1. Tourism: share your culture, go upscale

Trying to stand out in the crowded Caribbean tourist market can be a difficult job. The tourism industry in Trinidad & Tobago employs some 88,000 people, directly or indirectly, and contributes almost $1 billion a year to the economy, but the country only attracts a small proportion of the 22 million annual visitors to the Caribbean.

"We can all acknowledge that tourism in Trinidad & Tobago has not yet reached its full potential," said Rupert Griffith, Minister of Tourism, in a speech in June 2010. "The time has come for the industry to unleash its true potential."

However, creating a healthy tourism industry with the right image can be challenging. The general perception of the country is that Trinidad is a business destination, while Tobago offers sun, sand and sea. The reality is rather more complex.

Angella Persad, President of the Trinidad & Tobago Chamber of Industry & Commerce says there is the opportunity to push cultural tourism, drawing on the country's ethnic and religious diversity and pushing its heritage in terms of food, festivals, architecture, painting and music.

There is also plenty of potential for ecotourism, particularly in Tobago. Sports tourism is another potential draw, both in terms of visitors coming to watch international sporting events and as a marketing tool to overseas audiences. However, the government's efforts in marketing the country overseas will only succeed if the private sector is also willing to invest.

"We can't just sit back and say we have a great country but nobody knows about it," says Anil Roberts, Minister of Sport & Youth Affairs.

2. Infrastructure: Build your own future

It has been a quiet period for the construction industry over the past year, partly because of the global economic downturn, but also because of local political factors.

The industry slowed noticeable in the months after the May 2010 election while the new government gradually appointed senior staff to key state-owned bodies.

"Since the government took over, essentially the industry has come to a standstill and a lot of that has to do with boards and state enterprises not being put in place within the public sector," says Ainsley Welch, Director of Building Services Engineering at Welch, Morris + Associates, a quantity surveying and engineering consultancy. "I think the government has to set an agenda pretty quickly as to the way forward, in terms of what programmes and what buildings they want to start."

Happily for the industry, there are significant plans that should soon go ahead, including a multi-billion dollar upgrade to the nation's road network.

"We have a highway programme we are working on at the moment," says Dr Carson Charles, President of the state-owned National Infrastructure Development Company. "We will be expanding and extending the highway network. We also plan to implement the water taxi network, [but] the previous project for a rail system is now under review, mainly because of the size of the project."

The Mamoral Dam has also been proposed for the centre of Trinidad, to combat flooding and provide greater water storage facilities.

Junior Sammy, Chairman of the Junior Sammy Group of Companies, welcomes the potential for new projects.

"It makes good sense to stimulate the local economy by having the construction industry buoyant and active," he says. "The construction industry is the core of any economic activity."

Making the most of Trinidad's skills

"We are very excited about what the government [has said] about broadening the country's infrastructure network. We will invariably be part of the construction process. A lot of foreign contractors coming in are amazed by the physical equipment and human resource capabilities that we have. It speaks volumes for an island of 1.3 million people and makes discussions with foreign companies coming here a lot easier." Junior Sammy, Executive Chairman of Junior Sammy Group of Companies.

3. Creative industries: Be fashionable

With its heritage of carnival, calypso and steelpan music, the country has a rich cultural history, but to date it has lead to limited economic activity.

However, the creative industries are now benefitting from significant government support, with music, film and entertainment among the sectors being pushed by the Ministry of Trade & Industry.

The Ministry has set up a number of organisations to help the sector develop, including the Trinidad & Tobago Film Company and the Trinidad & Tobago Entertainment Company, with the aim of creating jobs.

Events have been springing up too. The Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival started in 2006 and Fashion Week Trinidad & Tobago two years later.

4. ICT: Embrace the knowledge economy

There are 33 radio stations, 30 television channels, two mobile network operators and seven broadband Internet providers in Trinidad & Tobago, and all for a population of just 1.3 million people.

The abundance of media outlets is a result of the liberalisation policies of past governments, which proved, in some senses, to be too successful. As a result, consolidation in the industry is expected in the coming years. The bigger question for the country is where the next generation of ICT companies and entrepreneurs will come from.

The present government is certainly keen for the country to develop its media and technology industries, with ministers frequently referring to the need to create a knowledge economy. In the election manifesto of the People's Partnership for the May 2010 election, ICT was named as one of the seven pillars for sustainable development on which the coalition said it wanted to base the country's economic future. It also promised to give a laptop to every child going to secondary school.

"Whether it's in IT, whether it's in backroom support, in accounting, in data storage, there's a whole host of areas in which we would welcome investment," says Stephen Cadiz, Minister of Trade & Industry.

The Trinidad & Tobago Chamber of Industry & Commerce has also identified the ICT industry as one of the key sectors into which the country can diversify.

The country's ability to expand its ICT sector will be helped by the efforts of broadband Internet provider Flow, which is part of the Barbados-based group Columbus Communications. The company is rolling out Internet access services around the country offering speeds of up to 100MB. At that level, it would put Trinidad & Tobago well ahead of many regional rivals, but also ahead of many, more developed European economies.

Building a high-speed economy

"A knowledge based society needs to be supported by the infrastructure. It's all about access and affordability. Broadband penetration for small business is tiny, yet to capture the opportunity of the day you must have broadband or else you are dead in the water. When it comes to broadband what we are trying to do is to take a huge leap in the competitiveness of Trinidad & Tobago. For us it's about providing first-world infrastructure." Rhea Yaw Ching, Head of Sales & Marketing at Flow

5. Agribusiness: Process and move up the value chain

At less than 2,000 square miles, Trinidad & Tobago is smaller than Norfolk. Its size obviously limits its potential for farming, yet the country's most famous brand comes from the food industry.

Angostura Bitters dates back to 1824, with a recipe known to just five people. It is the best example of what can be done in the food sector and represents a model the government would like others to follow, by investing in processing facilities and exporting branded products rather than raw materials.

There are some other success stories. Soft drinks firm SM Jameel & Company employs 2,000 people in plants across the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and Asia and sells its products in 60 countries. From Trinidad alone it exports 8,000 containers per year.

"It's quite easy to operate from Trinidad & Tobago," says Anna Mohammed, Vice-President of Marketing at SM Jameel. "It's a country with a highly literate, hard-working workforce. Most of the main shipping lines come here, so the freight rates are competitive and that's a very important factor if you want to be an exporter."

Other companies are also exporting their products, such as KC Confectionery, which sells its sweets to the UK. But, overall, the industry has suffered from a lack of dynamism.

"Our agriculture sector is dying because we have no new blood coming in," says Vasant Bharath, Minister of Food Production, Land & Marine Affairs. "It is the same people who have been doing it for the last 50 years. Now they are getting tired and retiring; we need to bring innovation."

In a 2009 study, the Trinidad & Tobago Chamber of Industry & Commerce identified four areas where the economy could be expanded, which included agriculture.

"The opportunity is here, it's just waiting to be tapped," says Angella Persad, President of the Chamber.

Turning exports into profits

"Our main goal is to make our export market more profitable. We are in the business of making money. My ultimate goal as CEO is to make this company the profitable company it always deserved to be, to make Angostura the most profitable liquor company in the entire Caribbean. We have great products, now it is all about being number one and to be recognised for the quality of our products outside the borders of Trinidad & Tobago." Wayne Yip Chop, CEO at Angostura Holdings Limited

6. Renewable energy: Go green

With plentiful sunshine for much of the year, Trinidad & Tobago has a clear opportunity to use solar energy, but the potential to develop its own manufacturing plants could lead to far greater gains.

This ambitious undertaking is at the heart of the plans of one local company, Solar Industry Technologies or SiTek. It is planning a Solar Industrial Park in collaboration with the government, with facilities covering the entire manufacturing process.

"We have great advantages for developing photovoltaic solar panels," says Greig Laughlin, President of the Trinidad & Tobago Manufacturers' Association. "The raw materials are close by and the cost of energy is inexpensive [enough] to make it a very profitable industry. Such a plant will also allow the development of smaller industries around it, from cell phone chargers to battery chargers to any product to do with solar power."

With duty-free trade agreements with both the US and the EU, it also has access to two of the largest markets for such products.

7. Finance: Size up your options

As a leading business hub for the Caribbean, Trinidad & Tobago already has a sizeable financial sector. There are eight banks in the country and a further 18 institutions offering other financial services.

The industry avoided the worst of the international financial crisis of recent years, but it did take a knock in January 2009 when CL Financial, which was headquartered in Trinidad & Tobago, suffered a liquidity crisis and was taken over by the government.

In a speech in April 2010, Ewart Williams, Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad & Tobago, predicted the future would see greater consolidation of the financial system and tougher regulation.

Larry Howai, Chief Executive Officer of First Citizens Group, says there are still ways the industry can expand, including in overseas markets. "We see an opportunity to grow our private banking activities and we are considering the establishment of a wealth management centre," he says. "Barbados, Bahamas, Bermuda are on our radar as well as some Central American countries."