Meet Roberta Nadia Polius-Desir, a young, dynamic and savvy business professional, and one of a growing pool of female executives who are building and running some of St Lucia’s next great companies.
Roberta, 39, is the Country Manager of Falcon Holdings Limited, the operators of the Rituals Coffee House, Church’s Chicken, Rituals Diner and Rituals Sushi franchises in St Lucia. Her journey to the top has been a momentous and testing one but through it all she has stood firm and steadfast, pushing against the tide in her bid to achieve success. Her life story is truly inspiring.
Roberta attended the Ave Maria Primary and St. Joseph’s Convent. After leaving the Convent she worked as a tour guide at Barefoot Holidays. Subsequently she went to Bergen College in New Jersey, USA where she studied Hotel and Restaurant Management. On returning to St Lucia she began her hospitality career as a receptionist at Sandals Regency. Thereafter she did an 18-month management- trainee programme which took her on training stints through all the departments in Saint Lucia, Jamaica, Turks & Caicos and the Bahamas. On completion of this program she was appointed Suites Concierge Manager and later, Front Office Manager.
In 1998 Roberta moved to Florida where she worked as an Assistant Property Manager of a large residential apartment complex. In 2002 she returned to Saint Lucia for the opening of Sandals Grande. She served as the resort’s Front of House Manager for two and a half years, after which she was promoted to the position of Executive Assistant Manager with responsibility for Front of House , Maintenance, Housekeeping, Suites Concierge, and Laundry departments. On leaving Sandals she took over the helm at Falcon Holdings, the St Lucia subsidiary of the Pizza Boys Group of Companies of Trinidad & Tobago.
In a chat with Dazzle Magazine, Roberta spoke at length about her career and the challenges she has had to overcome to realise her dream.
Dazzle: Give us a brief history of your life as a child?
Roberta: I was raised by my maternal grandparents. I lived with them until I was thirteen. I then went to live with my mom until the age of 16. When she migrated to the US I moved back with my grandparents. They are largely responsible for who I am today. They weren’t the most literate people but they were highly intelligent and very wise. Many of the values I live by, like the importance of saving, investing, believing in oneself, being proud of who you are, not forgetting your roots, having a strong belief in God and a sense of family and personal responsibility, all of these values they instilled in me. My mother was a single mom who raised three kids on her own. I believe my strength as a woman comes from her. She’s very strong-willed and independent, so I would definitely say that I get my strong sense of independence and free spirit from my mom.
Dazzle: As a woman, what are some of the challenges you have faced in the workplace?
Roberta: If I am to be honest, I can’t say that personally I’ve had any tremendous challenges. I think I have either been very lucky or very blessed in that opportunity has always presented itself to me. I guess I should also credit my success to hard work and my work ethic. I’ve had a fairly easy time maneuvering my way from where I started to where I am today. It never came through any personal favour, I’ve worked very hard. I know what some of the challenges are that many women face but I have not shared those same experiences. In some instances there have been not-so-subtle occurrences of sexual harassment, and it takes a certain level of personal conviction and strength to work your way through those situations. I can proudly say that I have! I have never succumbed to those sorts of pressures. I have not had other hindrances to my career, I had a great run with Sandals where I advanced quickly. Similarly, with Falcon Holdings I have had a very fulfilling six years. I have autonomy to make decisions, and I’m involved in every aspect of the operations so that I feel I am well-rounded and fully engaged in what I do. This job, in particular, has been my most gratifying position. In retrospect I believe that my passion for my career speaks for me.
Dazzle: How did you succeed in acquiring this job?
Roberta: I think me being in this position is testament to the fact that I believe everything you do, especially professionally, you must be prepared because you never know where your next opportunity is going to come from and one should always remember that you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
In 2007 while working at Sandals Grande I took the initiative and assisted a guest at the resort. It turned out he was the owner of the Rituals franchise and the Chairman of Global Brands Group of Companies, Mr Mario Sabga-Aboud. From interacting with him during his stay at the resort, he basically said to me that if he ever brought his business to Saint Lucia, he would want me to run it. At the time I was amused by his offer. I had no idea what the scope of his organisation was but he was persistent. A year later he contacted me and said he was ready to invest in Saint Lucia. I did some more research on his organisation; I flew to Trinidad and I realised this was a huge business with over 1,000 employees and over 100 restaurants.
I thought it was a fantastic opportunity, to grow something from the ground up, although most people told me I was crazy to leave a great job (which it was, at Sandals) and open a coffee shop. I was told “Saint Lucians don’t drink coffee”; “The weather is too hot!”; “It won’t work,” but in my gut I knew it was the right decision. It was a risk but one worth taking because if it was successful, there would be tremendous opportunity to grow the business.
Six years later I have no regrets, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. We have gone from one restaurant in 2008 to our tenth restaurant which we recently opened. In addition to managing Rituals, I have since expanded my own personal portfolio because I now have a firm grasp of the food aspect of hospitality. In addition to managing Rituals, I also manage Church’s Chicken which is a different entity altogether and an international franchise. Further, we have just opened a Sushi bar, so I have a wide knowledge of the food-service industry and every aspect of restaurant operations, from the build-out to the purchasing and service aspect and cost control. I have had a very exciting run over the last 20 years.
Dazzle: Which of the businesses do you manage and how do you handle them all?
Roberta: Our company in Saint Lucia is called Falcon Holdings Limited; it is the local parent company. Under that umbrella we have Rituals Coffee House, Church’s Chicken, Ritual’s Diner and our newly opened Rituals Sushi Restaurant. I have to give credit to the people who work with me. I handpick my team especially those on my management team whom I work closely with. That’s because I realise that in order to be a successful leader you must have a good team. It’s like a general going to war; if your soldiers aren’t good enough you’re going to lose. I strongly believe in succession planning because it makes the process of growing a business a lot easier by having people who can step into each other’s shoes, people who can grow into other roles as others move. The relationships that I have built, especially with those close to me have helped to build trust. I can rely on them and they provide a tremendous amount of support.
Dazzle: How do you juggle between such a busy career and your family?
Roberta: My son said recently, “Mummy loves her job more than she loves us,” but he is eight years old so I forgive him. It is a challenge because my children would like to see more of me but I try to make sure I’m there for the things that are truly important like school meetings, birthdays, recitals, swim meets. We have a cuddle programme at home, my husband and my two children, where we bargain with cuddles. Also, as a woman it is a tremendous benefit that I have the full support of my husband and a great network of support in my family and close friends.
Dazzle: What are some of the challenges you are likely to face as a manager/business owner in St. Lucia?
Roberta: ‘RED TAPE’ is a big issue. The ease of doing business on a day-to-day basis, whether it’s with customs or retrieving import licenses. Sometimes it can be very frustrating. Some of the policies that are in place make it very difficult to succeed as a business. You often end up questioning some of these policies. Another area is the overhead costs, some of which make doing business in Saint Lucia very cost prohibitive. The cost of utilities, especially electricity, and the various duties on certain items make it very daunting. People may want to invest IN St. Lucia but the implementation of VAT along with the already exorbitant other overheads make it extremely difficult for businesses to survive in Saint Lucia. I think at some point there really is going to have to be some roundtable discussion as to what can be done to facilitate more investment in the island. I think there’s a need to re-visit some longstanding policies and decide whether they make sense in the current global economic climate. I don’t believe we are the most competitive place to do business in the region, yet that’s the direction we need to go. We need to see what we can change to make Saint Lucia more competitive for both local and international investors.
Dazzle: Is there anything specifically you would like to see done in Saint Lucia to help young people fulfil their dreams, especially young entrepreneurs?
Roberta: YES! YES! YES! I think our schools need a social programme but from a very early level. Children become victims of their circumstances when they are limited by their environment and they don’t know the possibilities that exist. We need more social programmes to help them develop, and not just academically. Not every child is an academic; there are children who possess tremendous skills in other areas but they never get an opportunity to develop them because our curriculum is limited to academics. We need to offer more creative programmes in schools to help kids tap into their other talents. Jobs that require Maths and Sciences will always be limited, and as time goes by and the world moves in a different direction, there’s going to be a greater need to diversify and to inspire people to be creative. This will also train people to think more towards creating self employment.
