HE MADE IT POSSIBLE for all the secretaries to achieve the highest level in the organisation.
That, according to Vere Browne, was one of his first positive actions when he was appointed the first Chief Personnel Officer of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).
“I made it possible for secretaries at the lowest level to move up to the highest level,” he said. “At the time I introduced the concept of three, two and one. A girl who came on as a junior officer and worked well could become the general manager’s secretary.
“I also spent a lot of time with workers in the construction division. Because of my background, I always felt that those workers in the lower bracket should have an equal opportunity.”
When the handicrafts division under the Social Welfare Scheme was removed from the Ministry of Trade to the IDC, Sam Ashby was the chairman.
“He wanted a manager for the handicraft division but no one applied,” Vere recalled. “I understand there was a crafts worker at Dodds who had mentioned my name as a suitable candidate.
“I was approached by Sam but I made it quite clear that if I didn’t like the job I would return to my substantive post of Personnel Officer. Rawle Chase, the general manager, told me that I should make up my mind; whether I wanted to stay with handicraft or whether I wanted to return to personnel.
“I said Rawle, I like handicraft and I will stay with it. From then I was appointed manager. Through the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation we obtained the services of one of its handicraft experts, Sayamada Sengupta, who assisted us in reorganising certain aspects of the industry.
“For instance we introduced things like woodwork and pottery. We brought in people like Trevor Daniel and Hamilton Wiltshire. After we reorganized things, we moved the handicraft sales in Barbados from about $600 000 a year to about $1 million a year.”Browne explained: “Before the expansion we had only two outlets, one at Pelican Village where we opened the Emporium and the other at the Hilton [Hotel].”
Then came others including Sam Lord’s Castle.
Browne: “The idea was that the crafts people would be able to concentrate on doing what they did best – production while we would assist with the marketing.”
He explained: “We had a big storeroom at the Emporium and once you brought the craft to us we would buy it from you. That ruled out they having to catch the bus and then trying to get the people in Bridgetown to buy the craft from them.
“We had a van driven by Frank Watson, which would traverse the country, pick up all the craft and bring it to one place – the Emporium. This also eliminated the circumstances in which advantage was taken of the crafts people.”
The Handicraft Division was on a high. Browne recalled: “We started to export ‘Made in Barbados’ kites to the High-as-a-Kite Division of a Canadian company.
“We also established a number of craft specialists at schools around the island. The whole crafts industry took on a new look. It was no longer like social welfare,” Browne explained.
Vere Browne too was on a high; his life took on a new look.
It was at the IDC that Browne met designer Sandra Aimey. They fell in love, got married and are the proud parents of three children – another success story coming out of the IDC.
