The JQ Charles Group of Companies

showroom and service center for JQ Motors Ltd. The compound also is home to the head offices of several other companies, as well as St. Lucia’s first Big Box shopping center, Massy Mega, which is part of the Massy food retail strategy. While other small parcels at Choc Estate are expected to be available soon for more office and commercial enterprises, Gordon has much more ambitious plans for the remainder of the land– the construction of an entire new commu- nity. “We came up with the design in 2007 and presented it to the government, right before the economic crash,” he reports. “In 2008, we all know what happened, so we backed off development because we still think that the economy in St. Lucia does not yet justify the kind of internation- al development that would be required for the property. As you can imagine, that’s a big project for a small island, so we would require a partner who has the kind of capacity and sees the visions we do, and that’s what we’ve been looking for.” According to Gordon, a new area of focus for JQ Charles Group is insurance. “We are representa- tive of one of the largest insuring houses in the Caribbean, which is Guardian Insurance out of Trinidad,” he states. “We have a minority stake in the local agency.We’re not the strongest player in the market; that company is small in comparison to some of our competitors, but what keeps us well-poised for the future is that Guardian is one of the entities that is very strong in life insurance, and this product is expected to be introduced to our local market in 2019. There are only two or three strong players in life, and I think that is the potential stronghold that is going to drive that business, and will be the catalyst that will keep us abreast of the competition.” “We focused over the last four years on strengthening the operating companies so that they are now all running healthily and profitably.” THE JQ CHARLES GROUP OF COMPANIES Gordon remarks, in conclusion. “That being done, we can then turn our focus towards new development. The opportu- nity that we have – a total expansion of Castries to the north– I would see that as the legacy the family would like to leave; the whole Choc Valley can be an entirely new town. So, I would suggest that in the next five to ten years, our fo- cus will be channeled more towards real estate development and also identifying the kind of partners that are required to achieve this.” PREFERRED VENDORS n Interamericana Trading Company Raquel.Edwards@itcbgi.com The Interamericana Trading Corporation is a Caribbean-based group that operates in the energy, automotive, telecommunications, and banking sectors. It operates in 32 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, the U.S., and Europe. n Massy Stores (SLU) Ltd. www.massystoresslu.com   n 1 st National Bank St. Lucia Limited www.1stnationalbankonline.com