Business View Caribbean | November 2019

39 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN NOVEMBER 2019 GEDDES REFR IGERAT ION LTD . Jamaican in damages. Fortunately, all their data was saved, so they bought some laptops and started operating immediately. In fact, the day after the fire, the company brought on two new customers. “We never said no,” says Lafayette. “We continued to employ people, we just moved to another location. A friend of mine was able to rent me some containerized offices – it took six weeks to refurbish them and during that time another friend, my IT supplier, put up the entire staff at his office location, and we operated from there, temporarily. Then we moved to the refurbished offices and stayed there for a full year. Can you imagine? We had about 64 people sitting six inches apart from each other and working from a call center – it was amazing. I’ve never seen people so dedicated as the staff we have at Geddes. Some of them have been here 45 years. We have two staff members that came here before I joined the organization and they’re still here.” And here’s some great news. In mid-October, after almost two years, GRL moved back to their previous site into all new facilities – a first-class office and warehouse location. The previous warehouse was 20,000 sq. ft. and 10 ft. high, but it was rebuilt at 30 ft. high. The former office was 5,000 sq. ft. and the new office space is 9300 sq. ft. on two floors, upstairs and downstairs. Now, the entire group of companies is under one location: Geddes Refrigeration (the parent company), Estech (the alternative energy company), and Geddes Financial Services (the subsidiary). A big celebration marked the official opening on November 24th, the anniversary of the week of the fire. GRL represents Daikin Appliances (importing from the U.S. and Europe), and they are the official distributor for Lennox in Jamaica (importing from the U.S.). They also represent Mitsubishi Heavy Industry (importing from Japan). The customer base is a healthy mix of at least 40 percent commercial industry, 25 percent industrial, and 30 percent domestic. But maintenance is the company’s strong suit. Their very large portfolio