WHEN LIME CEO Garfield Sinclair challenged employees to come up with an innovative idea to reduce the telecoms firm’s utility expenses, little did he know he would have been richly presented with a wide array of recommendations.

Dubbed ‘The Captain’s Challenge’, Sinclair offered US$1,000 to any employee who submitted a feasible strategy to reduce LIME’s utility costs.

Darcia Wilkinson, an operating expenditure analyst, walked away with the cash prize after submitting a detailed renewable energy solution that could shave millions off LIME’s electricity bill, while boosting the Telco’s overall efficiency.

“This was a well thought out, assiduously researched and comprehensively presented idea. Darcia’s winning entry is just one example of what the team of highly motivated and exceptionally talented employees here at LIME deliver on a consistent basis. The business will surely benefit from her energy-saving concept, especially when combined with ideas from the other participants,” said Sinclair.

Wilkinson, now in her fourth year with LIME, recommended harnessing solar energy from panels mounted atop the LIME Corporate Building and an elaborate ‘solar farm’ of photovoltaic cells on company-owned lands to convert sunlight into electricity. Through a ‘power-wheeling’ agreement with the JPS, Wilkinson then suggested that LIME could use the power company’s grid to energise cell sites and other telecommunication equipment operated across the country, using the power generated from the solar sites.

“Winning this competition highlights to me that this alternative energy way of thinking resonates with the current ethos of our management team. I made my submission having observed LIME’s efforts over the years to come up with a novel solution to reduce energy costs. One of our core values as a telecoms value provider speaks to the use of innovation and this journey would be in keeping with the strategic direction of the company,” said a beaming Wilkinson after collecting her prize.

Rounding off the list of competitors were: customer retention agent Yvette Lindsay; projects and fixed assets officer Nadine Porter; and pre-sales engineer Newton Baker, who each received a tablet computers and certificate of participation for their various innovative cost-saving ideas, which, Sinclair said, “will definitely have a place in our overall energy-reduction strategy”.

The LIME boss promised to double the prize money for his next Challenge to LIME employees, in anticipation of heightened interest among them.

“My LIME colleagues are not shy about sharing their views on how the company is run and what can be done better. This is actually something I view as very positive. What has been clear to me from joining LIME is the fact that most of our really solid ideas come right from our colleagues, hence the idea to formalise this process and create a challenge,” added Sinclair.

CAP:

LIME CEO Garfield Sinclair presents the major cash prize to operating expenditure analyst Darcia Wilkinson, winner of ‘The Captain’s Challenge’.