Boyea: ‘We have to build communities’

Managing Director of the local Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) franchise Ormiston “Ken” Boyea has called for more community projects to help stem the flow of criminal activity in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.{{more}}

Boyea made the call last Sunday afternoon at the opening ceremony of the KFC West St. George Primary School Cricket Competition at the Belair Playing Field.

In congratulating the teams, sponsors and others who have contributed to the inaugural Cricket Competition in the area, Boyea said: “We have to build community if we are going to stop some of the things we complain about all day. We see all the crimes in the newspapers. If we do more of this, our country will move forward faster and a lot better.”

Boyea also said that he finds it more rewarding to spend his establishment’s advertising quota on sports instead of radio advertisements.

“Instead of breaking down the radio with a lot of adverts, there could be no better way of doing promotions than getting people involved,” Boyea said.

“I personally prefer to sponsor teams, rather than putting twenty adverts on the radio every morning. I believe I get a better feel that I am contributing to the community. People in St. Vincent (and the Grenadines) have accepted us, and, I, therefore, feel a big responsibility to give back some of what I have got from the community,” Boyea stated.

Boyea, who is former St. Vincent and the Grenadines cricketer, said as a businessman, he prefers to employ sportsmen in his establishment.

“I have been preaching this for years that most of the top cricketers in St. Vincent and the Grenadines have worked with me at one time or the other. It was no accident. I deliberately set out to find sportsmen to work, because I find them to be more disciplined. I find the people who play sport work better,” Boyea stated.

“I admire sportsmen for this, and I will often say to the youngsters, they don’t just look at the cricket, they look at your entire lives; try to model yourself and people in the society who seem to be going somewhere doing something positive,” Boyea advised.

Apart from the title sponsor, the five competing schools are being sponsored by other entities, such as the First Caribbean International Bank, the St. Vincent Teachers Co-operative Credit Union, the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force, Coreas / Hazells Inc. and LOG Enterprises.

Other individuals and firms have also contributed to making the competition a reality.

KFC put $12,000 into the venture. However, Boyea remarked: “If it takes another five or ten thousand dollars to make this the best competition in the world, we’ll put it. We don’t look at funds, we look at outcomes.”

The participating schools are the Belair Government, the Gomea Methodist, the Sion Hill Government, the Dorsetshire Hill Government and the Belmont Government. (RT)