{"id":17528,"date":"2012-01-31T09:07:59","date_gmt":"2012-01-31T14:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=17528"},"modified":"2012-01-31T09:19:39","modified_gmt":"2012-01-31T14:19:39","slug":"striping-apprentices-lay-lines-of-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2012\/01\/striping-apprentices-lay-lines-of-success","title":{"rendered":"Striping Apprentices Lay Down The Lines"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Romell Davis, Bahamas Striping<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nassau, Bahamas – As the sun set last Friday evening, two young striping apprentices prepared for a different sort of happy hour. With five months of training under their belts, they were eager to get to laying the lines and arrows on a 58 bay parking lot, for the first time entirely on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been observing, watching, practicing, asking questions,\u201d 18 year-old Romell Davis, one of the stripers said ahead of the task. \u201cNow I have the chance to do this striping myself. It\u2019s a big opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis has only been with the company, Bahamas Striping, since mid-2011. But he is one of its youngest employees and has distinguished himself and earned the confidence of his seniors to stripe the parking lot of the new executive offices of Bahamas Supermarkets Limited (BSL) on JFK Drive near Bethel Avenue, along with his colleague, 23 year old Tristan Johnson.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of those jobs where the quality of the work is put on display, like writing a letter that everyone\u2019s going to see\u2014with an ink pen. Sure, you can \u2018liquid paper\u2019 over errors, but the cover-ups are evident and don\u2019t leave the best impression.<\/p>\n

Bahamas Striping trainer Brian Bostock explained it takes a lot of confidence to lay those lines, and employees understand that getting them right is a quality issue the company takes seriously. But as the young Bahamian apprentices are confident, so are their instructors.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Bahamas Striping team recently completed the executive parking lot for Bahamas Supermarkets Limited near the JFK roundabout. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re ready,\u201d Bostock said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been asking all the right questions, which shows that they\u2019re keen. They\u2019ve had a lot of practice, and the confidence is starting to build.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bostock was brought in specifically to train young Bahamians to the highest international road striping practices and standards, company president Atario Mitchell explained. He was pleased to see two employees reached the point where they could handle jobs without his or Bostock\u2019s supervision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows they could leave here today and do this on their own,\u201d said Mitchell, adding with a smile, \u201cbut I wouldn\u2019t advise that though.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than looking at the development of his fellow Bahamians as a threat to his business, the well-known young entrepreneur who started his business with a $5,000 government grant through the Self-Starter program sees their progress as integral to the growth of his company. With plans to be able to service multiple contracts throughout The Bahamas simultaneously, the leverage brought by having qualified supervisors capable of managing different worksites becomes essential.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a part of Mitchell\u2019s greater vision to see the striping business in The Bahamas led by Bahamians.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t Bahamians who have proven they are capable and up to the highest standards run this segment of the construction industry?\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cConsidering the high unemployment and all the talk about empowering Bahamians, I think it\u2019s really sad that foreign companies are still allowed to come in here and take these jobs and not even leave a single skilled Bahamian behind\u2014keeping us ignorant so they can get all the contracts. That just doesn\u2019t make any sense, and I believe many, many Bahamians would agree with me on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

BSL director Nikki Finlayson-Boeuf may have a similar sentiment. According to her, the fact that Bahamas Striping is a Bahamian company employing young Bahamians was a factor in the decision to give them the contract for the executive parking lot to them. Mitchell\u2019s tenacity and a very competitive price quote were important factors too, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see myself as a trailblazer, starting a trend whereby Bahamians could control this section of the business,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cWhether Bahamas Striping is successful or not, I know I\u2019m leaving behind local people who are capable of doing the work. That\u2019s what Bahamas Striping is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the two young stripers, Johnson has more experience in the construction industry, and said he jumped on the opportunity to add striping to the trades he\u2019s already proficient in. After hearing Mitchell\u2019s \u2018dream and vision\u2019 for striping in The Bahamas, he was eager to satisfy his curiosity about the road-striping process.<\/p>\n

Friday evening brought the chance to show what he\u2019s learned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first one they allowed us to do all on our own. If feels wonderful and it\u2019s a chance to show the boss the company is really teaching us to do the work, I haven\u2019t been just coming here and taking money.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter this, they\u2019ll know they can focus on other things and just let me do the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a time when many of their peers are not employed, Davis said he was glad for his success of Bahamas Striping, and the fact that the job was not only \u201cputting money in my pocket,\u201d but imparting skills he\u2019ll take with him the rest of his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m young and it sends a message to every young guy out there. I can do it\u2014go out there and make something out of my life instead of doing nothing all day. I\u2019d still be out there hoping for the little odd job, instead of preparing to be a supervisor if it wasn\u2019t\u2019 for Bahamas Striping.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Bobby Bower<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bahamas Striping president Atario Mitchell was pleased to see two young apprentices reach the point where they could handle jobs without supervision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17528\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}