JANUARY 2020
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Trinidad and Tobago – they’re islands that we keep coming back to at Endeavour, and with good reason. The twin Caribbean islands are well known for their industry, particularly in the oil and gas sector, with its ports and the Point Lisas Business Park forming a focused hub of this activity. We got back in touch with Avinash Rampersad at D. Rampersad, one of the largest providers of engineering support in Trinidad and Tobago, to hear about this successful family-run company’s plans for the new year, and how these will help it further take advantage of its position in this thriving industrial region.
Written by Alice Instone-Brewer
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Rampersad & Company Limited operates one of the largest ISO certified service centres in Central Trinidad. An engineering support operation of this scale, in a region as driven by heavy industry as Trinidad and Tobago, is already a recipe for success, but of course, it is also a market that is filled with competition. D. Rampersad had to reach the position in that market that it now holds, and in order to stay on top, it cannot get complacent, but must always strive to improve. We spoke with Avinash Rampersad, D. Rampersad Director, about his family’s legacy, and how their company plans to increase its success in 2020. Some industries never sleep, so neither does D. Rampersad: the company’s facilities are open 24 hours a day, equipped and ready to assist with an emergency no matter when it occurs. The support it offers is specialised, and yet wide-reaching, with the correct equipment and expertise for in-depth solutions in many an industrial context. We asked Avinash what he feels sets the company apart, and he replied that it’s “A one stop shop! D. Rampersad identifies itself as an organisation that offers diversity of business, which in addition to our one-stop approach, puts us in a fairly unique
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position with respect to other predominantly local service companies.” This extensive range of services includes CNG services and automotive engineering; valve refurbishment, fabrication and welding; water treatment plant installation, refurbishment and maintenance; machine shop services; and framework maintenance. These services and more are available specifically for companies and clients in the energy, petrochemical, power, steel and process industries – aka, the cogs that make the wheels of Trinidad and Tobago turn. The majority of these services are offered from D. Rampersad’s main office, which is located in Central Trinidad and is one of the largest of its kind on the island. The company also has a second facility, which is located on the east of the island and focuses primarily on automotive engineering. “We recognise maintaining our market share is highly dependent on repeated high standards, deliverability and customer
requirements and satisfaction,” Avinash told us. “We use state of the art machinery, maintain our ISO 9001 and other local industry related safety and quality certifications to ensure the highest standards are utilised throughout all our business processes.” As well as these services, the company also provides both equipment and aftermarket equipment support for a wide range of major brands and specialist parts. “At Rampersad, we intelligently choose our business relationships and partnerships so these are of the greatest benefit to our customers. Equally, we actively maintain these collaborative relationships to promote our business and that of our partners.” Some of D. Rampersad’s equipment partnerships include major international OEM companies such as LEWA, Sulzer and IMW (Clean Energy Corporation). As the sole distributor or service centre in Trinidad for some of these companies, these partnerships are a key way that D. Rampersad is able to stay ahead in its market. Finally, the company also offers manpower/ labour services and personnel to fill related gaps their customers are experiencing. This includes both remote online services and on-site specialists and technicians. In fact, surprisingly, a massive 48% of D. Rampersad’s revenue is generated from the supply of human resources, most of which comes into play during planned plant shutdowns. With all of these areas covered, how does D. Rampersad plan to expand its position in 2020? Avinash was keen to get into it: “It is very exciting news to share that by year end, we will be relocating our facilities to the Point Lisas Business Park, still considered central Trinidad but also the heart of the country’s petrochemical sector and where the vast majority of our clients are located. This is a move that will enable Rampersad’s growth, expansion and sustainability, and most importantly, allow us to enhance our customer service and clientele confidence.” D. Rampersad aims to be settled in Point Lisas by the end of Q1/2020. On top of this, it has also spread the reach of its services, doing work for companies around the Caribbean, and
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it aims to establish itself in Guyana by Q1/2020. Finally, as a part of all of these changes, the company is also branching out into Electrical and Instrumentation services, to even better fulfil its ‘one-stop-shop’ reputation. Often times, periods of growth are the result of a fruitful economic period in the company’s country and sector, but for D Rampersad, it is happening despite a quiet period. “Despite an uptick in natural gas production and improvements in the construction and finance sectors, lower levels of economic activity were recorded in both the energy and non-energy sectors in the earlier part of this year,” Avinash shared with us. “The foreign exchange market remained tight despite increased forex inflows from the energy sector, adding to the challenges of the local companies buying power for international goods and services.” Thankfully, as D. Rampersad provides services, rather than deals directly in oil and gas, this means it has had the diversity to continue to thrive during
this period. Above all, though, Avinash believes the company’s strength lies in its treatment of its customers: “At D. Rampersad we distinguish ourselves from our competitors by focussing on the needs of our customers, continuously improving our service and delivery times, and we almost always aim to provide the service to our clients directly rather than subcontract work. In so doing, we are able to give our customers the best prices and value for money.” The D. Rampersad team currently averages at 150 people, all of whom it carefully trains both in-house and through external programmes. One challenge in the industry that Avinash listed is that competing companies may seek to snipe and recruit trained staff, but D. Rampersad prides itself on its internal promotion structure and its treatment of employees, and the resulting staff retention rates. “I am privileged to say that the majority of our employees have
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been with us well over ten years, and about 15% of the staff for more than 20 years.” The correct treatment of staff is important not just to Avinash, but his whole family, and the wider D. Rampersad leadership team. Nirmal Rampersad, the company’s Chairman and Avinash’s father, had this to say on the topic: “The satisfaction at the end of the day is not just profitability, which is what everyone looks at to sustain business. Of more importance to me is my workforce, to ensure they are treated fairly and remain with us for a long time, because without our employees we could not survive.” Avinash is a third-generation owner of D. Rampersad, which he has worked with ever since graduating law school over 20 years ago. As a natural progression from his law degree, he began his career with the company as the Contract’s Administrator, looking after all of the company’s legal contracts. “However, my interests quickly sparked in every other area of the business but the legal department and I
invested my time learning about each division and seeking out sustainability and new growth opportunities for the business.” Avinash remains passionately committed to the company, both to its future and its original roots. In fact, as the company continues to grow, it plans to look back at its origins: “This house started in the automotive industry, and that light has never left our hearts, more so my father’s heart. In recent times, we have been focusing on developing our automotive division and increasing our market share for the sale and servicing of CNG vehicles, as well as revamping our spare parts business…Stay tuned.” If a business can thrive even when the economy is quiet, it’s doing something right, and we can’t wait to see what’s next for D. Rampersad as it settles into its new locations and continues to expand the way it operates.
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