Amitabh Sharma
Features Coordinator

The sign ‘Rest Room’ on her office door catches the eye. “It is a way of easing up anyone coming in the room,” says Marcia Lawrence, managing director, Brand Warriors.

The company, which Lawrence says, is born out of love, is being nurtured at the Technology Innovation Centre (TIC) in University of Technology in St. Andrew. She narrates her journey as a dreamer and entrepreneur, including the successes and the challenges.

STARTING OUT
I think there is a war out there; everyone is fighting for their visibility and image. I saw the potential and the opportunity there. Started out in March 2007, three women - Nadine Haughton, Thalia Green and I decided to come together and pool in our talents. We thought that in the fight for image we are the one, the warriors, so the name came about.

BUSINESS IDEA
I worked in the National Advertising Agency, where I used to handle trade shows. There are so many trade shows and conferences happening here, there was a lot of potential and opportunity for value added services. The strength lies in exhibitions and conferences, and the idea is to get visibility, to be as creative and innovative as possible. For that we have to offer the best in world. We invest our time in attending conferences and trade shows world wide. Last year we went to a trade show in Las Vegas and got some ideas on branding that could replicate here.

MIX OF SERVICES
We offer a mix of services - from sales and marketing to rental of equipment and display material - banner stands and display boxes. We also are providing training for promoters. We do from planning, event management and product launches. We are planning to make the company a one-stop-shop for branding services.

TIC EXPERIENCE
We moved to TIC in September 2007. We found a lot of advantages here, first TIC offers the ambience to do business, then there is security and parking at the facility. There are a lot of value added services, there is a receptionist and there are other support facilities. There are growth prospects, we are trying to integrate into the system and becoming a resource centre. I had ventured into business before, tried my hand at trading but had to fold up the business. I did not have any support team to back me, which was a big drawback.

CHALLENGES
Funding is the major challenge that we have had to face; it is not easy to access funds. The financial institutions in Jamaica need to be more liberal when it comes to giving loans to small businesses. There are times where we have to wait till the last moment to get things firmed up, but we need the inventory and hardware to be ready. The banks need a lot of time for processing the loans, the event would be long gone by then, we lose out. We cannot put a mortgage on creativity and our ideas.

Banks need to take a second look and be flexible, if a business opens an account, the growth of that company is visible from the time the account is open there should be ways and means to support the business. It will make a world of difference to Jamaica.

Getting a good accountant is critical and a challenge also. We have had several book keepers but they do not seem to understand our business. There needs to be pool of accountants whose services are subsidised, understand small business and can assist us in book keeping.

FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS
I always wanted to start a business, when I passed out from high school and got my first job as a cashier, I could feel the cash registers ringing in me. I tried my hand at trading but failed, I think I have got a second chance. From my experience I can say that you need to do something that you love and follow your dreams. It is only then you can fight the fight when the going gets rough.

amitabh.sharma@gleanerjm.com