ONE OF THE greatest tragedies in the SME sector is when the sole proprietor of a business dies, and the business dies along with them because of a lack of succession planning.

This was the case for Naz Rampersad, the widow of Joe Rampersad, owner of Joe’s Doubles, a Port of Spain-based doubles business.

When Rampersad died of cancer in 2022, it seemed the Park Street-based doubles business would not reopen.

But Naz, 68, with encouragement from fellow businessman Jeffrey Mouttet, decided to bring Joe’s name and his doubles back to life.

Rampersad told Business Day at the Queen’s Park Oval that although there was no formal succession plan, she was poised to take over and carry on her husband’s name and business. She said she had everything she needed to bring back the same quality of doubles that Joe gave to the people of Park Street. The only thing she had to add was love.

Rampersad said she and her husband started selling doubles on Park Street in 1981, not long after the second of their four children was born.

[caption id="attachment_1003642" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Naz Rampersad at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain. Naz reopens Joe's Doubles, the business she began with her late husband, on Park Street on March 3. - Grevic Alvarado[/caption]

Before that, Rampersad said they had been living off the $25-a-week wages from his job at a Central movie theatre. Although they were a humble family who made it a practice to be content with what they had, Naz realised that with two children, it was getting more difficult to make ends meet.

“I told him: ‘Honey, we need money.’ We decided to do something about it, because the money was coming in too slowly.”

Joe spoke to a friend who worked in Port of Spain, who told him that uptown PoS needed a doubles stand.

Rampersad said after a few months perfecting their recipe, she and Joe set out on Park Street to start their new business and it was a hit.

“Around that time people uptown did not know what doubles was,” Rampersad said. “Doubles was more popular in the countryside. People in town used to call it 'bake and channa.' We brought doubles to Park Street. That was where Joe started getting his name.”

She said Joe had a special recipe and method for frying barra, which set it apart from the doubles downtown.

“He had some of the softest barra you could get in Port of Spain,” Rampersad said. “He had a technique that would make it soft and fluffy, so that you could squeeze it and it would open back out in your hand.”

But it wasn’t the doubles or the location that made Joe’s Doubles popular, Rampersad said. It was the service Joe provided.

“We put love into our work. We loved the people that supported us. Joe was the type of person that would build relationships with his customers. He showed them love.

“Even when he was sick and he would stay home he would worry about his customers. He would worry about what his customers would eat.”

Rampersad said their doubles grew in popularity to the point that Mouttet called them to cater for a birthd