PERSISTENCE and determination has led Patries Abigale Ramkaran to push through disappointment, failures, discrimination and scorn become one of the few female contractors in the country.
Ramkaran founded Ramkaran Contracting Services Ltd in 2005 at the age of 21 which, at first, only provided construction services. Now, it also provides design and build, janitorial and facilities maintenance services.
She said the core business is construction from foundation to finish including drainage, retaining walls, finishes, plumbing, electrical work and more, as well as a lot of refurbishment work for the government.
But in 2008 there was a downturn in the economy, so she decided to diversify and provide janitorial and maintenance services, which is supplied mostly to public sector clients. Then, just before the covid19 pandemic, due to another downturn in the economy, corruption stymieing opportunities and the highly competitive nature of the industry, she started the design service. This is focussed on private sector clients and residential designs.
Ramkaran told WMN her motivation to start her own business came when her hopes of becoming a permanent employee at Petrotrin was dashed. She was working at the energy company on contract but thought she would be retained and Petrotrin was where her career would begin. But it was not to be.
[caption id="attachment_1104692" align="alignnone" width="683"] Patries Ramkaran, one of the few female contractors in TT. Photos courtesy Patries Ramkaran. -[/caption]
“With that disappointment I said, ‘You know what? I want to be my own boss.’ So I incorporated this company without knowing the direction it could go.”
She also did not like wearing corporate clothing and construction afforded her the opportunity to wear jeans and, of course, she had a background in civil engineering and construction management.
She continued to build the business while working full-time at other companies and in 2007 she successfully tendered her first project – to upgrade the Shell recreational grounds in Rio Claro.
Ramkaran said she learned a lot during that project. One of her harder lessons was the difficulty for small businesses to get financing from financial institutions. She said she thought it would be easy as it was a government project but the banks were reluctant because of the government’s reputation for late payment. So she had to use her savings and got loans from friends and family.
Another difficult lesson learned was to be careful about who she hired. She recalled her equipment supplier at the time removed their equipment before the job was done. Only much later did she find out the supplier had tendered for the job but did not get it so they attempted to sabotage her.
“It was a rough start. I lost money but I think failure is what makes us stronger. It didn’t stop me from pursuing the dream I had.”
After the project was completed, there was a downturn in the economy so she continued to work on in the corporate world. Finally, in 2012, she was able to leave that li
