Founder, CEO and Managing Director of Fairplay Group of Companies in Anguilla, Mr. Quincy Gumbs, told media representatives on Monday, February 1, that he and his family will be using the solid experience gained over the last thirty years to chart the course of the business for the next thirty years. As such, the blueprint for the future big ideas for the further growth of the business has already been passed on to the next generation – his four children.
Mr. Gumbs says the family has already spent millions of dollars over the years for the development of the Group of Companies which include Fairplay Food Centre, NAGICO Insurance Agency in Anguilla and other regional islands, the Jewellery and Perfumes Store and Kimmey’s Fashion Boutique. The family-owned Royale Caribbean Resort in the Little Harbour area, still being developed since 1992, has alone accounted for an investment so far of US$60,000,000 of family resources plus US$3.1 million from the National Bank of Anguilla. It will take between another US$5,000,000 and US$10,000,000 to complete the resort in about 90 to 120 days once the money is available. Overall, it will require some US$200,000,000 to finance the further development of the entire Fairplay Group of Companies – a task the new generation of family members (his children) will have to oversee and execute.
Mr. Gumbs outlined the family’s business achievements, over the years, and its grand ideas for the future, in a wide-ranging statement which he read to media representatives, prompting a range of many relevant questions. That statement is published elsewhere in this edition of The Anguillian.
The highly-successful Business Executive, a trained Baptist Pastor, set the stage for Tuesday’s press conference during a special 30th Anniversary Service at the Sovereign Grace Baptist Church on Sunday, January 31. He was at the time delivering the sermon in place of his brother, Pastor John Gumbs, who was off-island. The service was attended by staff and family members, a number of invited guests including pastors and members of their congregations from other churches. Chiefly among them were Pastor Dexter Welcome and members of his Dominion Faith Church, tenants at the Fairplay Complex.
In his sermon, Mr. Gumbs spoke about the importance of working towards the accomplishment of one’s dream. In that regard, he made more than passing reference to Joseph, the Israelite of biblical times, who repeatedly dreamt of achieving greatness and who, in real life, was thrown into a pit by his brothers, then sold to slave traders travelling to Egypt where he was resold, but eventually became Governor of that land, attracting the obeisance of all persons far and near.
Speaking on a personal level, Mr. Gumbs said in part: “I always believed that God has created within me the greatest mind human beings ever had; that He will preserve me from the greatest struggles of life; and that each of these struggles will take me further on to the journey of success. So hold on to your dream, my beloved… If you stick to it, you will win. Accept who you are. Determine to reach your goal.”
Mr. Gumbs continued: “I was a poor boy from East End who did not wear a shoe until I went to high school; who did not wear a brief until I went to high school. I paid my own way. I transported flour, sugar and rice on the back of a donkey; and later worked a concrete mixer. When I could not afford fifty cents a day to buy bread, I bought a pack of Shirley biscuits and drank a glass of water for lunch because I had to save twenty cents to help pay my bus fare. But after a while I became a little smarter. I stopped using the bus and used Brother Hobson to take me to school because I needed the fifty cents to help buy my shoes.
“But I had fire in my soul and so I could not but succeed…Your destiny is within your grasp if you dream high enough, and if you work hard enough. If you have the courage to stick with it, you will have your breakthrough one day.”
Mr. Gumbs’ breakthrough came when, after many years, he founded Fairplay Group of Companies, with his wife, Mrs. Vincia Gumbs, who left her nursing profession to take up her supportive and committed position at his side. Today, at the 30th Anniversary of the family business, he has much to be thankful for as he places the future development into the hands of their children.
In addition to the Church Service, on January 31, and the Press Day on February 1, the rest of the Anniversary events include the following: February 9: Open House; February 12: a Talk to 6th Formers at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School; February 15: Delivery of Gift Baskets; February 19: Games Evening at Fairplay Complex; and February 26: an Awards Dinner at Royale Caribbean Resort at which some 40 persons will be awarded.
