PHIL CLEARY

 

CLEARY, CABLE GUY

 

By Nathalie Fournillier

Express

Section 2

July 24, 2000

Page 1

 

At the age of five, Phil Cleary knew he had to own his own business.  Growing up poor in Newfoundland, Canada, his dream in 1951 was to make enough money to afford a helicopter ride over Niagara Falls.

 

Eight years ago, Cleary came to Trinidad and Tobago and started a business that even today makes most investors salivate.

 

Today, at 54, Cleary is managing director of Intercomm Holdings (Trinidad) Ltd, the company that single-handedly controls the cable television market in Trinidad and Tobago.

 

It's a far cry from the small community, population 100, which Cleary grew up in.  His family owned very little back then, with no electric lights or other basic amenities.

 

"My father was poor," says Cleary, adding that they had food and clothes but life was still difficult.

 

Sitting in his office on Richmond Street, Port of Spain last week, the picture these days is a lot different.  Today, his company has more than 70,000 customers.  And the number is growing.

 

Behind it all is Cleary, a man who walked three miles to school every day, many times in the snow up to his waist.

 

But he was always determined to make a difference.

 

"I just wanted to be successful,' says Cleary, adding that his father always advised him if he really wanted to be successful, he had to own his own business.

 

And even then, in those hard times, Cleary's father (now deceased) helped foster his son's entrepreneurial spirit.

 

One story goes like this.  On discovering that electricity had finally come to their part of town, Cleary, still at school, borrowed money from his father to invest in light bulbs, which he sold to all the villagers.

 

"It was about three dollars, which was a lot of money in those days," says Cleary who quickly sold all his light bulbs.

 

In search of a better life, Cleary later set out for Toronto at the age of 19 with his new family.  He had already married and was a father of two.

 

Cleary began working for a company during the day and went to school at night to earn his degree.

 

The first of five children, Cleary opened his first business - an electricity-related company - after graduation.  A company he later passed on to his brother after starting a cable company - an area of business Cleary accidentally got into.  Later, he got really passionate about it.

 

"Cable is in my blood," he says.  He admits, though, it was difficult to explain why he loved the cable business so much.

 

Cleary stumbled on the cable industry when a friend at church suggested he apply for a position in his company and gave the necessary requirements to qualify for the job.  He pursued the necessities and decided to open his own company in 1976, having already had an electrical background.

 

His cable company eventually became one f the most successful companies in Canada, while several others went out of business.

 

But when an "irresistible offer" was made to buy him out, Cleary accepted and retired at age 40.

 

That retirement was short-lived when Cleary later bought a manufacturing company, which he quickly sold after realising cable was still on his mind.

 

His interest was renewed when a friend mentioned to him that a Trinidadian with a cable licence wanted a business partner.

 

Months later in 1992, when Cleary and another Canadian partner decided to invest in the venture. Transcable was born.

 

Today, Intercomm owns all four cable TV providers - Cableview, Transcable, AJ Cable and Rainbow Cable Vision.

 

Transcable, then with its office in Tacarigua, spanned the East Trinidad area from El Dorado upwards.  Cleary sometimes donned his hard hat and climbed the poles, as he did when he owned his company in Canada whether duty called or someone failed to turn up to work.

 

"Our industry is the most exciting industry nit he world," says Cleary.

 

However, Cleary, who now considers himself Trinidadian, was about to sell out and return to Canada in 1997 when his Canadian partner wanted his money back.  He had to find a purchaser, which he did in the United States.

 

But the original Intercomm Holdings partnership wanted to invest much more in cable in Trinidad and Tobago, and they approached Cableview, then owned by the Gillette Group of Companies, and the cable investor of AJ Cable to buy them out.

 

They all sold and a new company - Intercomm Holdings (Trinidad) Ltd was formed with 85 percent ownership and Cleary was asked to stay on as manager.

 

Cleary was invited to become a minority shareholder of the new company he managed, along with his friends at the Gillette Group of Companies, who divided up the other 15 percent shareholdings of the company.

 

"The Gillettes are wonderful, caring people I met in 1992 and stayed friends with," says Cleary, who adds they shared equipment and assisted each other in times of need in the business.

 

Cleary emphasizes that reports of the Gillettes owning a piece of Intercomm Holdings are untrue.

 

The Gillettes are "educated, intelligent and knowledgeable people" who know much more of the communication industry than anyone else he's met, Cleary says.

 

Cleary now has a Trinidadian wife and two children, ages 26 months and four months.  This is his second marriage.  He has three children from his previous marriage.

 

By the way, he's never made that flight over Niagara Falls.

 

CABLE PRICES IN THE CARIBBEAN COUNTRY	PRICES IN US $	NO. OF CHANNELS
Barbados	29	18
Bahamas	30	40
Cayman	65.50	30
Dominica	22	39
St Kitts	32	35
British Virgin Islands	32	33
Trinidad	21	63

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