Tech Exec Praises UWI Grads for His Company’s Success by Marie-Claire Williams
A leading export manufacturer has put forward a strong case for companies to invest in The University of the West Indies, saying graduates of the Cave Hill campus have been crucial to the growth of his company since it began operations nearly three decades ago.
P resident of Lenstec (Barbados) Inc. , Ian last October’s graduation ceremony, made the call while speaking at a fundraising dinner held in his honour and that of fellow honorees, entertainer Alison Hinds-Walcott (DLitt) and business executive Trisha Tannis (LLD). The businessman and biochemist attributed much of his company’s success in Barbados to its association with Cave Hill. “I just want to go on record as saying that none of this would have happened if we didn’t engage with UWI on day one. And for 27 years, we have been working with UWI in all sorts of different ways. The Hickling , who received an honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) degree at first thing that happened was when we came here, we found out that there were lots of tests required that couldn’t be done here; so, we went to the Faculty of Science and arranged for some honour students to come in and set up a microbiology lab. We have continued that relationship ever since,
Principal of Cave Hill Campus Professor Clive Landis told attendees that The UWI remains committed to contributing to the overall development of the Caribbean. “As an academy, we are resolved; we are coalesced around a strategy which is to take our research and to apply it at all levels of society; to enmesh ourselves in society with the ministries, with the private sector, with industries, to help drive innovation [and] entrepreneurship and to help drive the development of Barbados and the Caribbean,” Landis said. u
and we get the best microbiologists, who graduate from here, that come through our lab and work with us,” he said. Lenstec (Barbados) Inc. is a subsidiary of Lenstec Corporation , a commercial medical device company based in Florida. The company opened its global manufacturing facility in Barbados in 1995. It manufactures intraocular lenses, which are artificial replacements for the natural ones removed during cataract surgery. Hickling added that ten per cent of the staff at Lenstec are graduates of The UWI, including ten research and development scientists.
“Probably the most visual thing is that all of our production databases … and remember we make three quarters of a million lenses a year … control every single one of those [lenses]. So, every lens we’ve ever made, which is more than seven million, has a record and a database which was written by a UWI graduate,” he added.
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