria.

Amid previous asser tions that he has a tendency to sit on property in The Bahamas and do nothing to develop it, the financier has also attracted controversy back home throughout his business and investing career, despite building his publicly-listed industrial group, A-Tec Industries, into a conglomerate that once featured over 70 companies and more than 10,000 employees, with turnover pegged at more than one billion euros.

Numerous companies he was involved with early in his business career became insolvent, and Dr Kovats has faced numerous civil lawsuits during his business career, being criminally indicted twice. He was sentenced to six months’ probation in 2000 by the Vienna High Court over the bankruptcy of a night club he had invested in. Dr Kovats was also charged over another nightclub insolvency in 2007, although he was never convicted.

Tribune Business’s own research also found that Dr Kovats and a fellow executive were fined by Austrian regulators in 2012 for providing mis leading information to the capital markets, thus harming investors. Fol lowing a two-year period of turbulence that began in 2011, A-Tec moved to restart business activities in 2013, after undergoing a reorganisation.

MANUFACTURER: 12-HOUR SHIFT DOESN’T BREAK LAW

FROM

quality control and utili ties are currently working on the 12-hour shift rota tion.” PharmaChem said it had begun speaking to those impacted employees, namely maintenance, elec trical and instrument staff, almost a year in advance of the new system’s implementation.

“Prior to bringing online the new multi-purpose manufacturing plant, man agement sensitised the impacted employees about the need to realign its operations and began the transition process through a series of meetings and dialogue with its employees as far back as December 2021,” the company added.

“All employees whose work hours are being rea ligned will continue to be compensated in accord ance with the labour laws of The Bahamas and their contract of employment. This transition does not involve any loss of benefits to the employees.

“Pursuant to the terms of the employment con tracts, the company exercised its rights to vary the working hours of the employees to accord with its business needs at this time. Contrary to the assertion of some of the employees, PharmaChem Technologies is confident that it has not breached the contract of employment that it has with its employ ees,” it continued.

“However, there were employees who asserted that PharmaChem Tech nologies breached their employment contract, and who unequivocally stated that they would not work the new shift rotation and withdrew their services by refusing to report for the new shifts despite being requested to do so. As such, PharmaChem Tech nologies accepted their repudiation and decided to provide them with their severance entitlement.

“PharmaChem has a robust safety training pro gramme and is proud of

its safety record, having worked in excess of 990 consecutive days as of October 31, 2022, with out a loss time accident. The safety procedures clearly describe conditions required to safely perform maintenance activities on mechanical, electrical and instrumentation fronts.

“With the new rotation there will be a minimum of 14 shift workers across the site during each shift to ensure adequate emergency response plus additional support as required.” Con troversy surrounded the new shift system after representatives for the impacted workers alleged it could put impacted staff “at risk” and amount to a “unilateral variation” of their employment terms.

Obie Ferguson KC, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president and labour attorney, in a November 11, 2022, letter warned Phar machem that requiring one person to cover a 12-hour shift represented “a health and safety concern” and

alleged it could lead to lia bility under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Purporting to represent the electrical and instru ment staff at the bulk manufacturer of pharma ceutical drugs, Mr Ferguson argued that the proposed shift system would lead to employees working more hours and less receiving less pay.

Pharmachem is nonunionised, but Mr Ferguson alleged that the last para graph of the firm’s October 28, 2022, letter to staff on the new rotation “implies that if persons refuse to adhere to this new shift arrangement, it means that they wish to leave the com pany, which is coercion. Clearly this cannot be toler ated in any circumstances”.

Setting out the alleged grievances over the Octo ber 28 letter, the TUC president said: “This letter amounts to unilateral vari ation of their individual contract of employment and exposes the company to both wrongful and unfair

BAHAMAS FIRST ‘COULD NOT MEET INCREASED DEMAND’

FROM PAGE B1

the key reinsurers that sup port us will inure to our benefit.”

With global reinsurance capacity restricted, and that sector demanding higher prices to continue covering property and other risks in The Bahamas and through out the Caribbean given the multi-billion dollar hur ricane-related payouts in recent years, premium costs paid by Bahamian busi nesses and households will likely both further increase and remain high.

Bahamian property and casualty underwriters must acquire huge amounts of reinsurance annually because their relatively thin capital bases mean they cannot cover the multi-billion dollar assets at risk in this nation. This means premium pricing

in The Bahamas is largely dictated by reinsurers, and the cut-back in supply with the global reinsurance market pulling back from the Caribbean due to hur ricane-related losses, means these cost pressures will only further rise.

And, elsewhere, Mr Ward warned that inflation and global supply chain backlogs are increasing insurance claims payouts on auto accidents as repair costs have risen. “As we move further past the lockdowns that were char acteristic of the pandemic, we are experiencing an expected increase in motor claims frequency but with an elevated cost per claim for physical damage due to the rising inflation impact.

This is true in both jurisdic tions,” Mr Ward added.

“The effect of inflation is a huge topic globally,

particularly within the insurance/reinsurance industry as it has significant implications for current and future claim costs and pricing decisions. We have developed mitigation strat egies to combat this issue, which have been deployed across the group. Our health line of business also saw an increase in the dollar value of claims paid, but the loss ratio declined slightly because of the higher pre mium levels associated with this class.

“As the operating envi ronment continues to normalise, we expect oper ating expenses to return closer to pre-pandemic levels, and this accounts for some of the increase in expenses for the current quarter and the year-todate result when compared to the prior periods in 2021. Additionally, expenses

related to government taxes, provisions for bad debt and bank charges accounted for a signifi cant potion of the overall increase.”

Mr Ward focused on Bahamas First’s net income performance for the nine months to end-September, which stood at $1.155m compared to a $825,425 loss for the same period in 2021. But, when declines in the value of the insurer’s invest ment securities were taken into account, Bahamas First incurred a total comprehen sive loss of $452,096 for the first nine months to-datealbeit a 54.6 percent decline on the prior year’s ‘red ink’. And, while the Baha mian operations generated $1.842m in net income for the period to end-Septem ber 2022, and the Cayman property and casualty busi ness a further $1.553m,

CABLE CHIEF OPTIMISTIC $2.8M PROFIT IS TREND

FROM PAGE B1

rival Bahamas Telecom munications Company (BTC), over a three-year period. Asked how fast this will proceed, Mr Butler replied: “We anticipate that by the end of 2023 from a home pass basis, all of New Providence. We’re

really accelerating this from a New Providence per spective, and it will take a further two years to con nect all other users.”

Reaffirming that Cable Bahamas’ mid-2022 refi nancing, which raised $219m compared to the target $169m, has

N O T I C E ALLEGRA HOLDING INC.

Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act 2000, the above-named Company is in dissolution, which commenced on the 18th day of November, 2022. The Liquidator is Windermere Corporate Management Limited, 200 Sterling Commons East, Paradise Island, Bahamas.

WINDERMERE CORPORATE MANAGEMENT LIMITED Liquidator

provided a solid platform for the company’s growth ambitions by replacing higher-interest preference shares with lower cost ones, he added: “We’ve com pleted the refinancing of long-term debt for Cable Bahamas, so we don’t expect any shocks in that, as we have a ten to 15-year framework.

“We think we have a pretty decent capital struc ture in place that will allow us to build on what you see in the first quarter.” Cable Bahamas’ $2.814m net income for the 2023 first quarter was aided by a more than $2m, or near50 percent, year-over-year decline in interest expenses which fell from $4.31m to $2.173m.

Revenues rose slightly, improving by 4 percent from $53.402m in the prior year to $55.579m, while operating expenses nar rowed by 2.6 percent from $35.589m to $34.654m. As a result, operating income before depreciation and amortisation jumped by more than $3m, rising by 17.5 percent from $17.813m to $20.925m. That, together with the reduction in inter est expense, drove Cable

Bahamas’ return to first quarter profitability.

“We took on another $50m in refinancing over and above what we needed,” Mr Butler told Tribune Business of Cable Bahamas’ summer capital raise. “From a Cable share holder perspective, we’re ready to assist Aliv with its refinancing. It has some long-term debt that has to mature at the end of the year.

“We’re working with HoldingCo and the Gov ernment to see if they want to use that [$50m] as a financing option for Aliv. Depending on where that ends up, we will use that to refinance Aliv or there’s the Series 13 preference shares on our balance sheet that we need to sort out. We have one series that we did not refinance, $26m or so.”

Cable Bahamas owns a 48.25 percent equity interest in its Aliv mobile subsidiary, but has Board and management con trol, with the Government holding the majority 51.75 percent. Both sides hold their ownership inter ests via HoldingCo, which effectively acts as Aliv’s immediate parent entity.

dismissal claims. Their con tract of employment since 2005 requires them to work 40 hours per week pursuant to the law as provided for in the Employment Act 2001 without having to work on weekends consistent with the law.

“The proposed shift as provided for in the schedule the company has provided requires them to work 12-hour shifts per day, lead ing to 168 hours per normal month and working week ends and holidays. Further, for those months with five weeks, the hours can be as much as 228 hours (com pared to 192 hours at the low-end). This is in stark comparison to the 160 hours they presently work.”

Mr Ferguson alleged that Pharmachem was seeking to “remove” better ben efits from impacted staff “in that they will work more hours and obtain less pay, in that the excess overtime will only be paid at timeand-a-half and they will have to work weekends and

the latter territory’s health portfolio dragged the overall group down by pro ducing a $2.24m loss.

“The group’s profit for 2022 year-to-date is $1.2m compared to a loss of $0.8m for the first nine months of 2021. Unfortu nately, the unrealised losses booked for our availablefor-sale (AFS) investments increased from $1.3m at the end of the second quar ter 2022 to $1.6m at the close of the third quarter,” Mr Ward said. “This has resulted in a reduction in comprehensive income of $0.3m for the current quarter.

“The impact of the fair value adjustment on our AFS investments reflects the level of global volatil ity in the international bond markets. We typically hold these investments to matu rity so, barring any adverse event, we expect to recover both the original invest ment in addition to the

holidays, thereby increasing the possibility of accidents”.

“The issue of a one-man shift covering 12 hours is a health and safety concern,” the TUC president asserted. “The electrician and instru mentation responsibilities put technicians at risk when working heights and working alone. To ignore technicians working with out back-up or unable to require assistance of knowl edgeable persons when needed can clearly put staff in extreme danger.

“The same goes for mechanics working in con fined spaces and vessel entry jobs. The Health and Safety at Work Act in article 4 provides for the duties of employers to their employees, and article 6(5) provides for items and sub stances used with regards to safety and health.

“One man coverage of operations over 12 hours will lead to fatigue and increase the risk of acci dents, particularly in the current environment, which will make the company liable under article 17 of the Health and Safety at Work Act Chapter 321C.”

interest income associated with these globally diversi fied investments.

“Given the direction of recent actions against The Bahamas’ sovereign debt rating and the uncer tainty surrounding the future outlook, we con tinue to prioritise having a geographically diversified investment portfolio to pro tect against the potential downside risks of a single jurisdiction concentration,” he continued.

“The growth in top-line revenue continued in the 2022 third quarter with gross premiums reaching $148.6m by the close of the period. This compares with $135.9m for the same period in 2021.” Hurricane Ian’s devastating impact on Florida and elsewhere in the US is estimated to have caused $60m in insured losses.

“From our perspec tive we continue to see some growth in the wire less segment with Aliv,” Mr Butler added, “and strong EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisa tion) numbers coming from that business. We antici pate continued EBITDA growth, and as EBITDA grows we will hopefully see net income grow with that.”

He said the recent launch of Aliv Fibre, offering cus tomers up to 10 gigabytes of upload and download speed, was designed to support those who live and work via over-the-top (OTT) applications such as What’s App. “We believe we’re putting in the digital infrastructure to support digital nomads wanting

to live in The Bahamas and make The Bahamas the best place to live,” Mr Butler said.

Asked when Aliv was likely to become profit able, he added: “That’s a long way away to be fair to you, and only because with that business there’s a lot of money to spend on refi nancing as you pay down financing as it matures on the balance sheet.

“We do anticipate over the next three to five years Aliv will be in a place to get closer to net income. Tel ecommunications is a very capital intensive business. It’s not unusual to have to invest significant amounts of capital upfront. Over time, as long as the returns are consistent, it’s a gift that keeps on giving.”

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 138 (4) of the International Business Companies Act, (as amended) NOTICE is hereby given that Narnia Holdings Inc. is in dissolution and the date of commencement of the dissolution is 18 November 2022.

Beecham Braynen and Patricia Gayoso LIQUIDATORS

c/o Clairmont Trust Company Limited Pineapple House #4 Lyford Cay P.O. Box SP-64284 Nassau, Bahamas

CABLE BAHAMAS HEADQUARTERS

to exit its last remaining Bahamas resort investment for almost two decades.

Viewing the 2014 deal with Dr Kovats as having fallen

through, CCWIPP subse quently agreed to sell the property to the adjacent Albany developers, who include Lyford Cay-based billionaire Joe Lewis, golf ers Ernie Els and Tiger

Woods, and singer Justin Timberlake.

The Austrian’s legal action, though, has halted Albany’s purchase and forced the high-end south western New Providence

residential community to put redevelopment plans for its South Ocean neighbour on ice. This newspaper, though, was told that Albany and its principals have not walked away from the deal, and are

(242) 323-2320

1.7600.000N/M0.00% 10.058.78Bahamas Waste BWL 8.78 8.780.00 0.3690.26023.82.96% 4.342.82Cable Bahamas CAB 3.95 3.950.00 -0.4380.000-9.0 0.00% 10.657.50Commonwealth Brewery CBB 10.25 10.250.00 0.1400.00073.20.00% 3.652.46Commonwealth Bank CBL 3.49 3.500.0110,0000.1840.12019.03.43% 8.527.00Colina

0.4490.22019.02.58%

0.7220.72022.24.50%

0.1020.43429.614.37% 11.2810.06Doctor's

0.4670.06022.50.57% 11.679.16Emera

0.6460.32814.53.50%

0.7280.24014.92.21% 18.3014.05Fidelity

0.8160.54022.22.98%

0.2030.12019.63.02%

0.0000.0000.0000.00%

0.0000.0000.0000.00%

0.0000.0000.0006.25%

0.0000.0000.0007.00%

instead watching and waiting to see how the legal battle between Dr Kovats and the pension fund plays out.

“Albany has agreed to sit back and wait and hang in there,” one source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Tribune Business. “They’re confi dent [CCWIPP] will win this action and get rid of them.”

Dr Kovats, in legal filings, acknowledged South Ocean was “another property dis pute in which I am involved” in addition to Treasure Cay.

“In June-July 2014, the Bahamas Island Consortium agreed to purchase the South Ocean property from I.F. Propco Holdings (Ontario) Ltd, a Bahamian company owned by the Canadian Commercial Workers Indus try Pension Plan of Canada. The pension plan reneged on this agreement in August 2014,” Mr Kovats alleged in documents seen by this newspaper.

“I accordingly filed suit in The Bahamas against I.F. Propco Holdings (Ontario) 39 Ltd and the trustees of the pension fund to enforce our agreement and for damages. An appraisal of the South Ocean property valued it at nearly $2.7bn. This valua tion was informed by a 2014 CBRE offering memoran dum for the South Ocean property.

“The pension fund moved to strike out the lawsuit, which I understand is simi lar to a motion to dismiss in US courts. That applica tion was denied, and the lawsuit is proceeding.” Dr Kovats, though, alleged that South Ocean and the related litigation was frequently raised as an issue in meet ings with the Prime Minister, Cabinet ministers and other officials earlier this year when he sought to move his Treasure Cay acquisi tion through to approval.

He asserted that one March 3, 2022, meeting with Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister and minis ter of tourism, investments and aviation, and Phylicia Hanna-Woods, the Baha mas Investment Authority (BIA), “had little, if any thing, to do with Treasure Cay but rather the scaled back (again to accommodate Albany) project at South Ocean and the unconnected ongoing litigation against the Canadian pension fund...

“[Attorney] Gregory Cottis explained in detail both Dr Kovats’ historical ownership of approximately 1,100 feet of beachfront in between Albany and the Canadian pension fund property, and also the back ground and current status of the litigation involving the Canadian pension fund.”

Paula Carrillo, director of

the Caribbean and Latin American region, was said to have been present at one of these encounters.

“The Government was aware of my dispute with the pension fund regarding the South Ocean property,” Dr Kovats alleged. “I dis cussed my plans to develop the South Ocean property with government officials in September 2021 and Febru ary 2022.

“In June 2022, at the behest of the Government, I submitted plans to poten tially scale back the size of the South Ocean property development from the 1,600 rooms I had envisioned to 640 rooms in order to accommodate the Albany development.

“I believe that members of the Government have, in part, linked the South Ocean property dispute with that over Treasure Cay. These two issues are not related; the developments are taking place on differ ent Bahamian islands and involve different sellers.

“Nonetheless, my approval from the Baha mas Investment Authority (BIA) for the Central Bank has been held up while I am forced to address issues related to the South Ocean property and make revisions to it so that other develop ment projects such as Albany can be accommodated.”

CCWIPP, represented by Leif Farquharson, the Graham, Thompson & Co attorney and partner, last year sought to persuade the Supreme Court that Dr Kovats’ action should be struck out and dismissed on the basis that it was “frivo lous, vexatious and amounts to an abuse of the process of the court” because the two sides had never signed a binding sales agreement.

The two sides, via an exchange of e-mails between attorneys, had by early July 2014 agreed a $70.5m pur chase price for South Ocean. However, it is unclear if a binding sales deal was ever signed. Acting justice Tara Cooper-Burnside, in a Janu ary 2022 verdict, said that while Mr Farquharson’s arguments were “compel ling, this is not a clear and obvious case such that the plaintiffs’ writ and statement of claim should be struck out”.

“I find that this action is one which should not be resolved in a summary fashion without the benefit of the discovery and oral evidence tested by crossexamination,” she ruled. “I therefore decline to exer cise the court’s discretion to strike out the plaintiffs’ writ and statement of claim, and dismiss the summons with costs to be taxed if not agreed.”

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 138 (4) of the International Business Companies Act, (as amended) NOTICE is hereby given that Via De La Paz Limited is in dissolution and the date of commencement of the dissolution is 18 November 2022.

2.552.24%4.01%

4.833.42%7.26%

2.241.70%2.82% 207.86164.74 197.44-2.97%-2.35% 212.41116.70 202.39-4.72%6.04% 1.751.70 1.751.96%2.84% 1.911.76 1.914.83%7.23% 1.871.77 1.873.48%4.44% 1.050.96 0.96-6.57%-8.29% 9.376.41 9.37-0.02%10.36% 11.837.62 11.79-0.33%18.23% 7.545.66 7.540.22%3.05% 16.648.65 15.94-3.89%14.76% 12.8410.54 12.47-1.04%-2.57% 10.779.57 10.740.81%4.20% 10.009.88 N/AN/AN/A 10.438.45 10.433.00%25.60% 14.8911.20 14.897.90%48.70%

31-Mar-2021 31-Mar-2021 MATURITY 19-Oct-2022 20-Nov-2029 31-Jul-2022 31-Jul-2022

Beecham Braynen and Patricia Gayoso LIQUIDATORS c/o Clairmont Trust Company Limited Pineapple House #4 Lyford Cay P.O. Box SP-64284 Nassau, Bahamas

31-Aug-2022 31-Aug-2022

A festival to promote all facets of wellness in ‘never before seen’ manner

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

SEEKING to send the mes sage that wellness encompasses so much more than just nutrition and fitness, the upcoming Zest Festival hopes to improve the perception of wellness in the com munity and enlighten families on its broad scope.

The inaugrual event is being presented by CG Atlantic Medi cal Insurance and Life Zest Wellness. It takes place at the company’s site on Collins Avenue this Saturday from 11am to 10pm.

Organisers promise a day of fun and excitement for the entire family that will give attendees the the chance to get up close and personal with various health and wellness focused vendors from all walks of life.

There will be food vendor and drink vendors, wellness and holis tic vendors, kids’ activities, crafts, fashion vendors, art and candle vendors, a petting zoo, games, Junkanoo and more.

Donovan Ingraham, corporate wellness manager with CG Atlan tic Medical, told Tribune Health the organisation saw a need to improve the perception of well ness among its clients and the community by extension.

“We prioritise wellness because we recognise how poor health can impact medical costs. We are very proud of the Zest Well ness department because they have a creative ways of intertwin ing wellness education with fun meaningful initiatives,” he said.

“The risks of chronic diseases are on the rise here in the Baha mas, primarily because there is a lack of knowledge as to how Bahamians can improve their well-being.

“Wellness,” he explained, “is not just nutrition and fitness; there are so many more elements that individuals need to improve on for themselves and the benefit of their household…Wellness pillars like mental health and mindfulness, environment and sustainability, emotional well-being, finan cial well-being, education and self-help techniques, financial

well-being, and even work-life balance. We can never know enough when trying to improve our health and wellness. CG Zest Wellness prides itself on being a go-to resource and support for

our clients and the community,” he said.

Mr Ingraham said they work with clients to address wellness in a holistic manner. They hope

that the message is communicated through the event.

“Our goal is to help our clients and the community improve on their understanding of wellness and how to achieve a balanced

well-being. We also want to reassure our clients and the com munity that CG Zest Wellness is the premier wellness company in the Bahamas with continu ous access to resources (blogs, podcasts, webinar, and digital app fitness tracking), a diversely educated/trained wellness team, access to our preferred partners through a discount program, and access to exclusive events, train ings, and free fitness,” he said. And with the local wellness community growing by leaps and bounds in recent years, he said the event could not come at a better time.

“The benefit of attending this event is that attendees will not only have a fun and safe envi ronment to engage with vendors and. enjoy activities, but they will have unique experiences never before showcased at a festival in the Bahamas. Our wellness com munity is growing and nowadays there are so many businesses, in most cases small businesses, that can be an asset to improving on one’s personal well-being, needs and wants,” said Mr Ingraham.

“This event will be a celebra tion of Fall in that we are also (focusing) on the need for Baha mians to be more self-efficient and sustainable as it relates to their at-home food production. A major asset in helping us drive this message and education is our partnership with the Agricultural Development Organisation that will be a vendor at Zest Festival to distribute backyard garden kits (soil, seeds, filtration system, and pots) to support more Bahami ans to become experts at produce production and harvesting.

“Another great benefit of attending this event is that attend ees get free entry to the festival grounds to start their holiday gift purchases. We know there will be enough fun for the entire family.”

Admission to the event is free.

“We have partnered with the expertise of Tin Furl and Pupstar Entertainment to ensure that the event is community inclusive.

Alicia ‘Puppy’ Robinson has been supportive in helping us bring together vendors from Tin Furl to execute this event,” Mr Ingraham said.

‘Tremendous’ recycling project completed in Abaco

The largest recycling project that Abaco has ever seen has been successfully completed.

This tremendous feat of engineering and ingenuity was accomplished by the Baha mas Power and Light Company (BPL) and local companies in partnership with USA-based recycling leader, Cadwell.

This is the first large-scale recy cling project of many to come throughout the Bahamas.

The initial stage of BPL’s largest recycling project was completed in October 2021, but recycling projects continue to this

day. The barge carried away five 40-foot flat racks, and 10 40-foot containers, loaded from top to bottom, and from front to back. These containers included a vari ety of derelict items, such as air condition units, downed wire, engine blocks, transformers, gen erators, heavy machinery, and a variety of scrap metal. Addi tionally, barrels of used oil were removed. The number of items removed could be described as a little more than the length of a football field and weighed 630,450 pounds. Such corrosive material has great potential to

pollute the land and sea, and the foresight of the BPL and Cadwell team has made strides through this project to mitigate this risk.

This project may have pre vented the massive amounts of derelict materials from becom ing dangerous projectiles during the flooding and strong winds of the recent Hurricane Nicole last week.

“It’s important to partner with entities who can complement and advance your productivity and mitigate the negative impact on your environment. This has been a key benefit to our partnership

with Cadwell,” said Baron Von Rose, the BPL procurement engineer overseeing this project.

“Going Green” is an impor tant part of BPL’s “Building for Better” philosophy. Renewable energy has been a growing part of BPL since the Electricity Act and Regulations amendments were made in 2015. Now, in partner ship with the massive recycling capabilities of Cadwell, this recycling initiative will continue to help position BPL as leader of sustainable practices in the Caribbean.

“I look forward to partnering with Cadwell Inc. to help clean up all the family islands and assist with our vision to Go Green,” said Mr Von Rose.

“BPL undertook the biggest recycling project in our com pany’s history. We are proud of the team that made this happen and look forward to the future of working together with Cadwell for more sustainable solutions for BPL and the Bahamian people,” said Shevonn Nathaniel Cam bridge, Chief Executive Officer, BPL.

AN AERIAL view of the clean-up efforts in Marsh Harbour, Abaco

Human papillomavirus in men

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most widespread sexually transmitted infection (STI). Most men do not know that HPV can potentially be a cancer-causing infection. Nearly 35,000 men and women are diagnosed every year in the United States with HPVrelated cancers.

Almost all men and women who are sexually active and not vacci nated for HPV will have HPV at some time in their lives, according to the Centres for Disease Con trol and Prevention (CDC).

Men can get HPV through vaginal, oral or anal sex with an infected individual. Most HPV infections clear up on their own within a few months of becoming infected, and nearly 90 percent of HPV infections are cleared up within two years.

There are more than 100 types of HPV and about 40 of them are sexually transmitted. Each of the types of HPV is assigned a number and they are categorized as low risk or high risk. Low-risk HPV strains may produce no symptoms or possibly cause warts on your penis, scrotum, anus or back of your throat and they often

resolve on their own without longterm side effects.

High-risk HPV may lead to cell changes that may lead to various types of cancer such as penile cancer, throat and esophageal cancer and anal cancer in men.

According to the CDC, 60 per cent of penile cancers and 90 percent of cervical cancers affect ing women, are caused by HPV.

There is currently no way to test for HPV in men but there are ways to test for the symptoms of HPV in men such as genital warts and HPV related cancers.

In 2006, the HPV vaccine became available to girls, teens and young adult women and consequently the HPV rate in American teens was reduced by 56 percent by 2013. The HPV vac cine was only approved for use in females until 2009. The current recommendation by the CDC is for two doses of the HPV vaccine be given to boys and girls between 9 and 12 years old, and three doses be given over a six-month period to all boys and girls after the age of 15 up to the age of 26 years old.

In October 2018, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

approved the use of the HPV vac cine in men and men aged 27 to 45 years old.

There is debate in the medical community regarding the use of HPV vaccines in men over the age of 26 years old. There is a clear medical consensus that all adolescent boys will benefit from receiving the HPV vaccine. A man of any age that has no HPV symptoms of warts or genital, anal, throat or esophageal cancer, should benefit from receiving the vaccine.

However, if a man has been sex ually active and not always used a condom then it is likely that they will have HPV and there will be less benefit in receiving the HPV vaccine.

Unfortunately, worldwide there are more HPV vaccine outreach and education efforts directed at adolescent females and their par ents. There is a widely accepted lack of education regarding the benefits of HPV vaccinations for boys, male adolescents, and young men up to the age of 45.

The best mode of protection against men getting HPV is using a condom every time and receiv ing the HPV vaccine. A man

may not develop an HPV related cancer but they may transmit HPV to their female partner who may develop a cancer sec ondary to HPV. You cannot get HPV from a toilet seat or swim ming in a pool or coming into contact with blood from an HPV infected individual. HPV is spread through vaginal, anal and oral sex. It is spread through skin to skin contact.

There are 3 HPV vaccines –Cervarix, Gardasil and Gardasil 9 – which prevent cancers and dis eases related to 9 types of HPV.

Approximately 92 percent of HPV-related cancers can be pre vented by the HPV vaccine.

Education and awareness are important keys in the prevention of HPV related diseases and can cers in both men and women. The HPV vaccine is readily available to females and males ages 9 to 45 and it may prevent HPV related cancer for the individual or their future sexual partners. Men use a condom every time and practice monogamy.

Seek comprehensive, confiden tial and compassionate urological care.

How cooking food and gathering for feasts made us human

By MADDIE BURAKOFF AP Science Writer Eds: UPDATES: With AP Photo

NEW YORK (AP) — If you’re cooking a meal for Thanksgiv ing or just showing up to feast, you’re part of a long human his tory — one that’s older than our own species.

Some scientists estimate our early human cousins may have been using fire to cook their food almost 2 million years ago, long before Homo sapiens showed up.

And a recent study found what could be the earliest known evidence of this rudimentary cooking: the leftovers of a roasted carp dinner from 780,000 years ago.

Cooking food marked more than just a lifestyle change for our ancestors. It helped fuel our evolution, give us bigger brains — and later down the line, would become the centerpiece of the feasting rituals that brought com munities together.

“The story of human evolu tion has appeared to be the story of what we eat,” said Matt Spon heimer, an anthropologist at the University of Colorado at Boul der who has studied the diets of early human ancestors.

The new study, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evo lution, is based on material from Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in Israel — a watery site on the shores of an ancient lake.

Artifacts from the area sug gest it was home to a community of Homo erectus, an extinct spe cies of early humans that walked

upright, explained lead author Irit Zohar of Tel Aviv University.

Over years of “digging in mud” at the site, researchers examined a curious catch of fish remains, especially teeth, said Naama

Goren-Inbar, an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusa lem who led the excavations.

Many were from a couple of species of big carp, and they were clustered around certain spots at

the site — places where research ers also found signs of fire. Testing revealed the teeth had been exposed to temperatures that were hot, but not super-hot. This suggests the fish were cooked low and slow, rather than tossed right onto a fire, Zohar explained.

With all of this evidence together, the authors concluded that these human cousins had har nessed fire for cooking more than three quarters of a million years ago. That’s much earlier than the next oldest evidence for cooking, which showed Stone Age humans ate charred roots in South Africa.

The researchers — like many of their colleagues — believe cooking started long before this, though physical evidence has been hard to come by.

“I am sure that in the near future an earlier case will be reported,” study author Israel Hershkovitz of Tel Aviv Univer sity said in an email.

That’s in part because harness ing fire for food was a key step for human evolution.

Cooking food makes it easier for the body to digest and get nutrients, explained David Braun, an archaeologist at George Wash ington University who was not involved with the study. So, when early humans figured out how to cook, they got access to more energy, which they could use to fuel bigger brains.

Based on how human ances tors’ brains and bodies developed, scientists estimate that cooking skills would have had to emerge nearly 2 million years ago.

“If we’re out there eating raw items, it is very difficult to make it as a large-bodied primate,” Braun said.

• Dr Greggory Pinto is a board-certified Bahamian urolo gist and laparoscopic surgeon. He can be contacted at OakTree Medical Center #2 Fifth Ter race and Mount Royal Avenue, Nassau, Bahamas; Telephone – (242) 322-1145-7; email: wel come@urologycarebahamas.com or visit the website:www.urology carebahamas.com

Those first cooked meals were a far cry from today’s turkey din ners. And in the many, many years in between, humans started not just eating for fuel, but for community.

In a 2010 study, researchers described the earliest evidence of a feast — a specially prepared meal that brought people together for an occasion 12,000 years ago in a cave in Israel.

The cave, which served as a burial site, included the remains of one special woman who seemed to be a shaman for her community, said Natalie Munro, a University of Connecticut anthro pologist who led the study.

It seems her people held a feast to honor her death. Munro and her team found large num bers of animal remains at the site — including enough tortoises and wild cattle to create a hearty spread.

This “first feast” came from another important transition point in human history, right as hunter-gatherers were starting to settle into more permanent living situations, Munro said. Gathering for special meals may have been a way to build community and smooth tensions now that people were more or less stuck with each other, she said.

And while the typical feast may no longer involve munching on tortoise meat in burial caves, Munro said she still sees a lot of the same roles — exchanging information, making connections, vying for status — happening at our modern gatherings.

“This is something that’s just quintessentially human,” Munro said. “And to see the first evi dence of it is exciting.”

Dr Greggory Pinto

HOMININS preparing Luciobarbus longiceps fish on the shores of the ancient lake Lake Hula. (Ella Maru_Tel Aviv University via AP)

‘Toxic masculinity’: what does it mean, where did it come from –and is the term useful or harmful?

By MICHAEL FLOOD Professor of Sociology, Queensland University of Technology

(THE CONVERSATION) –It’s hard to avoid encountering the term “toxic masculinity” these days.

It has been linked to soldiers’ war crimes in Afghanistan, and further afield, the rise of Donald Trump and the Capitol riots.

It is regularly applied to popculture characters as diverse as the hypersensitive dinosaur nerd Ross Gellar from Friends, the alcoholic adulterer Don Draper in Mad Men, and the violent, repressed Nate in Euphoria, who regularly tells his girlfriend, “If anyone ever tried to hurt you, I’d kill them.”

The term “toxic masculinity” was obscure in the 1990s and early 2000s. But since around 2015, it has become pervasive in discus sions of men and gender.

So what does it mean?

“Masculinity” refers to the roles, behaviours and attributes seen as appropriate for boys and men in a given society. In short, masculinity refers to society’s expectations of males.

In many societies, boys and men are expected to be strong, active, aggressive, tough, daring, hetero sexual, emotionally inexpressive and dominant. This is enforced by socialisation, media, peers, and a host of other influences. And it plays out in the behaviour of many boys and men.

The term “toxic masculinity” points to a particular version of masculinity that is unhealthy for the men and boys who conform to it, and harmful for those around them.

The phrase emphasises the worst aspects of stereotypi cally masculine attributes. Toxic masculinity is represented by qualities such as violence, domi nance, emotional illiteracy, sexual entitlement, and hostility to femininity.

This version of masculinity is seen as “toxic” for two reasons. First, it is bad for women. It shapes sexist and patriarchal behaviours, including abusive or violent treatment of women. Toxic masculinity thus contributes to gender inequalities that dis advantage women and privilege men.

Second, toxic masculinity is bad for men and boys themselves. Narrow stereotypical norms constrain men’s physical and emo tional health and their relations

with women, other men, and children.

Origins of the term

The term first emerged within the mythopoetic (New Age) men’s movement of the 1980s.

The movement focused on men’s healing, using male-only workshops, wilderness retreats and rites of passage to rescue what it saw as essentially mascu line qualities and archetypes (the king, the warrior, the wildman, and so on) from what it dubbed “toxic” masculinity.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, the term spread to other self-help cir cles and into academic work (for example, on men’s mental health). Some US conservatives began applying the term to low-income, under-employed, marginalised men, prescribing solutions like restoring male-dominated fami lies and family values.

“Toxic masculinity” was vir tually non-existent in academic writing – including feminist schol arship – up until 2015 or so, other

Slutty Vegan CEO talks new cookbook, plans to go global

By HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — In the past few years, Slutty Vegan, an Atlanta-based eatery, has attracted a cult-like following with its raunchy approach to veganism.

Celebrities often pop in for a visit. And customers routinely wait through long lines to order from the chain’s cheekily-named menu, which includes the “One Night Stand” burger and the slutty fries.

Owner Pinky Cole opened up the first brick-and-mortar loca tion in 2018 in Atlanta, where the acclaimed burger joint attracted a largely Black customer base. Since then, Cole has added new locations in other parts of Georgia as well as Birmingham, Alabama and Brooklyn, New York.

This month, she will begin a five-city tour to promote her new cookbook, “Eat Plants, B*tch: 91 Vegan Recipes That Will Blow Your Meat-Loving Mind.”

The Associated Press recently spoke with Cole about her busi ness, her new cookbook and how she’s preparing for a potential economic downturn. The conver sation has been edited for clarity and length.

How did you start your business? And why did you decide to go with a raunchy name?

So I started my concept in my two-bedroom apart ment while working full-time as a casting director. The idea hit me out of nowhere. I didn’t know a side hustle would turn into a $100 million brand. I thought I was doing something personally for myself. But I was really doing something for people who want to reimagine food in a different way. The name was a catchy way to get people to pay attention. I knew ‘slutty’ and ‘vegan’ didn’t go together. They’re so oddly different that if you put them together, it would make people ask questions.

Speaking of your prior career, how did you transi tion your broadcast skills to the restaurant business?

A: I know what people pay attention to. I know what gets them bored. I know what gets them to tune in. I learned that working in TV as a producer for the Maury show. I also worked on more therapeutic shows, so I know what pulls on people’s emotions. Our marketing is racy,

than in a handful of texts on men’s health and wellbeing.

But as it spread in popular culture, feminist scholars and commentators adopted the term, typically as a shorthand for misog ynist talk and actions. Though the term is now associated with a fem inist critique of the sexist norms of manhood, that’s not where it started.

It is virtually absent from the scholarship on men and mascu linities that developed rapidly from the mid-1970s, though its use in that area has increased in the last decade. This scholarship has, however, long made the claim that culturally influential constructions of manhood exist, and that they are tied to men’s domination of women.

Merits and risks

Understood properly, the term “toxic masculinity” has some merits. It recognises that the prob lem is a social one, emphasising how boys and men are socialised and how their lives are organised.

It steers us away from biologi cally essentialist or determinist perspectives that suggest the bad behaviour of men is inevitable: “boys will be boys”.

“Toxic masculinity” highlights a specific form of masculinity and a specific set of social expectations that are unhealthy or dangerous.

It points (rightly) to the fact that stereotypical masculine norms shape men’s health, as well as their treatment of other people.

The term has helped to popu larise feminist critiques of rigid gender norms and inequalities. It is more accessible than schol arly terms (such as hegemonic masculinity). This has the poten tial to allow its use in educating boys and men, in similar ways to the concept of the “Man Box” (a term describing a rigid set of com pulsory masculine qualities that confine men and boys) and other teaching tools on masculinity.

By emphasising the harm done to both men and women, the term has the potential to prompt less defensiveness among men than more overtly political terms

such as “patriarchal” or “sexist” masculinity.

Toxic risks

“Toxic masculinity” also car ries some potential risks. It is too readily misheard as a sugges tion that “all men are toxic”. It can make men feel blamed and attacked – the last thing we need if we want to invite men and boys to critically reflect on masculin ity and gender. Persuasive public messaging aimed at men may be more effective if it avoids the lan guage of “masculinity” altogether.

Whether it uses the term “toxic masculinity” or not, any criticism of the ugly things some men do, or of dominant norms of manhood, will provoke defensive and hos tile reactions among some men. Criticisms of sexism and unequal gender relations often provoke a backlash, in the form of predict able expressions of anti-feminist sentiments.

The term might also draw atten tion to male disadvantage and neglect male privilege. Dominant gender norms may be “toxic” for men, but they also provide a range of unearned privileges (workplace expectations of lead ership, freedom from unpaid care work, prioritising of their sexual needs over women’s) and inform some men’s harmful behaviour towards women.

“Toxic masculinity” can be used in generalising and simplis tic ways. Decades of scholarship have established that construc tions of masculinity are diverse, intersecting with other forms of social difference.

The term may cement the assumption that the only way to involve men in progress towards gender equality is by fostering a “healthy” or “positive” masculin ity. Yes, we need to redefine norms of manhood. But we also need to encourage men to invest less in gendered identities and bounda ries, stop policing manhood, and embrace ethical identities less defined by gender.

Whatever language we use, we need ways to name the influen tial social norms associated with manhood, critique the harmful attitudes and behaviours some men adopt, and foster healthier lives for men and boys.

• This article is republished from The Conversation, an inde pendent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Read the original article here: https://the conversation.com

raunchy and its in-your-face. I’m just producing TV every day.

Q: The chain limits custom ers to two burgers per order. Have you dealt with any complaints regarding that?

A: No. It’s funny. People don’t even complain stand ing in line. We do the limit because there’s something in the art of scarcity that people have fallen in love with. If you make it avail able to them sometimes, but not all the time, it’ll make them come back. Another reason we imple mented the limit was because we want to make sure the experience was efficient for customers. We’re still a small business. So the policy

might change in the future as we grow.

Many are worried that we might have a recession soon. Are you preparing your business for one?

A: Yes, we are actually in the process of doing that now. You know, it’s a very scary thing. Even for somebody who just raised $25 million, you’d be surprised how fast you can lose it if you’re not conscious about how you spend the money. We are strategically coming up with a game plan. Once upon a time, we were just focused on brickand-mortar locations. But it takes almost $1 million to build one

Q: Do you have plans to go global?

A: We’ve already gotten some trademarks interna tionally. So we are preparing. But I can’t say just yet what we’re pre paring for.

Q: Who’s the audience for the new cookbook?

A: This is for the meat eater. The vegans already got it figured out. No limitations - really good food. It just happens to be plant-based.

Q:

A:

Q:

Q:

brick-and-mortar site. Now we are focusing our energy on buying food trucks.

IDEAS of masculinity have changed yet toxicity stays the same. Sundry Photography_Shutterstock

PINKY COLE, owner of Slutty Vegan restaurants and food trucks. (Photo_Ahmad Barber)

co-write teen romance

NEW YORK (AP) — Dhonielle Clayton is not just a bestselling author of young adult fiction. She’s an organizer, a former teacher and a founder of the grassroots publish ing movement We Need Diverse Books. She’s also the kind of friend who can convince five of her wellknown peers to collaborate on a single novel, and then come back for another.

Opinions differ over her per sonal style: “A tiny tyrant,” jokes nov elist Tiffany D Jackson, whose books include “Monday’s Not Coming” and “Let Me Hear a Rhyme.”

“A little pushy,” says Ashley Woodfolk, author of “When You Were Everything” and “The Beauty That Remains” among others.

Or, as Clayton likes to describe herself, “the ringmaster,” “the centre of the circus,” practitioner of the art of “tender leadership.” “They say I bullied them into this. But I have leadership skills, and I was persuasive,” she says.

Clayton thought of a group narra tive after seeing the 2019 romantic comedy “Let It Snow” and wanted to create a story centered on the lives, and loves, of Black teens. She brought in not just Woodfolk and Jackson, who agreed despite having a background in thriller writing, but fellow bestsellers Nicola Yoon (“Everything Everything”), Nic Stone (“Dear Martin”) and Angie Thomas, whose “The Hate U Give” is among the most talked about young adult books of recent years.

In 2021, the six authors teamed up on “Black out,” a romance about Black teens during a power outage in New York. The Obamas’ Higher Ground production company is adapt ing the book into a Netflix series. The friends have just published a second novel about another city in a moment of paralysis: “Whit eout” takes place on a snowy day in Atlanta, where even a couple inches of precipitation can stop traffic as effectively as a blizzard up North.

Like “Blackout,” the new book follows a wide circle of young people at various points in their relationships. Clayton helped

establish the narrative by sending the other authors a list of what she calls common romance tropes she thought worth dramatising — exes to lovers, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, best friends to lovers and dude in distress (as opposed to damsel in distress).

“Each chapter is about helping a core couple fix their stuff,” Clayton says.

Stories with multiple authors aren’t new — Clayton previously co-wrote “The Rumor Game” with Sona Charaipotra. But the creators of ““Blackout” and “Whiteout” organised the books to the point of scientific certainty. If Clayton is best at getting the action started, Woodfolk is the resident expert on Google Docs, tracking the amount of sunlight for given sections of “Blackout” and placing charac ters in precise areas of Atlanta for “Whiteout.”

The book’s editor at the Harp erCollins imprint Quill Tree Books, Rosemary Brosnan, kept her own records. She set up an Excel spreadsheet and called it “Whiteout — Continuity and Con sistency,” through which she tracked

“character details, setting, time stamps, character intersections” and other parts of the narrative. She needed another chart to make sure she knew every scene’s location.

“I’m unfamiliar with Atlanta, so I used Google Maps to map out where the characters were, and then asked the authors to resolve any questions about setting,” she added.

Individual authors rotated chap ters, but readers aren’t told who wrote which, excepting a series of clues at the end that range from the easily searchable (“the only Atlanta native among us”) to the more mysterious (“the self-professed love grump of the group”). Keep ing identities hidden was part of the fun, the authors explain, (“Kids love puzzles,” Clayton says), and a way of getting readers to focus on the book itself.

“One of the things we realised from ‘Blackout’ was that people were sort of obsessed by who was writing which story and were think ing of it as an anthology rather than an actual book co-written by six people,” Jackson says. “So there was an executive decision not to say who wrote each story.”

“People are biased with them selves whether they realize it,” Woodfolk says. “So seeing some body’s name automatically colors the reading experience, the experi ence of the book.”

“Whiteout,” like “Blackout,” is a page-turning romance but also a message of love from the authors to their fans that their stories are worth telling and their flaws forgiva ble. Jackson remembers how rarely she saw people like herself in the books she read as a child and how often Black characters in romance fiction were relegated to the “sassy best friend.” Clayton believes that the contributors’ shared ambition helped make what might have been an unwieldy project assured and professional.

“We all understood the mission and that we needed to add our pieces to make the missions com plete; everyone knew what they needed to do,” Clayton says. “We are all in the service of children and teens. This is purpose-driven work for us. So, that being the heart of what we do, means there is no non sense when it comes to this work.”

Saturday Sunday Monday

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(l-r) Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk and Nicola Yoon, co-authors of the novel “Whit eout.” (Tiffany D Jackson via AP)

Former MP and human resources expert pens book to ‘share the true meaning of success’

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

From humble beginnings to the hallowed halls of parliament, Agatha Marcelle has been on quite the journey. But she says she is exactly where she is supposed to be today: in position to uplift her people.

The former Member of Parlia ment, who has more than 40 years of experience in human resources and labour relations under her belt, is sharing the most important parts of her journey in her new book, “Repositioned: Here To Heir”.

In over 260 pages, the Cat Island native explores exciting examples of what she calls her “best life”, recognising some of the people who impacted her the most along the way.

“The book chronicles expe riences and situations, stories and anecdotes from early child hood to professional adulthood. It includes workplace situations as well as political situations that profoundly impacted the twists and turns in my life’s journey and helped to form the thread that wove a distinct pattern of how my life was guided and directed by God even when I was unaware of such guidance and direction,” she told Tribune Woman.

“Many persons from all spheres of life who played a role in my repositioning are mentioned in the book. Not all roles were posi tive, but they all had a lesson. The positive ones made me know that there is a God and the negative ones drew me closer to God.”

Ms Marcelle, who is also the founder of the National Train ing Agency, said the motivation for writing the book came from a desire to share the true meaning of success with others.

“As I reflected on my life, I realised that I never had to change the me that I was. Everything that happened in my life was allowed by God and used by Him to fash ion and mould me into the person He wanted me to be,” she said.

She recalls how at the age of 14, sitting at the backdoor of her

aunt’s house on Market Street, smelling the scent of the car bolic used to sanitise the outside latrine, she asked God “to hold my hand and make me some body that would spend the rest of her life encouraging, motivating, inspiring and lifting up my people so that each would experience the full potential of his/her life.”

“That is all I have ever wanted to do and everything that I have ever done lends credence to this fact,” she said.

Ms Marcelle, who holds an honours degree in Sociology and Politics from the McMaster University in Canada and a Master’s degree in Theology, with concentration in counselling, from the Zoe Univer sity in Florida, has led a very notable life.

“When I look at where I began and where I am today, I realise that every disappointment, every obstacle, eve rything I thought I should have and didn’t get was God’s way of pushing me and shifting me from one position to the next until He finally settled me where He wanted me and this is where I am today,” she said.

Her career spans more than 40 years in the fields of human resources, training and labour relations, in both the public and private sectors. She has worked for the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, the Freeport Hotels and Restau rants Employers’ Association, Solomon Brothers Ltd, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

She also served as a part-time lecturer for the College of the Bahamas, the Bahamas Tech nical and Vocational Institute,

the Hotel Training Institute and the Bahamahost training programme.

In 2002, she was elected Member of Parliament for the South Beach constituency and was appointed Parlia mentary Secretary in the Ministries of Tourism, and Immi gration, Labour and Training respectively.

Ms Marcelle

has attended international con ferences and meetings in many countries, including the United States, Canada, the United King dom, across Europe, the Fiji Islands and in the Caribbean –Barbados, Bermuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana and Suriname.

Her greatest inspiration, she said, is her son and only child, Anglican Priest Kari Xavier Mar

Friendsgiving with the girls

By CARA HUNT Tribune Features Writer cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

Thanksgiving is a time to cel ebrate the many blessings in your life, and one of the greatest bless ings any woman can have is the gift of true female friendship.

In her new book, “The Light We Carry”, former US First Lady Michelle Obama referred to her core group of girlfriends as her “kitchen table.”

“The friends at my table come from all different parts of my life — college, Chicago, DC, and every other period, too,” she said.

“In their own way, these women keep me grounded when times are tough. They listen to me vent. They help me see myself. They give me laughter and love. And I’m so grateful for each and every one of them.”

The concept of celebrat ing female friendship has been trending over the past few years, with “Galantines” events in February for Valentine’s Day and ‘Friendsgiving’ activities in November during the Thanksgiv ing period.

“I’m definitely celebrating ‘Friendsgiving’ with the girls this year,” said Shanae. “We have a theme and everything: female superheroes. We’re just doing minimal dressing up, but we’ll have good music, good food and a good atmosphere. We’re going to explain why we think the other is a superhero and then celebrate her.”

Meanwhile, Tribune Tianna said: “Women who say that women can’t be friends just have not found the right circle. You can be friend without the backstabbing and jealousy that often exists.

“But it takes choosing the right people to be around. You have to have people who are on the same path as you. If you’re about saving and preparing for the future, and they down on you, always trying to get you to go shopping and party with you, that does not that work. A true friend won’t be mad you can’t go to happy hour with her.

Instead, they will grab a bottle of wine and come over and eat ramen noodles with you.”

Lynette said female friendship requires trust on both sides.

“My besties and I just respect that people share with us because they have a level of trust. The same way you want to be able to vent and not hear people come

who served in the

of the Windward Islands

eight years and made church history by being the young est priest to be instituted as priest-in-charge of a parish of five churches. He is currently the rector of St Paul’s Parish, Long Island, and serves seven churches.

Ms Marcelle’s life-long dream of equipping the Bahamian workforce with employability skills and preparing them for quality service has also been realised.

She created the National Train ing Agency, which was launched in July 2013 under the Ministry of Labour and National Insurance, and served as its executive direc tor. Currently, she serves as the executive chair.

She has authored two other books: “Hidden Gems of Quality and Excellence” and “Ladies and Gentlemen Please, The ABC’s of Becoming a Successful Adult” (selected for family life classes by the Ministry of Education).

“It felt by many people that in order to be successful one has to follow the dictates of the secular world around them and live personal and professional aspects of one’s life in separate silos i.e. having one set of atti tudes, behaviours, values, morals and persona in personal life and a different set of the same things in professional/public life. The new book dispels this myth and rather re-enforces the power of indi vidual choice to be who and what you want to be,” she said.

“Once you are aware of who you are, like who you are, you don’t have to change the per sonal perspective of your life to measure up to what others think you should be or want you to become.”

The hardback version of her newest book, “Repositioned: Here To Heir”, is expected to be available in the Bahamas by mid-December.

For information on the availa bility of books, readers are asked to contact Ms Marcelle at: 4616014, 461-6017, or 376-7525.

back with your business is exactly what your friends expect. The key to a strong friendship is to treat others the way you want to be treated,” she said.

Tiffany added that she and her friends always find reasons to cel ebrate each other.

“I want my friends to succeed and have the best life possible. I

want to be surrounded by women who are achieving and who can help me along the way who under stand my struggles and my dreams. As they are climbing the moun tain, I want them to pull me up. And if I can do the same thing I will. There is room at the top for all us,” she said.

Diocese

for

AGATHA Marcelle