“BUSINESS is all about solving people’s problems — at a profit,” says Paul Marsden. This is the mantra of the hard-working, adventure-loving Kameila Ricketts who heads Jamaica Quest Tours & Travel Services, a concierge tour and transportation company based in the second city, Montego Bay.

Coming from humble beginnings, Ricketts had the example of hard-working parents who instilled in her a good work ethic that serves her well today, as she confesses to typically working 12-18 hour days to ensure her clients have an exceptional experience and all their needs are catered to. Boasting a clientèle that includes locals, international travellers and noteworthy celebrities, her company offers a suite of services, namely islandwide excursions; full-service transportation on land, air and sea; car rentals; VIP arrival; expedited customs and immigration; private security; ground services for private jets and yachts, along with bilingual and multilingual representatives on request.

Ricketts started her career in the entertainment and hospitality industry almost two decades ago as a telephone operator and then subsequently worked in several client-facing roles in several well-established hotels on the north coast, including Holiday Inn, which she credits as a fertile ground for her career growth, having had the opportunity to cross-train in several areas. This allowed her to hone her exceptional people skills and networking, which are key factors for her success in her concierge tour and travel company. This business idea was planted from her experience at El Greco. “[While] I worked at El Greco where I had to book tours for guests, this is actually where the idea was borne,” she says.

It was not until 2013 though, years after leaving that establishment, that the business became a reality.

As fate would have it, following a redundancy exercise and the birth of her daughter, Ricketts decided to tap into her entrepreneurial side and registered her tour company in 2006. It, however, took her several years later, after the loss of her job from the Freezone, to convince her “it was either I would sink or swim, and since then I have been swimming”.

Having spent years to better document and refine the business idea, and with her daughter as a strong motivation, the single mother set out to build her tour company, one client at a time. She confessed, “When I just started I would go weeks without a single booking, thankfully I have hundreds of bookings per month now.”

As she refined her business idea and set out to build the business, Ricketts realised that a key part of her own growth was having a reliable mode of transportation. This would provide her with the much-needed efficiency and cost-effectiveness, which was critical to her business success, a largely one-woman show in the early days.

“I went with my bold self to JMMB [then JMMB Merchant Bank] not knowing if I would get the loan… I loved the fact that they didn’t have a long wait and it felt like a family-like atmosphere. They [also] did not make the task [of getting a loan] tedious for me.”

This was the first car in the now fleet of vehicles owned by Jamaica Quest Tours & Travel Services, and this kick-started the operations in a major way.

With the continued growth of the business, Ricketts sought to further expand her fleet of vehicles to cater to her growing client base and their preferences. This would also allow her to maintain the high standard of service delivery she set out for herself and the company, which was a challenge with sub-contracted transportation providers. Although admitting that she has sought a loan from another financial institution, for her second loan she decided to return to JMMB Bank for her recent loan to bolster her fleet.

Ricketts was introduced to SME relationship officer Abygay Clarke-Thornton, who is a part of the recently established SME unit. Clarke-Thornton proved to be a gem in making her experience seamless, despite the minor drawbacks she experienced in the process. Ricketts lauds her dedication for going the extra mile.

The entrepreneur also commended JMMB Bank for extending a moratorium to her on her first loan, as when COVID-19 hit Jamaica’s shores it caused uncertainty and ravaged the hospitality and tourism sector. “This moratorium then allowed me to free up some cash and ensure I was able to balance my finances. When I realised things would be fine with me, I went in and restarted my payments,” shared Ricketts.

She credits her exceptional client experience for her success; support from partners, including JMMB, and affiliates in the tourism sector; as well as her treasure chest of other strategic decisions, key in ensuring she has repeat clients, referrals and continuous business. As evidence of her solid business model she recorded stellar profits over the last two years in spite of the pandemic.

Ricketts is excited by the adventures ahead as she sets her sight on taking her business to the next level.

“Not even the sky is the limit for me as I am evidence that hard work pays,” she says.

Her vision is to expand the range of services offered and to establish herself as the go-to concierge service transportation and tour provider. With her sight set on what’s next for her business, Ricketts is also utilising the support services provided by JMMB Group through its two-year-old SME Resource Centre to bolster her capacity, expertise, network, and to forge partnerships that will redound to her goals being achieved and assist her businesses to scale and grow.