David’s head jerked at the insistent sound of the telephone ringing in his office. He hadn’t realised that he had fallen asleep at his desk until the call interrupted his late afternoon nap. For several months, sleep had eluded him during the night, and his body was trying to regain well-needed rest.

Despite being bone-tired when he finally crawled home after 10:00 pm most nights, David found it difficult to wind down and relax. Concerns about his business swirled around in his mind and he spent many more hours contemplating strategies that could help him fix the serious problems that he faced.

As the proprietor of a small trucking operation, David enjoyed the freedom that business ownership brought to his life. Twelve years ago when he made the courageous step to start his own venture, David had big plans to turn his fledgling delivery service into a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

The business had enjoyed initial success, as he was the only operator in the eastern parish where he lived with the type of equipment that could meet the needs of the local businesses. Eventually other entities had joined the market and fierce competition now made it a cut-throat environment. Continue reading A Day in the Life of a Jamaican Business Owner →