There have been many cries in our society regarding the heightened levels of unemployment, particularly among the youth.
Sometimes it is necessary to take things into your own hands by creating employment, not just for yourself but for others as well, rather than depending on other people or the government to provide jobs for the youth.
Meet 28-year-old Kurt Elibox, the founder of Blueprint Construction Ltd. Kurt is a back-to-back winner of the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2013 and 2014 in the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce Business Awards. A past student of the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College and the Castries Comprehensive Secondary, he was born to Franklyn Emmanuel and Magitha Elibox and hails from the community of Bexon.
Kurt founded Blueprint Construction Ltd in 2011 after a five-year stint at Sandals Resorts. Growing up, he enjoyed building kabowé (toy cars) and birdhouses. It was this passion and the desire to realise his dream of owning his own construction company, which led him to the creation of Blueprint Construction Ltd. To date, Kurt owns a group of companies comprising more than five subsidiaries, managed by Blueprint Group Inc. They include Blueprint Construction Ltd., Blueprint Entertainment Inc, Blueprint Farms, Blueprint Handyman Inc, Blueprint Tool Rentals & Blueprint Hardware Ltd.
In addition to being the 2014 Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner, Kurt’s company, Blueprint Construction Ltd captured the Green Award for that same year. A few months prior to capturing the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce “Green Award” the company was officially certified by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and designated a global leader in residential green building.
We sat down with Kurt at our office to chat about his foray into the world of business and to learn more about his life story.
What led to the formation of Blueprint Construction Ltd?
My first job was with my father. Going into construction with him after leaving school was great and it was more than welcoming until the day he made me offload a truck with 400 blocks and my hands got cut. Six months later I realised that it wasn’t where I wanted to be. It wouldn’t take me to where I wanted to go. We were doing a job for Sandals and I approached the project manager, Mark Harding for a job which I succeeded in obtaining. Five years later, I realised that I still wasn’t fulfilling my dream of having my own construction company and being my own boss. I liked being a leader and found myself in leadership positions growing up. I love St. Lucia and I have a lot to offer. I felt like I wasn’t achieving my full potential. I decided to start Blueprint. Instead of being an employment statistic, I was able to create employment for 125 citizens. That was an integral part of my decision, not to be selfish, but to create opportunities for my brothers and sisters of St. Lucia.
Where did the idea and name for the company come from?
The name and the logo were probably harder to obtain than getting BLUEPRINT off the ground. At the time, I knew that I wanted the name BLUEPRINT to be a household name within four years. I didn’t want to choose a name that was too hard to remember, or too cliché or too ordinary, such as a personal name. I wanted it to be a name associated with the field/industry I would venture into. Any plan that you’re making, the first draft is the blueprint. When people hear the name ‘Blueprint’, they think of plans for buildings, but the word BLUEPRINT in itself is the first draft that you make for any business.
How does Blueprint differ from the competition?
What sets us apart is that we understand the needs of our clients. No matter the client, everyone has the same three basic needs from a contractor: Speed, Quality, Good Pricing. At Blueprint we understand those three needs. We’ve developed in such a way whereby we do things out of the ordinary to help keep costs at a minimum for the benefit of our clients. We host training seminars for our workers, expose them to YouTube videos and send them on oversees training to improve the quality of work that you get from us. There is nothing else like Blueprint in St. Lucia and most of the other Caribbean islands.
What are some of the highlights of your career thus far?
Definitely, one is winning the Chamber of Commerce award for Young Entrepreneur of the Year consecutively. Secondly, the company’s ability to secure a huge construction contract in Grenada in its third year. We were also awarded a huge project management contract in Barbados in 2014.
What are some of the hurdles you’ve had to overcome to achieve success?
Any entrepreneur you ask about their hiccups in achieving success, you are guaranteed to hear FINANCE. Coming from a low to middle-class family, I had to explore with different financial institutions in and out of St. Lucia. Another hurdle is staffing. Sometimes you give people an opportunity and they fail during their probationary period. It hurts me but once I had to seek professional skills outside of St. Lucia. We set high standards for our company and sometimes you can’t find people who meet the minimum standards locally.
Blueprint Entertainment, which is reportedly the most popular subsidiary besides Blueprint Construction, suffered a major setback this year with the cancellation of the annual H2O Wete Fete. What led to the cancellation and what were some of the consequences for your company?
Loss of money for sure. Two weeks before the scheduled date, the event got cancelled by the authorities. There was nothing that we could have done although we tried importing water from other islands and private water sources. None of them were approved by the governing agencies. We had no choice but to call off Wet Fete. It left us with a tabanca. We lost quite a bit of money, but in business you win some, you lose some. In no way whatsoever should patrons believe that this is the end of Wet Fete. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. In 2016, the new and improved Wet Fete will be one to look out for.
Your company is obviously not one to stay down. It recuperated with the first annual Caribbean Soca Festival dubbed by some as one of the best events coming out of St. Lucia. What was the inspiration and idea behind the staging of this event?
What our subsidiaries do is look for the voids in the market and capitalize on them. Year after year, big name artistes come to the island with hits that last a few hours, or sometimes a few minutes. They appeal to various age groups. In some cases, because of the length of their performance and the venue of the show, it may not be conducive for all crowds. Realising this, we decided to host an event that would attract people of all age groups. Caribbean Soca Festival is held on a Sunday, a quiet holiday-(holiday or weekend) for most people. It starts at 1:00 p.m. and ends around 10:00 p.m., which gives people enough time to get home, sleep and get up for work the next day, and not have to call in sick. You don’t want to go to an event and the main act comes on at 1:00 a.m. Many things were taken into consideration. When you focus on the quality of the entertainment, the flow, the setting and the ambience of the event, everything comes together. The event was very successful and exceeded our expectations. It’s on again next year and this time it will be improved significantly.
How difficult is it balancing your career and your personal life?
Thank God I have an understanding wife (Katama Elibox) who is actively involved in the business, in the capacity of Managing Director. This kind of softens things up a bit. It makes it a little easier because she’s there 24/7. When I have to make calls at 1:00 a.m., she understands, so that makes it easier. It has its challenges but it works best. If she had been working for another company, I don’t think she would be as understanding.
Any advice for young aspiring entrepreneurs?
Many times you see young people sitting by the wayside and stretching out their hands to government. Like I always say, we live in an ever changing society. When I look around me I see many small voids in the society that can be filled. Some don’t require much finance to start off. There is a lot of room out there for entrepreneurs.
If you decide to be an entrepreneur, thumbs up. Secondly, focus on what you love. Nurture your skills and go into something that you’re good at and you love. Nothing in life comes easy. Be prepared to put in the hours. You will encounter some closed doors. It’s a challenge. It’s an obstacle course. Once you run that race at your speed, you will make it. Don’t try to match up to your competition too quickly. Run your own race. “The race is not for the swift or the battle to the strong but to those who endure to the end.”
And last, but by no means the least, maintain a very close and positive relationship with God. “God is my biggest mentor, and my best friend”. Treat God as that imaginary friend that you had when growing up as a child. Keep him close to you, and you will go to places you never expected. Remember: “Do good, and good will always follow you.
What’s next for Kurt?
What’s next for me is to grow our existing companies by exporting our services. This involves growing them regionally and internationally by 2020.
I want to thank my mother (Magitha Elibox) and my father (Franklyn Emmanuel) for everything; for all the support and encouragement, and my wife, Katama. She’s like the steel in my column – without her I would not be so strong.
Being who I am today is as a result of a lot of hard work and sleepless nights. Persistence; Determination; Intrinsic Motivation. You cannot always rely on external sources to motivate you. It’s a lot of mental work, not just physical. A friend in Grenada once told me you must know where you are, where you’re going and where you want to get to. That has helped me a bit in laying out my path for the future.
