Executives from Bahamas Striping paid a courtesy call on Minister Of Financial Services Ryan Pinder, MP, to brief him on the progress made by the two-year old striping company.
Bahamas Striping President, Atario Mitchell, who resides in Minister Pinder’s Elizabeth Constituency, updated Minister Pinder on what the local company has done to provide jobs for 13 young Bahamians. Minister Pinder was briefed on how Bahamas Striping continues to invest in Bahamians, giving them expert training in road and car park marking.
Mitchell and Managing Director Sean Adderley expressed their concerns to Minister Pinder that for two years the fully qualified striping company still has not had an opportunity to work on major public road works projects due to the presence of foreigners.
Mitchell informed Minister Pinder how Bahamas Striping contributes to the local economy, donating free striping services to 13 community basketball courts and 6,000 bottles of water to victims of Hurricane Irene.
Minister Pinder heard the story of Bahamas Striping trainee, Jamal Wright, who sold phone cards before Bahamas Striping trained him in rare skills. Wright, 23 years old, was wallowing in a seemingly hopeless job market without prospects. Now he’s capable of striping many road markings himself and has acquired a proper trade. Mitchell explained that Bahamas Striping goes beyond training on the job and exposes its trainees to realities of running a business in the hope that one day they can run their own operation. Wright’s new career opens many doors for him to improve his own and his family’s livelihoods. He’s even thinking about a car, his own home and the prospect of supporting a family.
Minister Pinder praised Bahamas Striping for its civic high-mindedness and vision to equip many young Bahamians with skills that they can use for life. He assured Bahamas Striping that he would do “everything in his power” to promote with his government colleagues to employ as many Bahamians as possible to work on the public road projects. He assured Mitchell that he’d do his utmost to ensure Bahamas Striping and other qualified Bahamian companies, as many as possible, would get an opportunity to work.”
Minister Pinder said he could see that Bahamas Striping was fully capable of striping on public roads and that he reiterated his government’s mandate of “Investing in Bahamians.”
Mitchell asked the Minister for a special request that the government apply for a five-year moratorium of temporary and yearly work permits given to foreigners stripers.
“We have young locals trained to do the work,” said Mitchell. “And they can be supervised by certified stripers. So we ask the government to put Bahamians first when it comes to marking our taxpayer public roads. We can see over the next five years at least a couple million dollars worth of striping work that could be done by Bahamians. We’d like the government to ensure that it doesn’t go out the country needlessly.”
Minister Pinder said he’s confident that as well as Bahamas Striping other qualified Bahamian companies would see fresh opportunities on the major public roads projects.
Source: Bobby Bower
CAPTION: Bahamas Striping President Atario Mitchell (left) and Managing Director Sean Adderley (right) met with Minister of Financial Services Ryan Pinder, MP., (center) who represents Mitchell in the Elizabeth Constituency. Bahamas Striping briefed Minister Pinder on advances that the new company made in its two short years. Bahamas Striping also asked the government to press for a moratorium on work permits for foreign stripers. Minister Pinder said he’d do his best to address the issues with his government colleagues and that that government wants as many qualified Bahamians as possible to receive opportunities to work on public roads projects.
