[dropcap]M[/dropcap]artin Dorville is now a household name, and unsurprisingly so, as he bears several prominent titles. When he isn’t serving as Managing Director of one of Saint Lucia’s leading brands, Massy Stores, Dorville will likely be found attending to one of a long list of other duties including his role as MD of Massy Stores Saint Vincent, board member of Massy Stores Trinidad Ltd and of Bank of Saint Lucia, plus being a husband, and a father to 8- and 11-year-old sons. Many would also recognise him as the immediate past president of the Saint Lucia Chamber of Commerce, but few know his story.
HOW DID YOUR INTEREST IN BUSINESS COME ABOUT?
Dorville: I am a proud Samarian. In my days at St Mary’s College I focused a lot on sciences. You know, if it appeared that you had some smarts, you were put in the science class. The irony of it all is that I’m now a businessman and so it is clear that that philosophy doesn’t quite always work. Afterwards I went to the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, A level division, and I did a mixture of science and economics. It was very clear after that, that I wanted to do business so I went to the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, where I pursued a BSA in management studies. I was the proud recipient then of first class honours in management studies.
HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO JUMPSTART YOUR CAREER POST-UNIVERSITY?
Dorville: Well I came back and went into the hardware business working with M&C Home Depot but I was gravitating towards the JQ Group of Companies. At the time, my dad was a long-standing employee of JQs, in the motors division. He had gotten support then to finance my studies and naturally I thought, ‘Hey! I would like to work for this company.’ I went to work with JQs and it wasn’t quite seen as being the sexy thing then so, in many ways, I was discouraged but I felt it was a strong family business with very good values, which was always important to me above many other things including a hefty pay cheque.
THAT MUST’VE BEEN AN EXTENSIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCE.
Dorville: Yes, as part of my arrangement with JQs, which was more of a family, they put together an arrangement to finance my MBA. So I was the proud recipient of an MBA from the University of Warwick. After Warwick I went back to work for JQs. At the time I did almost everything including work as a general manager. I think the only department I did not work in was finance. It was a very trying time then because the JQ Group of Companies did go through some challenges but the challenges that I faced – fear, working late hours, and trying to deal with what appeared to be insurmountable tasks – were welcomed as that was the start of my being moulded into the person that I am today. Then there was the merger between JQ and Juliens which formed Consolidated Food Ltd, and I moved. I transitioned into that newly merged organisation. I worked very closely with the then managing director, Andrew Chastanet, for about five years. My taking over the role of managing director was not a gift because I had to work for it. I witnessed the transition to Massy Stores. Massy always had a stake in Gablewoods, which was a 60% shareholder of CFL. When Massy bought the shares of Gablewoods, they then owned 60% of CFL which is now Massy Stores Saint Lucia, with JQs holding 30% and staff holding 10%.
WHAT ARE THE KEY STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS THAT YOU IMPLEMENT AT MASSY STORES?
Dorville: It starts with our values, our vision and our mission. To be the premier Caribbean retailer we need to focus on extending our reach. To do that we must enable continuous development of our people, not just in terms of technical competence, but competence about people management and interaction with others.
Our mission looks at several components, like the satisfaction of our associates which refers to our loyal customers, and who takes care of that? Our people. Also we want to deliver a delightful and safe shopping experience to all. Who does that? Our people. And then there is fostering mutually beneficial and ethical relationships with our suppliers. Again, that’s human interaction, having that concern for others and caring about our communities and our environment.
ANY GUIDING PRINCIPLES YOU CAN SHARE WITH OUR READERS?
Dorville: I learn as much as I can along the way and I learn from my mistakes. I am not stopped by fear. There will be moments of fear and you have to overcome that. You also must place yourself around the people who will support you, and I don’t know if it was me doing it or if it was a design by God, but I have always been in the presence of good people who supported me. You know, I actually believe it was a design by God. I’ve just always been in the right place with the right people and so my advice would be to surround yourself with the right people. You’re not going to be an engineer if you’re surrounding yourself with what has absolutely nothing to do with engineering. These things are key.
