Business View Caribbean | July 2019

39 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN JULY 2019 Jones. The company was officially registered in 1949 and originally involved bananas. When the international banana growing companies at that time – Standard Fruit, Atlantic Fruit – decided to move their Jamaican operations to Central America, there was quite a bit of land available. So, he seized the opportunity and secured the purchase of those lands, and that was the beginning of Fred M. Jones Estates.” At the time, Fred could not get a mortgage or a loan from his bankers because they didn’t consider him a bankable person – possibly because of his color. So, he had to travel to the far western end of the island to get a mortgage through a building society. That was the reality of the situation then. But perseverance won out and today the business is thriving. Nicholas started with the company right out of university in 1979. He relates, “I was working alongside my two uncles, and after three years, I decided to go off on my own and work for Jamaica Producers – a local conglomerate with many international connections. They were involved in the growing and shipping of bananas to the U.K. and I was with them for 18 ½ years. In 2007, I rejoined our family company, after working with a few other people in the meantime, and also earning my post-graduate degree in Agriculture.” Nicholas was welcomed back with open arms, bringing with him two projects he had written, which were fully funded. One was a renovation of the dairy and the second was a completely new business – to grow and sell turf (sod). “It wasn’t just that I was part of the family,” says Nicholas. “I brought something to the table that they hadn’t thought about. Our dairy had been established in 1961 and really had not undergone much transformation since then. But with a fully-funded project, I was able to create something that was up to date and innovative. The land for growing the turf was previously used for banana, which we had come out of completely, and they were just idle lands about to be put into sugar cane. I said, “No, let’s try something different.” And within a few years that project brought a lot of business to the company, and to this day is still doing reasonably well.” Fred M. Jones Estates, Ltd. comprises land holdings on separate titled areas totaling approximately 5,000 acres. Some of those areas are not ideally suited to high-production agriculture, so several years ago, the company applied for a change of use to sell them as lots. About 50 percent of those lots have been sold, so far. And FMJ still retains a fair amount of land that has white sand beach on the Caribbean Sea. According to Nicholas, “We set up our development company (we’re registered with the real estate board as a developer) and we’ll seek to further this push in the years to come. We put that company under our subsidiary – Williamsfield Estates, Ltd.– the company that FMJ evolved from. In fact, Williamsfield Estates was established on the original tract of land which my grandfather and his brother developed in the early 1900s with coconuts and bananas. It is now responsible for our land development portfolio; Fred M. Jones Estates covers the more substantial agriculture areas.” The FMJ legacy is built on determination and a willingness to take risks and adapt to changing times. Nicholas explains, “Grandfather amassed FRED M. JONES ESTATES LTD .