Business View Caribbean | November 2019

37 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN NOVEMBER 2019 GEDDES REFR IGERAT ION LTD . I thought: business expansion. That’s when the business really took off. There was a change in the mindset. Paul Geddes thought it was time to turn over the company to me. In doing so, there was a management buyout in 1997 and I became the Managing Director, acquiring 69,000 of the 72,000 shares. And that was it. I just never looked back.” In 1986, GRL employed a staff of about 30 people. Today, there are close to 200 employees working from company headquarters in Kingston, and satellite offices in Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, and Mandeville that just do servicing and engineering. Sales are concentrated from the Kingston office. To tackle the shortage of skilled workers, GRL started an apprenticeship program with a local government organization, Heart Trust. Working closely with the Trust, they take on the graduates of a three-year skilled trades program and put them into a two-year program, after which, the students progress into another program called Geddes Advanced Technical Training. The goal is to ensure GRL can recruit and retain technical workers for the company. Beer empire in Jamaica. When Paul Geddes took over the leadership of Red Stripe brewery, there was a saying in Jamaica, ‘If you’re going to have a Red Stripe, you must have a well-cold Red Stripe. There is nothing like it.’ To do so, Paul Geddes set up a separate company in air conditioning and refrigeration to assist the brewery in cooling their beers. That is when Geddes Refrigeration all started.” Lafayette joined the company in 1986 as the Commercial Manager. At that time, company sales were around $3 million Jamaican. Within 8 years, sales grew to $20 million. Today, that number is $1.7 billion. What’s his secret? Lafayette admits, “I worked a lot. It’s about dedication. In 1992, Paul Geddes was Managing Director and my mentor. He offered me a scholarship to the University of Illinois to do the Executive Business Development program. I was successful in three months; we had classes 18 hours a day and did a lot of research and development. When I came back from University, to display what I learned there, IT SOLUTIONS DATA SECURITY IT MANAGE SERVICE PROVIDER INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT 188 Spanish Town Rd. Kingston, Jamaica +1 876-612-3752 info@mtacnm.com IT MANAGED SOLUTIONS FOR THE SMALL TO MIDSIZE BUSINESS Dane Lafayette, Ron Lafayette, and Dean Lafayette