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| Damion Hobson, 32 |
(Basseterre; St. Kitts) Hobson Enterprises is one of the Federations leading Customs Brokerage Agents and has been the parent company of three other companys for the past 13 years.
The company has been thriving under the management of Damion Hobson, who at the age of 19 as a result of the death of his father Alphonso Hobson took responsibility for his familys business.
The 32-year-old man who is not married and has no children describes his company as growing in leaps and bounds.
His father founded Hobson Enterprises in 1989 through his work with Customs Brokerage and Airline services while working with the St. Kitts Nevis Trading and Development Company Limited (TDC).
Its subsidiary companies are Westside Service Center a gas station located at Buckleys Site, Hobson Transport, a trucking company and Transport Incorporated which is a management company that deals with water sports and other management services for companies such as the St. Kitts Marriott.
Management services, according to Damion assist with buses and other transport for the prestigious hotel.
With pride in his voice he explained his journey from an eager teenager looking forward to going off to school in a new land to successfully being the head of four companies.
No more than 19, unbeknownst to him and although scheduled to travel overseas where he would be completing his studies in computer technology, a field which he has loved for as long as he could remember, he was about to be rudely awaken to the trials of managing a company.
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A photo of Westside Service Center Gas station located at Buckleys Site, which is a subsidary company of Hobson Enterprises. Photos by SkNVibes.com |
Like many teenage boys he preferred to lime with his friends as opposed to going out to work during school holidays. My father used to say I was lazy, Hobson said with a small smile.
But all of that changed in February 1992 when he suffered the loss of his father and then was left with the responsibility of taking over the company and making it a greater success.
He gave up his hopes of going to college and stayed at home to manage a legacy that was quickly stored upon him.
In the back of my mind I kept thinking, I dont have a degree and therefore nothing to fall back on if this fails, so this has to work.
According to this visibly driven man this thought also served as his driving force into making the company the success that it is. Failure was not an option.
Reminiscing he noted that when he first arrived at the Company there was one person in his employment& Now there is over 40 persons.
The company has grown tremendously over the past 13 years due to a lot of hard work and determination.
It feels good to be able to have 45 employees, to be able to pay them every month and see them excel as they branch off into their own little business, buy cars and homes. You can say we are a family company.
He hinted that his company currently has several plans in the pipelines one of which he said would be announced in the next two to three months.
Like many other companies on the island Hobson Enterprises has given back to the Federation through sponsorship of sporting teams such as the Newtown and Village teams and various netball and cricket teams.
When questioned about the impending implementation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) and how he thinks that it would affect him as a business he said that he has some worries.
He explained that as a brokerage agent the CSME you could say would adversely impact the brokerage agencies here in St. Kitts.
For instance most of the products imported in the Caribbean come from Trinidad. If a brokerage there decided that since a lot of the stuff coming into St. Kitts is from Trinidad then it would be better to offer a complete service and have a brokerage here then it would push out the brokerages here.
According to Hobson, he along with other brokerage agents within St. Kitts-Nevis have been trying to form an organization to look at the issues surrounding the CSME and how it would affect them and how they can safeguard themselves.
On a note of disappointment he said that to date much hasnt been done. He said that plans have fallen by the way side & he speculated that this may have occurred because people just dont understand what the CSME is and what it will do.
When asked to relate to some of the problems he faces as a small and growing company Hobson said that human resources is always a challenge, particularly in relation to his gas station, Westside Service Station.
He noted that he finds it difficult to find people willing to work at a gas station. He speculated as to the reason & Maybe its the hours or maybe people are just unwilling to work.
Through it all Damion says that he sees his company expanding getting into other avenues of business. We hope to further develop Hobson Enterprises while also developing our subsidiaries making them bigger companies.
