Nickesha Gordon Richards has big plans for her business

NICKESHA GORDON Richards has recently completed her bachelor’s degree in business administration and she is hoping to use her degree to propel her to someday operating her own supermarket or wholesale.

She is focusing on operating a shop in her small community of Brandon Hill in Clarendon, albeit the many headaches and challenges that come with it.

Sharing on her drive to complete the degree she excited quizzed, “Have you ever wanted something so bad? There was this drive inside of me and after getting the associate, I went back for the degree,” she shared.

Gordon Richards said her sole focus is making the community shop work as she has a good relationship with her customers and she is strategic about the way she goes about business.

Navigating her way through the COVID-19 pandemic has been a big challenge, compounded by the problems that come from dealing with the effects of having to traverse the bad roads.

“Before COVID, we used to pay about $300 to $400 to get my load from Kellits to the shop, now the taxi operators want to charge as much as $1,000,” she complained, pointing out that the reason they give is that the road is bad and gas price going up.

Nickesha notes that it makes operating the business really hard as she has to keep the markup at a minimum.

Pointing to the unfairness of it all, she said she is not travelling in a chartered taxi as they operator has his full quota of passengers – sometimes even more, yet they still insist on charging her an exorbitant amount to carry the load.

“This is a small business and you can’t really make a lot of profit. Even though we are in a secluded area, I still get good support from a lot of persons and we try to sell as reasonably as we can,” she said of the business which she operates with her husband, Devon.

Still, with all the challenges she is experiencing, the Moneague College graduate said she is set on making her dreams come true.

Her husband, who is on the farm work programme, has assisted her in overcoming one hurdle – having to deal with the taxi operators by purchasing a small van.

She now plans on adjusting her weekly shopping trek to Kellits to biweekly so she can not only save on gas but also minimise the wear and tear on her vehicle.

The business savvy Gordon Richards said the last thing she wants to deal with is to be servicing the vehicle too soon.

“I plan to go from this little shop to a supermarket or a big wholesale. I have some nice plans but I just need some funding, but I will get there someday,” she pledged.