Friday, February 22, 2008Young Entrepreneurs

Susanna HennighanThe Rising Stars of BVI Business

As many stand on the sidelines, decrying foreign investment and the lack of opportunities for local people of the BVI, others see these investments as opportunities for them to either start new businesses or expand their existing small businesses. As these local investors see it, opportunities abound for anyone who wishes to capitalize on them.

One area of the economy in particular that is experiencing renewed interest and growth, is the tourism industry, in the form of the development of new properties, and with the more established architectural firms engaged with these bigger design jobs, there is lots of room for the young budding architect.
Because of a seeming renewed confidence in the BVI economy, more homes are being built, small scale commercial developments are being pursued and thus architectural services are in high demand.

In this issue, we focus on three young architects, who have stepped in to fill the gap. These architects see the need for specific services and have created a special niche for themselves. One in particular, Thor Downing fills the need for art to grace the walls of finished spaces. Avaline Potter prefers to design public spaces like schools and parks; having done a first rate job of the new Palm Grove Park in Road Town. Dion Stoutt has established a full service firm, offering architectural design and construction services, making his business sort of a one stop shop. All together, Thor, Dion and Avaline are capitalizing on the opportunities that large scale investment brings.

Keeping Cool

In 2005, Lester Henry and Kelvin Thomas each had an important decision to make. Henry, who was working for Cable & Wireless at the time, had to decide whether to leave his job to dedicate himself full-time to his air-conditioning and refrigeration business. At the same time, Thomas was deciding whether to leave his position at the BVI Social Security Board to become Henry’s business partner.

Both men considered their options, and decided to take the plunge and an expanded Cool Air Condition and Refrigeration became a reality.
“I’m a Christian, and so I put my faith in God and that has helped tremendously,” Thomas said, speaking about the fear of failure, which prevents many people from working for themselves full-time.

Henry and Thomas met when they served together as jurors at the High Court in the fall of 2004. Henry said that from those early days, Thomas was a source of encouragement and support. Today, Henry says that Thomas provides Cool with leadership and a get-up-and-go attitude that keeps the business moving forward.
Thomas says that he and Henry have a good partnership. “From the very beginning, we sat down and set common goals. So whatever it takes, that’s what we do,” he said.

The business manager, Analyn Equis, and their team of seven technicians ably assist Henry and Thomas. Thomas said that they make good service their top priority, and he credits the company’s success over the past two years to this guiding principle. “If you call us, we’re going to show up. In the BVI on the whole, people complain about the quality of service. So, making this our top priority, gives us a niche.”

Cool Air Conditioning, which operates out of a small office in Baugher’s Bay, supplies, repairs and maintains air conditioning systems, refrigerators and freezers, ice makers, stoves, water dispensers and more. It was founded in 1993, but has grown significantly since 2005 when Henry and Thomas decided to dedicate themselves full-time to the enterprise.

In the future, the company plans to open a full-service retail store, and to add indoor air quality testing to their services. Thomas says he made the right decision when he left his job and ventured out into business with Henry. “It’s a joy working for yourself because whatever you put in, you’re going to get it back in return.”

Concept to Concrete

In 2000, Dion Stoutt had just received his master’s degree in architecture and had accepted a job in Florida for the fall. The Tortola native returned home for the summer and never looked back.

“During the summer, I had the opportunity to work as a project manager with a construction company and so I never went back to Florida for the job. It was actually a very good decision because it opened up a lot of opportunities for me,” he said.

Today, Stoutt is the managing director of STO Enterprise Ltd., a local firm that provides architectural design, project management and import services. He currently employs a team of three architects, two of whom are BVIslanders.

“I’m building a local firm and trying to inspire young BVIslanders and belongers to join the field,” he said. “It is an unlimited career, in that the architecture can expand into construction, quantity surveying, and engineering.

Stoutt got his start during high school, when he worked part time at OBM, the international architectural firm with offices in seven countries, including the BVI. He says that the experience opened many doors for him. “Working at OBM put me head and shoulders above my classmates at Texas Tech University because it helped me to see the practical side of things,” he said.

Stoutt founded STO in 2001, but it was not until 2004 that he took the leap of faith to open an office and dedicate himself to his own business full-time. It proved to be a good decision.

“We are working on a number of great projects,” Stoutt says. The company does mostly residential projects, but has recently “made a splash” into the commercial field. They are also designing the new public secondary school—that will be Tortola’s second high school—proposed to be built at Paraquita Bay.
Stoutt says that the greatest thrill of his job is seeing his vision come to life as a building takes shape. “Just seeing something that you envision come to reality is gratifying,” he said.

Public Spaces

Avaline Potter can trace her interest in architecture to a family vacation in the Dutch Antilles when she was a teenager.

“What I saw there, were buildings that were quite different from what we had here at the time—in the late 1980s,” she said. “I saw that you could actually change the way people behave and feel by the built environment around them.”

A native of Virgin Gorda, Potter, fresh from the vacation, returned that fall to the Bregado Flax Educational Centre Secondary Division and insisted that she be enrolled in a technical drawing class. She was the first female student ever in that class.

After graduating from high school in 1991, Potter enrolled at Hampton University in Virginia, where she graduated in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in architecture. Diploma in hand, Potter returned to the BVI where she worked as an architect at the Town and Country Planning Department.

Over the next four years, Potter worked on numerous public projects, from the Governor’s Office to the new Crafts Alive village in Road Town. She also designed the restored bandstand in Road Town, which now serves as a public park and gathering place.

Potter never forgot the inspiration for her career: she continues to design spaces that encourage relaxation, interaction, and a sense of well-being among users.
“I’ve always been interested in public projects,” Potter said. “I especially like to design spaces that integrate the natural environment into the space and if people seem to enjoy it, I feel that it’s a success.”

Today, Avaline Potter runs her own architectural design and project management company, AR Potter and Associates Ltd. In addition to private residences and commercial designs, Potter has continued to design public buildings. Her design for the newly-expanded Alexandria Maduro Primary School in Baugher’s Bay has been declared the model for future primary schools in the Territory.

Potter says that she made the right career decision. “I love being an architect. I enjoy what I do every day,” she said. “It is not an easy career, but it is a fulfilling one.”

She encourages other young people to enter the field, and to consider related fields such as mechanical engineering, interior design and electrical engineering. “It would be nice to have full working, functional teams,” she said.

An Eye for Art

Thor Downing was born inside Peebles Hospital as a thunderstorm raged on the outside. “The lights were blown out just as I was born, and a tree outside our house was struck by lightening at the same time my father returned home with my grandmother,” Thor says, recalling a story he has heard told many times over during his lifetime.

Born and raised in the B.V.I., Thor recently put his career on pause. An accomplished architect with innate talents, he set compass, protractor and pen aside in exchange for a paint brush and the vibrant colours he grew up with in these islands.” I’ve been painting from an early age, and I’ve always been good at it,” Thor says.

After making his decision he set out for formal art training, yet if you saw his work you might say that God poured all the formality of training into his still amateur hand, but certification never hurts. So, in 2004 he completed a master class in the UK with portrait painter Paul Benney and then moved to Buenos Aires where the Latin American abstract art culture would influence his style as much as his life. He now resides in Harvard, Massachusetts, where he is close to Boston and New York’s vibrant arts communities.

His first major art showing was at the BVI House in London. The Upper Grosvenor address was the perfect place to frame his exhibit while the plush blue carpet must have served as a soft welcome mat to those in attendance, much like the welcome of the sea he captures in many of his pictures. “The sea is something that is just fun for me to paint,” he says “I understand how it works. It has a lot of emotion and a huge amount of interest.

Since then, Thor has been commissioned to paint a panel on the Fahie Hill mural that depicts scenes from the B.V.I’s past. His work, not limited to large canvases, has also garnered several commissions from B.V.I residents.

Today, Thor’s days are divided between the creative work on ongoing projects and the less inspiring but necessary side of his business: responding to e-mails, updating his website (www.thordowning.com) and returning phone calls. He finds that sometimes his love for painting can also become tiring like the business of painting. That’s when he says he takes more inspiration from B.V.I. scenes. “Painting can be tiring, especially if I’m struggling with something,” he said, “I spend a lot of time thinking, until eventually I get an image in my mind. Once that image begins to form, I can paint quickly,” he adds.

Thor actively supports the B.V.I Artists Guild, founded recently by B.V.I. artist and photographer Carol Vanterpool, to promote B.V.I. artists. His hope is that government and private organizations will come forward to provide the necessary support to local artists, especially young people who want to train in visual arts.
With that thought, maybe Thor has begun to paint his brightest picture yet - a future for artists like himself in the B.V.I.

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