Young Professional Khalid A. Frett is a Senior Corporate Administrator at Trident Trust Company. Photo: Provided

Khalid A. Frett aka Captain Khalid during the 2011 Emancipation Festival Calypso Elimination Competition at Sir Rupert Briercliffe Hall. Photo: VINO/File

Khalid A. Frett has been employed at Trident Trust Company for the past 13 years. Photo: Facebook

Some of the expressive work of Crazy Threadz, a local business in Fish Bay co-owned by Khalid A. Frett. Photo: Facebook

Khalid is a Senior Corporate Administrator at Trident Trust Company, where he has been for the past 13 years. His scope of work ranges from incorporation to liquidation and is also tasked with performing vessel registrations.

Our Young Professional admitted that while a student of the then BVI High School he always saw himself working with Government; however, after leaving school the only job that was available to him in Government at the time was “answering the telephone, and coming out of high school the thinking was that I was not leaving school to answer telephones,” Khalid said with a chuckle.

He said; however, working in the financial services sector has provided more opportunities for growth, which he has made good use of.

Noting that “it feels good” to serve in a sector that the country depends on economically, Khalid said making clients satisfied gives him much personal gratification, adding that he is well aware that persons rely on him to carry out their business in the most caring and professional way.

With all the negative press that financial services has been getting of recent, we were tempted to ask Khalid what was his take on it and what the public generally needed to know.

“Financial Services, like any other business, may have loopholes but I think we are doing our very best to counter that and protect our country’s image and how we stand in the global market. I do think we stand very strong as a financial services jurisdiction especially where compliance is concerned.”

He said; however, that with the financial services sector of the VI coming under attack for various reasons, Government needed to do much more to counter the negative press and ideas towards the sector.

Crazy Threadz

Khalid is a proud joint owner of a business that specialises in custom designing of clothing and other articles.

Crazy Threadz, which started in 2013, is located in Fish Bay on the main island of Tortola.

Khalid said his business came into being after seeing a demand for custom designed clothing that allowed persons to express themselves in a creative way.

“Our slogan is to express yourselves,” and this is the way we allow people to express themselves," he said.

"We do get criticised for some of the things that come out of Crazy Threadz; however, we are an outlet for people to express themselves. And sometimes instead of criticising some of the things, persons can see this as an outlet for recognising and dealing with some of the issues we have in society.”

Noting that his business faces challenges just like any other small business, it has also seen growth over the last three years, which has been very encouraging for him and his business partner.

“We did this business without any grants or government assistance and, despite the challenges, we are proud to say we are young men from the Eighth District and we are holding our own.”

The business caters for the designing of T-shirts, banners, stickers and cards among other things.

Captain Khalid!

Possessing an attitude that ‘if he can think it he can do it’, our Young Professional made the brave move of participating in a calypso competition some years ago, singing under the name Captain Khalid.

He didn’t space in the competition but it brought about satisfaction that he was able to do what he thought was difficult.

“Going to festival as a child and watching people like Queen Makeesha on stage singing ‘broke again’ I just imagined myself there representing my country. It is another avenue of expressing yourself on issues in the country and so on.”

Captain Khalid has been on a hiatus but has plans to return to the stage in the future. Whether it is in time for Emancipation Festival we will have to see as, according to Captain Khalid, he has songs lined up!

Aside from that, Khalid works alongside the team that manages Kissinger Mercer, who has songs with Grammy Award-winning song writers Rock City and is a part of V-Islander Media, although he has not been very active with the group of recent.

He is also a former president of the Leo Club of Tortola.

Aspiring Politician

Our Young Professional believes in his heart that he can do much more for his country and aspires to become a politician. He noted that persons often ask him when he would be putting himself up as a candidate.

“My answer to that would be that such a decision is not upon me but upon those within my community wanting me to be their representative.”

Khalid represented the territory in the Caribbean Parliamentary Association debate in Grenada some years ago and this further sought to inspire him to become a politician. He said being a part of Crazy Threadz allows him to meet and interact with a cross-section of persons and that their concerns often move him to personally try to help some of them.

“I think one of the motivations is to especially represent people who aren’t able to represent themselves. However, we all need strong leaders who will take us forward in this territory.”

Further education

In the meantime, Khalid is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources online at Missouri Southern State University. He also holds an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration from H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC).

Khalid shared that before his mother, Carmen Arlene, died from cancer in 2011 he made a promise to her that he was going to take good care of his little brother who was 11 at the time.

Our Young Professional was proud to say that his brother Kanton is now entering Sixth Form at Elmore Stoutt High School. “His graduation is something I am looking forward to,” Khalid said.

Advice to Youth

Khalid advises youth that it does not matter who you are, where you came from, whether you are rich or not, you can set goals and work towards them. “Expect obstacles, expect disappointments, expect rejection but be steadfast in what you want to do and never say you can’t do it.”

He also advises persons to surround themselves with persons who are like-minded and who can "take you where you want to go" because of their experience and knowledge.