The article below was submitted by The Anguilla Development Board as part of the activities commemorating Financial Information Month, October 2014, celebrated under the theme “Soar to Succeed”.
ADB has taken the opportunity to discuss key aspects surrounding the 2014 theme “soar to succeed” with a few individuals who benefited from ADB at some stage along their development path.
Soar to Succeed – David Carty
Mr. Carty’s path in entrepreneurship has been a varied one.
In 1971 Mr. Carty was enrolled in the Law Faculty of the University of the West Indies, but was removed from the program after six weeks because of objections from the then Labour Government of St. Kitts. At that time UWI had not yet recognized Anguilla’s secession and St Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla was still the recognized authority,
He then pursued and completed a bachelor’s degree in Government. On return to Anguilla he taught at the Valley Secondary School for four years and was later transferred to the new Department of Tourism. In 1981 he became Director of Tourism.
Later that same year, he and three others were forced out of the public service in what was then very clear case of political victimization. The Anguilla Civil Service association took strike action for two weeks in protest against this and only returned to work after the four affected were able to receive a pension and gratuity with no adverse reports on their records of service in the Public Service.
Mr. Carty was now unemployed in an economy that hardly existed outside of Government. He fell back on his knowledge of Anguillan Heritage in boat building which his father had taught him and even though he was not a boat builder decided to use the small gratuity received from Government to build a small 18 ft boat for lobster fishing which he named ‘REBEL” as a mark of respect to the Anguilla Civil Service association and the principled stand they had taken in 1981.
Although rebel had been built to provide a livelihood from fishing the late Mr. McEllis Brooks of the water Swamp insisted on buying the boat because of its unique style. Mr. Carty refused this offer repeatedly. But Mr. Brooks persisted and offered to pay a price which My Carty realized could be used to build yet another boat. It was then and there that the idea of Rebel Marine was born. Using the funds received from the sale of the first Rebel, and as good boat building wood was unavailable in Anguilla at that time, Mr. Carty went to Antigua on the Warspite and bought all the lumber needed to build a second boat.
Before he could start this new boat, he received an order from the late Mr. Eric Martineau, of sandy Ground to build a twenty-two foot sport fishing boat. This was followed very shortly thereafter by another order from an expat living in Cul De Sac. Mr. Carty then decided that he would build a new business based on Anguilla’s heritage in boat building and with two young men from North Hill, and a loan of EC$5,000 from the Christian Council he got started.
He confessed his ignorance of the financial aspects of running a business in those years and credits the late Mr.Claire Grapp from the Peace Corp who assisted him and many small businesses owners in the early 1980’s with some understanding of what it took to operate a business.
Anguilla Development Board came along with more financing and Rebel Marine grew. A big opportunity came with the explosive growth in the mid 1980’s of day travel between St. Maarten and Anguilla and the use of small fast outboard npowered ferries to meet the demand. Rebel then built a 33foot boat called ‘Two Cheers ‘which he credits with putting Rebel Marine on the map. The boat was a series of curves from bow to stern and was a totally unique design in every respect. Other boats quickly followed such as the Mystic for Joseph Davis, Big Bird for Thomas Bryan (Tall Boy,) and Excellence for David Hodge and the said Thomas Bryan. Those boats provided Rebel with a regional reputation, which then grew internationally and by the year 2000 Rebel had shipped boats regionally to St. Maarten, Nevis the BVI and Puerto Rico and to Florida and North Carolina in the USA.
Rebel Marine has faced many challenging years. The business is very capital intensive, and local bank financing though helpful has been costly especially when compared with what American boat builder’s pay in interest rates. But the company has been resolute in its commitment to compete at an international level in quality even though the cost of money and the cost of raw materials are higher than in the main competitive markets. Marketing has also been a challenge as there has always been a built in skepticism in the world of boat brokerage and sales that a quality boat building operation on a small Caribbean island cannot be real.
But Mr. Carty has “stuck to his guns” with an unshakable belief that boat building is in his blood along with those of many talented young men across the island. His reason for staying with this business is mainly due to this love for boat building, preserving Anguilla’s heritage and the need to do whatever it takes to add some diversification to Anguilla’s economy. He is convinced that since Rebel has already penetrated the US market, it could go much further with the right investments and incentives toward making Anguilla a centre of excellence in the marine trades. Between Rebel and it’s sister company Anguilla Techni Sales there are nineteen full time year round jobs which are not seasonal and all employees are fully covered with health insurance and enjoy 4 weeks holiday annually with full pay. Mr. Carty is attempting to double the production of the company with better marketing and with strategic overseas partners, which would generate more exports and raise the direct employment of the company to 25 jobs or more.
He would like to see the knowledge and training of all staff at Rebel grow to include more elements of the computer sciences and improve the technological foundations of the company. He quietly boasts about his employees their skills and their commitment to the art and vows to keep them motivated, and interested and encourages them to keep on improving their skills so that they too can pass on their knowledge to another generation of boatbuilding talent.
He admits that his main motivation is not profit but about the passion to keep the boat-building heritage alive and to see his business grow to new levels that keeps him going. He also states that the fact that other people are amazed that boats of this nature can be built on a small island also motivates him and his crew to do better.
He explained that manufacturing of this kind is not easy and is indeed risky. At the end of the day boats are tools which operate in a very risky environment and the sea does not easily forgive a mistake in boatbuilding. Lives can be at risk. So building a company from scratch that is able to provide quality assurance and engender confidence in its product is neither easy or quick. In order for some success to be had he says, one must possess perseverance (stickitivity) and a passion for what you do and what needs to be done.
The vision of any entrepreneur especially in Anguilla can only be sustained through faith and hard work, there are no shortcuts. Fear and frustration are frequent adversaries and a long view of what could be is essential in keeping hope alive and the lights burning. It is not an easy road. But he has always been inspired by Anguilla’s history of perseverance and especially the history of its boat builders and sea captains. After all he says, if my grandfather could have built the famous Warspite with the little he had surely we can do as well with what we have today even though we live in a very different era.
He defines success to be lot more than money or profit. Those are obviously important but so is creating a vision which can be shared by a few or by many and which leads to lives lived with purpose. Helping others develop themselves, make a decent living and share in something which is larger than an individual is in his view some of the main ingredients of success.
He remarked that the slogan used at Rebel simply reads “ When love and skill come together, expect a masterpiece”. He is confident that so long as he and his staff remain committed to that vision that Rebel marine will grow from strength to strength, will out live him and go on well into the future. He is grateful to all who have helped him walk this path including the Anguilla Development Board and so many others too numerous to mention.
