Searchlight takes a close up look at Isaac Solomon the Country Manager of RBTT Bank Caribbean Ltd.

In this month’s business, we feature outstanding son of the soil, Isaac Solomon. In his relatively short professional life, this young man has held some of the leading positions of responsibility in this country.{{more}}

At present, Mr. Solomon is the Country Manager of RBTT Bank Caribbean Ltd. Prior to taking up that post in September 2006, he was, for four years, the local Resident Representative of the East Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB). He also spent thirteen years in the public service, rising to the position of Budget Director in the Ministry of Finance.

Mr. Solomon is a former student of the Questelles Government School and the St. Vincent Grammar School. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management Studies from the University of the West Indies and a Masters of Science degree in Finance. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). He is married to Suzette, and is the father of two children.

Q. Are you living your professional dream?

There is so much I hope to do and accomplish that I will have to consider my professional dream a journey. Therefore, to the extent that I am afforded a number of opportunities to broaden my horizon in the field of finance, I believe I am on that journey.

Q. What do you do to relax?

I cherish my peace and tranquility. When I want to slow down, I often retreat to the sanctuary of my own mind, enjoying the nostalgia of things past. When I am not doing that, I listen to music or read or chill with my family.

Q. What do you do on weekends?

I use most of my weekends to catch up on a number of things including spending time with my family and visiting friends. On occasion, once time permits, I will watch a cricket game of any kind anywhere it is played, from Fancy to Richmond.

Q. What is your favourite meal?

Seafood of any kind.

Q. What challenges you most in life?

My greatest challenge is to come up with diverse tactics and techniques to embed in persons with whom I interact from time to time, the power of positive thinking. It is always an uphill battle when you are not placed in someone’s situation to get them to divorce themselves from some challenging circumstance and to think positively. Besides that, sometimes the hectic nature of life tends to work as an insulation from the simpler things in life, so I have to make constant and deliberate efforts to remind myself not to take my family and those closest to me for granted … that is turning out to be a bigger challenge than I would like.

Q. What is the most enjoyable aspect of your job?

My life has always been and will continue to be one of service. Without a doubt, I get immense gratification from helping others. I particularly enjoy solving what are presented as complex problems.

Q. Where do you get inspiration to go on?

I get my ultimate inspiration from God. As you can see my names are taken from insightful and inspirational biblical figures, so I make it a habit of seeking my inspiration and motivation from above. I save a lot of money that way since all the motivational writers of the day all return to the Bible for their theses.

Q. Who has had the most positive influence on your life?

It is extremely difficult to single out any one person who has had the most positive influence on my life. The list of such persons is very long and each of them would have had significant influences at different points in my life. It is difficult to attach an index of worth to any of the individual contributions since they were all timely and critical. What I can say is that all these folks shared the common traits of humility and kindheartedness. Above all, I think the lessons my mother taught me manifest themselves in all aspects of my life. I also get a special and different kind of motivation from my wife and children.

Q. If you were given the power to change one thing in the country or the world, what would it be?

There are many things in the world that I wish I could change, but the issue that is at the top of my list at this point has to do with the artificial divisions we create among ourselves in this beautiful country of ours. I wish I had the ability, I wouldn’t say power, to create a greater spirit of harmony. It is as if we are too happy as a nation, so we look for issues to complicate our lives. I hate to think what would have happened if we were divided by issues of language, race, religion among others.

Q. Where do you see yourself in the next 5-10 years?

Despite all the virtues of planning, I get excited by the unknown and so I really do not want to hazard a guess as to where I will and will not be in the future. Notwithstanding that, I hope I will still be in a position to make an even greater contribution to humanity.