Business View Caribbean | February 2021

29 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN FEBRUARY 2021 ALESCON READYMI X L IMI TED on concrete) and programs offered by the ECA (Employers Consultative Association) and Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business. In Trinidad, the company has two batching facilities in Charlieville and two in Arima, along with one batching plant in Tobago, and a 28-year-old batching operation in Guyana. Alescon follows all testing methods approved under the ASTM and ACI standards for testing of inputs (aggregates etc.), as well as fresh concrete. The firm’s fully equipped lab facility provides in-house testing, as well as independent testing at certified institutions. And the introduction of four mobile plants which allows them to undertake distant and remote jobs. Through its fully-integrated subsidiary company, Swan Quarries Limited, Alescon also mines and processes a substantial quantity of its own aggregates – blended and processed – to ensure the highest quality inputs for Readymix concrete, at a competitive price. Kamal Ali, Executive Chairman of Alescon Readymix, is proud of his highly successful family business. He shares, “My descendants came to Trinidad in 1900s from India, starting with an agricultural base and we continued that in the early stages. During and after World War II, my family was into farming, animal rearing, provision, rice and sugar cane production and butchering. In the late 1950s, we got into the construction sector with a sawmill operation that ran parallel with the agricultural sector. But Trinidad is a small country with limited resources in the sawmilling business because of the supply of logs and the forestry industry was focused on replanting. So, when the oil industry took over in Trinidad, we decided to expand into the Readymix concrete business. In 1983, the sawmill was pretty much closed down and the readymix business started with a very humble beginning.” Being in a very strategic location, Alescon was able to take on major projects with its quality service offering and key relationships