Banker builds woodcarving business JC The Carpenter

Karen Burke says her Christian faith is very important, not only to her personal life, but to her professional pursuits as well. That’s the main reason her two-year-old woodwork business is named JC The Carpenter. JC stands for Jesus Christ.

Unlike Christ’s earthly parent, however, carpentry was not Burke’s first profession. But she likes to think it was her eventual calling.

A hospitality management graduate from the University of the West Indies, she started out as a cost controller in a hotel. Then she became a banker – a credit risk management specialist in the commercial banking sector for some 20 years, having done postgraduate studies overseas in banking and finance. She still does work in that field as a consultant “when the opportunity presents itself,” she says.

From her home base in St Andrew, Burke specialises in making a range of wooden functional and craft items, including garden and patio furniture, beverage dispensers, clocks, desk caddies, gift boxes, jewellery boxes, and wall hangers with Jamaican sayings and verses meant to motivate.

The inspiration for her creations come naturally in the main, according to her, with YouTube serving as an occasional guide. Plus, she exchanges thoughts within a network of carpentry colleagues.

“I have always loved art and craft, using my hands. I did woodwork as a hobby even while I was employed as a banker,” she told the Financial Gleaner in an interview. From then, she was a regular customer at lumber yards in Kingston and her home parish of St Thomas.

Life as an entrepreneur has been peaks and valleys, Burke describes the journey. Her church community at Church on the Rock in Kingston, a loyal group of corporate buyers, and a growing clientele via Instagram ensure that the former are more than the latter.

“I am highly driven to get the products out there, to get the sales, because I don’t have a cheque coming in at the end of the month ... If you don’t work, you don’t eat ... so, I have to be motivated to work,” she said.

The flip side of that, she adds, is that the work is very satisfying and she has never regretted the decision to build the artisan business and leaving her last employment at First Global Bank.

“I am working for myself and I see the reaction to the products when they go out. There is nothing more fulfilling than that. It’s a passion and I enjoy it,” the businesswoman said.

Burke has no problem sourcing lumber locally but accessories such as mechanisms for the clocks are imported. She also relies on equipment from overseas because, as she points out, they are generally cheaper than the same machines in Jamaica. But then, there are the roadblocks of what she says are excessive customs fees and charges on most of these items, even though some pieces of manufacturing equipment are granted a duty concession. Burke is still not able to decipher Jamaica Custom’s methodology for determining duty-reduced items before they are landed.

Dependent on the importation of equipment and some raw materials, the entrepreneur also faces the foreign exchange losses when she buys online at one exchange rate and the goods are valued at a higher rate by Customs when landed.

“These issues are stifling small businesses. They prevent me from importing the equipment that I really need, because I can’t afford it,” the woodworker said.

Burke does not yet provide full-time employment for anyone but herself, although she hires other persons for short-term work as needed. That, she is confident, will change as the business grows.

In building the business, she has shied away from loans. That’s probably due to the credit risk management professional in her.

“That’s not my preferred route at this time. I would like to get the business to a certain level and even then, that would not be my first option,” she said.

Burke intends to invite equity participation in the venture at some point in the future. She is not saying how much she has pumped into the business herself to date. Marketing is largely done online and through pop-up shows and events. JC The Carpenter’s products are also sold at Things Jamaican shops in the airports and at Devon House in Kingston.

Local sales are mainly in Kingston and St Andrew, with growing orders from Manchester, St Ann and Clarendon. JC The Carpenter also has some overseas clients and ships products ordered online to the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Trinidad & Tobago, and St Lucia.

“I want it to be a globally recognised business. I want to have a sizeable workshop and storefront by next year,” said Burke. She is also in the process of applying for membership in the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

huntley.medley@gleanerjm.com