TEN TO ONE FOUNDER URGES LOCAL MANUFACTURERS TO GRASP GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES
‘A LICENSE TO DREAM’ –
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‘A LICENSE TO DREAM’ – 〰️
(L-R) Minister of Trade and Industry the Honourable Paula Gopee-Scoon and Marc Farrell, Founder and CEO of Ten to One Rum, at the TTMA President’s Dinner and Awards 2023 at the Hyatt Regency on 14 November 2023.
THURSDAY, 16 NOV 2023: PORT OF SPAIN – As the global pace of progress continues at an unprecedented rate, society is also seeing the rise of a new generation of consumer who values provenance, authenticity and transparency as part of their purchase criteria. This environment comes with new opportunities that local manufacturers must not let pass them by. This was the message delivered by Marc Farrell, Founder and CEO of Ten to One Rum, during his feature address at the TTMA President’s Dinner on Tuesday 14 November.
During his address, Farrell spoke of being steeped in gratitude for the opportunity to return to his home country and share some of his own experiences, in the hope that it might serve as a small catalyst for other local entrepreneurs. He launched Ten to One Rum in 2019 in New York, and the brand has since become one of the most-awarded rum brands in the world, gaining the attention of GRAMMY-winning artist and entrepreneur Ciara as investor and co-owner in October 2021, and growing its territory to over 20 U.S. markets in a short timespan.
Marc Farrell, Founder and CEO of Ten to One Rum, delivers the feature address at the TTMA President’s Dinner and Awards 2023 at the Hyatt Regency on 14 November 2023.
“We must galvanize our collective efforts in the pursuit of new verticals that can provide incremental avenues of wealth for our nation, and we must mobilize these same efforts in search of new market frontiers, whether in the US, Latin America, Europe and beyond,” said Farrell in his address to the audience of mainly local manufacturers.
“From Steelpan to Cocoa to Carnival, we have to challenge ourselves to turn our own nascent domestic superpowers into downstream industry, with tangible goods and services made available both here and abroad. For a long time we’ve thought of ourselves as ‘resource rich’ but seemingly only in the context of oil and gas. It’s now time to challenge and expand that definition to include the many other aspects of our resourcefulness, our aptitude, and our culture that will enable us to chase and to create new opportunities for ourselves in the future.”
Farrell shared that 20 years of living outside Trinidad and Tobago has taught him that Trinbagonians are an exceptional people, ready to rise to this challenge. He urged entrepreneurs and local businesses to seek to enter untapped global markets for greater prosperity, confident in the knowledge that our small country has already seen an outsized and significant impact on the global stage.
(L-R) TTMA President Roger Roach and Marc Farrell, Founder and CEO of Ten to One Rum, at the TTMA President’s Dinner and Awards 2023 at the Hyatt Regency on 14 November 2023.
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About Ten to One Rum
Launched in New York by Trinidadian Marc-Kwesi Farrell in 2019, Ten To One is a range of ultra-premium Caribbean rums designed to challenge expectations and change the way people taste, experience, and talk about rum. In 2021, Grammy award-winning musician and entrepreneur, Ciara, joined as an investor, co-owner and director for the brand.
Ten To One endeavours to build a brand that is “elevated but not exclusive,” grounded in authentic elements of Caribbean culture and heritage. The brand also stands out by being 100% rum with no additives of any kind – no added sugar, colouring, or flavouring.
The current portfolio blends rums from all over the Caribbean, including Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, the Dominican Republic and Barbados, and currently includes several expressions: an extra proof white rum named Best White Rum by the 2023 San Francisco World Spirits
Competition, an aged dark rum, an Oloroso Sherry Cask Finish rum, and a number of soldout, special edition bottles.