“ You can always have a vision, but to succeed you have to have the right people to implement it,” says company executive Hurshell Cyrus.

A word to the wise from the boss of one of Jamaica’s most successful microcredit company, Worldnet Investment Company Ltd.

Cyrus was speaking with the Jamaica Observer, following the company’s recent Awards and Recognition Ceremony at the Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston.

Eighteen employees were honoured for long service and 15 for outstanding work in 2017.

Cyrus expressed pride in the performance of his staff, who have built the company from a 100-loan business in its infancy, to one which has been providing thousand of loans for all sorts of investments from 17 locations, islandwide.

He noted that the company has always been close to public passenger transport sector, providing tons of loans for private investors in the sector, and has benefited in return from the expansion of the sector and the requirement for newer vehicles.

“When we started lending to them, no other financial institution was willing to lend them money, because they were considered a bad risk. But, what we did was that we got to understand their business and how it works,” he told Sunday Finance.

“We don’t just write loans, but we try and help to solve some of the problems of the customers. We worked very closely with the taxi associations, for example, and we try to develop software for them, and that has borne fruit, because coming out of that, we saw the need for newer vehicles as there were so many old vehicles in the in the fleet.

“So a lot of the people who have been upgrading are not new to us. These are people who have been borrowing from us for 10, 15 years, to the point where we have no deposit loans for these people who have been borrowing from us for a long time. They come in, pay the processing fee and they drive out a newer car,” he added.

Cyrus, the company’s CEO, believes that Worldnet has been living up to its ambition to become Jamaica’s premier microfinance institution, in terms of providing hassle-free and reasonable interest rate loans, through courteous, friendly and reliable staff endeavouring always to delight the valuable customers.

“I am so happy about what is happening at the company, and I really appreciate the contribution of the staff,” he noted.

He said he was elated to see so many of them being recognised and thanked them for their “contribution, loyalty and commitment” to its growth over the years.

He also commented that he is looking forward for greater things to come for the orgainsation in the future, as “together we build, together we achieve”.

Sophia Campbell, general manager of Worldnet, gave an overview on the different categories of awards being presented.

She also encouraged the nominees to continue working hard for its success, as hard work is always noticed as is evident today.

Among the awardees were: Dorrett Lobban, who was the longest-serving employee, having been with the company for 18 years, five years more than her closest rivals, Apem Broomfield and Patriick Blake; Maxine West, who was overall best loan producer; Tricia Henry, who had the best attendance record; and the Lucea office, which was the branch of the year.

Worldnet was incorporated in 1997, and has been performing in the microfinance sector since 2002. Since then it has expanded beyond being just a loan company, by creating a brand which has become synonymous with innovative loan products, low interest rates, unbeatable customer service and offering very creative and flexible financial solutions.