Bajan

By Gercine Carter

gercinecarter@nationnews.com

Joel Alleyne was born in Barbados and attended primary and secondary school here, however at age 13 he was gone, forced to relocate to Canada with his mother. As he confessed, his Bajan heart and love for his birthplace, though, never left.

In over 50 years of living in Canada, Alleyne has made a name for himself as consultant, researcher, entrepreneur; been actively involved in commerce and has also been sharing his expertise and knowledge with businesses in North America, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean.

He is an active independent researcher and contributor with several global affiliations, including the Open European Network For Enterprise Innovation; has worked with several industries, including healthcare and is a recognised expert in electronic commerce and new media, information technology and knowledge management.

In Toronto, he is also chairman and chief executive officer of Abraxas International Inc., a team of business designers and management consultants with deep information technology and industry-specific knowledge and experience.

Amidst all these business interests in his adopted country, the Barbadian, who spent his formative years at Lands End, St Michael, an area on the landside of the Mighty Grynner Highway, maintains a vested interest in Barbados.

He acquired Crucible International, a company started by the Canadian insurance company Confederation Life which was later taken over by another Canadian insurance company.

That was more than 20 years ago. Today, Alleyne’s business partner Derrick Bond, (“the guy on the ground every day taking care of the staff, making sure that clients are happy and that business is delivered”), oversees management of the Harbour Road business. Chairman Alleyne executes his role from behind the scenes, at his Toronto base, only paying periodic visits to Barbados to put a face on things.

In the island last week, Alleyne told the Sunday Sun: “From a personal perspective and from a philosophical perspective, I am a facilitator, I am a catalyst. I help make things happen . . . . For me, part of what Crucible does is it continues to provide gainful employment for people on the island. We have, depending on demand from clients, between 300 and 400 people working under Crucible.”

However, the business operations of Crucible were not the main focus of Alleyne’s Barbados mission last week. Instead, he was here to kick off the first of three projects through which he aims to put action to his resolve to “give back to Barbados – The Caribbean Wounds Network (CariWN).

The non-profit knowledge network and community, staged an inaugural “hybrid” symposium, T.I.M.E. to Heal, at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus yesterday, with in-person and virtual clinical participation by interests in Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Curacao, St Maarten, The Bahamas, St Kitts, Antigua, Aruba and Jamaica.

Diaspora in the US and Canada also participated.

According to a statement released by CariWN, the launch marked “a pivotal step in addressing the escalating costs of wound care in the Caribbean region, which currently totals an estimated $7 billion annually”.

Alleyne said the organisation “is all about trying to make a difference for wound care across the Caribbean”. He explained his role in the exercise “has been to get CariWN established and to act as a catalyst to bringing the people together for that”.

Ultimate goal

“Our goal is to help bring better education and better policies around wound care at the Government and health care level; better skills and competencies and ultimately to better improve wound care across the Caribbean.

“Wounds don’t get the same Press like cancer does,” Alleyne pointed out, “but we know that many people who lose a limb, die after amputation. We are trying to prevent unnecessary amputations and we are trying to reduce the unnecessary complications and ultimately death from those amputations.

“There are also wounds like bedsores which we will work with the hospitals and institutions, to help them have better competencies in that area.”

While he made it clear up front that he was “not a clinician”, Alleyne said this particular issue was dear to him, since he was aware of the inordinately high incidence of amputation in Barbados, with some people even describing the island as “the amputation capital of the world.”

“Caribbean Wounds Network is all about trying to make a difference for wound care across the Caribbean,” he said.

In addition to that given by the UWI, support for yesterday’s symposium was also secured from Wounds CANADA, with chief executive officer of the Canadian nonprofit organisation, Miriam Botros, featured among the panel of speakers.

The Canadian organisation works towards reducing the prevalence and impact of wounds, promoting wound management, and the prevention of avoidable wounds in Canada, through advocacy, education, research and collaboration.

“Because of my involvement with Wounds CANADA and because of their support, this allows me to give back as a son of the soil, Alleyne said, noting: “Since I was born here, it is an

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opportunity to give back to Barbados.”

He said this in the context of his recognition of and appreciation for his early Barbados schooling, first at the Ursuline Convent and later Harrison College, which together provided the foundation for his going on to further his education in Canada where he acquired a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s in information science from the University of Toronto.

In 2003 he was appointed to the Entovation 100 Global Knowledge Leadership Map which includes a select group of global thought leaders and practitioners who play a role in shaping the new knowledge-based economy.

He was just appointed an assistant professor at the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, for one year, teaching graduate students, adding to his busy schedule.

His plate is full and the opportunities to visit his homeland are limited, still he continues to dream and plan about how he can help to improve Barbados.

Several changes

“A lot of changes every trip I come back. I hope that some of it is for the best,” Alleyne said.

“One of my future projects is I want to do something like I am doing with the Wounds project, but totally different. I want to bring people together to think about what Barbados would be like in 2050 - what should we be doing economically, socially, educationally. How do we become a true player in this world.”

Reflecting on a speech he delivered on behalf of Barbados at an international business conference a couple years ago, he said: “If you really go back to the history, Barbados was a hub between Africa, and Britain and all the other islands. It was a hub between here and the Carolinas and at that time, it played an important role in a world which is based on hubs, spokes and networks. How do we become a hub again? Right now we run the risk of being marginalised.

“That’s my next big project. Again, it’s about giving back,” said the Barbadian/Canadian.