Former national b/ball, hockey player re-migrates

Dec 09, 2011 Sports

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– opens Accounting Firm

 

By Rawle Welch
Former national basketball and hockey player Nigel Hinds, who has returned home

permanently after residing in the United States of America, recently sat down with Kaieteur Sport to speak about sport and why he decided to re-migrate back to his homeland.
Hinds, who is an Accountant by profession, was joined by a number of his peers including former national hockey players Ivor Thompson, Gavin Hope and Dexter Wyles at his Waterloo Street firm where he reflected on his career in a number of disciplines as well as gave an insight into the services his Company has to offer.
Asked to respond to the question of why he made the decision to return home, Hinds, who holds ACCA and CPA certificates said even when he resided in Tampa, Florida, he usually returned to Guyana about 3-4 times every year since in his view the business climate in the country was improving and expanding so there was an obvious need for his expertise.
“Ever since I started to come home, I realized that the economy was expanding and due to that expansion the business community would be in need of competent accounting services so I made the decision to team up with my partner George Vaughn and the rest is history,” Hinds said.
He disclosed that the Company has experienced good support over the past five years and it caters for both small and medium size businesses, adding that they’ve been able to do so due to the solid credentials of the personnel and a high level of efficiency that their clients are satisfied with.
Among the key services they offer are Auditing, Accounting, Taxation, Compliances, Financial Proposals, VAT and the full spectrum.
According to Hinds, the market is a big pie, but the secret to success is providing a reliable service to clients which he boasted is a characteristic of the Company.
“Since we started in 2005, we’ve had minimal attrition in terms of clientele and very often we go beyond the basic requirement of our clients for a reasonable fee,” Hinds stated.
A Company with a general staff of 8 employees, Hinds exuded optimism that 2012 should be a breakthrough year for the entity, adding that they intend to go national in the promotion of the business where the other Counties will be targeted.
He said that business in Guyana is not only conducted in Demerara, but in the other two Counties as well so the among the plans for next year is to promote their services in those communities too.
Quizzed on whether they have the expertise and manpower to attract the bigger businesses, Hinds answered in the affirmative, disclosing that among the strategies for 2012 is to secure some of the large contracts like Government and some of the bigger business entities.
On the subject of sports, Hinds, a former multi-talented athlete, who apart from donning national colours for basketball and hockey was on the cusp of making the national table tennis team, having been part of the provisional squad called to prepare for the Caribbean Championships, while he was also an exceptional powerlifter.
He revealed that very often during visits he would made donation of trophies to assist in the development of basketball, but added that he is disappointed with the direction that sports and local athletes are heading.
Hinds spoke of the need to merge on-field skills with academia since in all cases there is life after sport and in too many instances our athletes take a downward spiral after they would have retired or forced to quit through injury or plain frustration.
He said he was lucky to compete in an era that taught him the importance of marrying sports with academia, but sadly the current situation seems indisposed to such fundamental lessons.
“The underprivileged gets involved in sport and in quite a few cases they excel, but because of a lack of genuine opportunities to holistically develop the other aspects necessary, they eventually end up falling by the wayside with no way to escape poverty,” Hinds mentioned.
He called on administrators to bring job and skill training into sport so that athletes will not feel that excelling on the field is the be-it-all, but rather it could be a stepping stone to a better life.
In the absence of such training, many of the athletes will not be able to enjoy a good life, especially when it is known that most of our sports are not competed in professionally, Hinds articulated.
“A way must be found to compensate those athletes who dedicate their energies to honing their skills to meet the highest levels,” he felt.
The former athletic standout said with the success of the business he will be able to come to the administrative table with some amount of strength since he does not intend to abandon sport which has provided him with a lot of fond memories during his lifetime.
He openly admitted that should he be interested in any administrative office his first choice would be to change the flagging fortunes of basketball which is struggling presently to regain consciousness from an extended comatose.

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