Business View Caribbean Dec. 2018 / Jan. 2019

50 51 THE JQ CHARLES GROUP OF COMPANIES company had become one of the largest local- ly-owned businesses in St. Lucia, growing from a small supplier of food items to an entrepreneurial conglomerate with interests in concrete blocks, detergent, furniture, mattresses, polyurethane foam, plastic bags, soft drinks, soap, eggs, cooking butter, confections, and agricultural produce, such as bananas and coconuts, which were slated for export, among other commodities. “We even had a department store, which had everything, includ- ing hardware and electrical,” says Gordon. “The company really grew in the 1980s,” he continues, “but in the ‘90s, a change came with targeted outside investment in traditionally local businesses in St. Lucia, and as access to capital from the banks became easier to all. And I don’t think the company was geared to adjust to the changing competitive environment. This company was originally run as a family business. My grand- father ran it with his sons and daughters. Then they were joined by the next generation. Now, that has changed.We re-organized ourselves to the point, now, where we have a corporate entity and satellite companies, and we see ourselves as shareholders of a locally-owned enterprise. We employ professional management across the team; we have a structured and independent Board, and our current management team, aside from myself and one other, does not have any family members.” Today, the JQ Charles Group of Companies is coordinated by a corporate office that oversees its constituent members, most important of which are JQ Motors Ltd., JQ Supermarkets Ltd., and the FUSOAND JQMOTORS LTD. Our company was originally a dealership for British Leyland during the 60s and 70s. This was a period in which the St. Lucian vehicle market was dominated by British and American brands. However, the management at the time recognized the opportunity of the emerging Japanese brands that were entering the region and chose the Mitsubishi brand as their single focus. That brand brought with it the requisite cars, pickups and buses that our company needed to be competitive in the market at the time, but the former British Leyland brand had provided us a significant market share of the medium to heavy commercial market of trucks, dumpers and heavy duty buses. In the early 90s, the Mitsubishi brand, including the fuso models, achieved a record 60%market share in the territory of St. Lucia; a feat for which the executive management of JQ Charles Ltd. were formally recognised by MMC. We currently carry FE83, FE85, FE71, FA, Rosa Bus, FE71 Dump and FE83 Dump models. The Fuso brand, continues to be the quintessential element of the total offering of JQMotors Ltd. in the St. Lucia market and we foresee our continued integration and success.