December 2016 | Business View Caribbean

102 103 INDEPENDENCE AGENCIES, LTD. Independence Agencies Limited GRENADA’S LEADING DISTRIBUTION COMPANY I ndependence Agencies Limited (IAL) is an import distribution trading company in Grenada. It was established in 1973 by C.K. Ralph Sylvester. “My father was in the distribution business, managing another import company in Grenada,” says Ken Sylvester, C.K.’s son and the compa- ny’s current CEO. “He decided that he wanted to start his own compa- ny, so he contacted me in Trinidad, where at that time I was working in the oil fields, and asked me to come back to Grenada to start the business with him. So I did.” Father and son were soon joined by Richard Smith, a salesman who operated a sales van, selling the new company’s products to small retail outlets around the island. By 1974, the company had al- ready outgrown its small space and moved to a larger location; it moved again in 1980. “In 1988, we bought a facility that used to be a cinema and we converted it into an office and warehouse,” Sylvester recounts. “In 1995, we bought another building which we turned into a cash-and- carry and named it ‘CK’s Super Valu.’ ” By the end of that year, the C.K. RALPH SYLVESTER My father was in the distribution business, manag- ing another import company in Grenada. He decided that he wanted to start his own company, so he contacted me in Trinidad, where at that time I was working in the oil fields, and asked me to come back to Grenada to start the business with him. So I did.” KEN SYLVESTER CEO