In a city that, historically, traditional values often place men at the helm, Jamaica-born entrepreneur Racquel Warner is shattering stereotypes with her trailblazing garage — Cool Runnings Garage – Auto Repair Services — in Dubai.

Warner, said to be the first female Jamaican garage owner in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), moved to Dubai in 2001 when her husband, who worked as a pilot with Air Jamaica, migrated there to work for Emirates. She joined him six months later.

“Initially, it was very difficult because you miss things like the humour. The humour in Jamaica is incomparable. We laugh at everything, so there’s that cultural difference where people, because of the language difference and the nuances, get lost. But very soon, we were able to build a Jamaican community of our own,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

A university professor in Dubai, Warner shared that she first got the idea to open a garage when an individual approached her and proposed a partnership. However, she decided to venture into the business on her own.

A female in a male-dominated sector, Warner said that she often faces odd looks when she states that she owns a garage. However, she does not allow herself to be fazed by the looks. She told the Sunday Observer that, from a very young age, her father instilled in her that all things are possible with God, and she holds true to that mantra.

Warner added that her business has allowed her to address deeply rooted issues of gender equality and stereotypes and inspire other women, including her two daughters.

“Often, there is this perception of a glass ceiling. I say perception because sometimes women put the glass ceiling there for themselves. We have to be able to discern where we can push through and where we can’t, and so this, a very male-dominated space, for me, has become a platform.

“If I can share that to inspire other women that look, ‘You can push boundaries, and you can succeed while doing that. You don’t have to be just marginal. You can actually succeed having pushed those boundaries and take your place.’ If that’s a message that I can send with this platform, then I’ve done well,” she reasoned, smiling brightly.

The business model for her garage, the entrepreneur explained, was inspired by the 1993 film
Cool Runnings, which captures the origin of the Jamaican bobsled team and their participation in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.

She pointed to the spirit of resilience and kindness that was embodied by each member throughout the film and stated that she envisioned a company whose employees shared similar attitudes.

“Jamaicans are inimitable, and while I’ve lived out of the country for a very long time, a piece of my soul is still there. I am eternally grateful for the beginnings that I have had in Jamaica.

“I’m a Montego Bay High School alumnus, and our motto at Montego Bay High School was ‘Esse non videri’, [which translates to] ‘To be, not to seem’, and so there is that authenticity that you must have in all of your operations,” she said. “You can’t pretend, and so for me to name my company anything except Jamaican in this strange place that I’ve called home for 24 years would not be authentic.”

“It would not be in keeping with who I am. When we came up with the idea of the garage, I immediately thought, ‘What’s a Jamaican name that I could find’, because I wanted to make sure that that was the placeholder, and that’s what people understood.

“You have British people here and Australians here. There are over 120 nationalities who call Dubai home, and if I was going to do something, I had to put Jamaica on the map,” she told the Sunday Observer.

Warner shared that, to bring her vision to life, she brought her employees to her house to watch the film.

“I needed them to understand why we were doing business, and so [I brought] everybody, and they were laughing…My employees are from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Nigeria, [and] Pakistan, so we have a very diverse employee pool. They found a common language in the humour of the movie, and they understood the ethos behind the company, so that has set the stage for the talent pool that we’ve created at Cool Runnings Garage,” said the entrepreneur.

She shared that the atmosphere of her garage is also one that exudes aspects of Jamaican culture. Upon entering, customers are greeted with the rhythmic tunes of reggae music, a photograph of a bobsled, that is symbolic of the company’s name, is also hung on a wall with the phrase ‘Feel the rhythm, feel the ride’, a quote from the movie. Photographs of iconic beaches and landmarks in Jamaica are also on display.

During the holidays, customers were also treated to traditional Jamaican Christmas cake and sorrel.

It is this atmosphere that she said has separated her garage from the more than 1,200 garages in the city. Though the market is competitive, Warner shared that she was able to grow her client list from 14 customers on her first day to more than 500 in about two years, with just word-of-mouth marketing.

Now entering a new phase of growth, the company is looking to start using other marketing tools.

“People sometimes walk in just to see [what’s going on], because the other garages around are not like that. The cleanliness, the brightness, the culture that we’ve tried to import and put a little piece of in the garage has actually brought customers to us.

“We actually have some of our customers who’ve never been to Jamaica…say because they’ve come to the garage, they have to put Jamaica on their bucket list,” she said, unable to contain her smile.

While the transition to garage owner has not been easy, and she has not mastered all the skills of a mechanic or knows the all the details of fixing a vehicle, Warner said that she has equipped a capable staff and is learning every step of the way.

“I think what I have taken from my academic background into running my business is this idea of lifelong learning. I seek to learn something new about my business every day, even if that means going on to the shop floor and watching what the mechanics are doing or looking at the orders for parts and learning. I challenge myself to keep learning something new, and you know that’s part of how you’re going to succeed. You can’t just be static,” she said.

Cool Runnings Garage is known for its sounds of reggae music that pull people to the location.

A graphic of a bobsled with the phrase ‘Feel the rhythm, feel the ride’ is displayed at Cool Runnings Garage in Dubai. The quote is from the 1993 film, Cool Runnings, which captures the origins of Jamaica’s bobsled team.

WARNER…we have customers who’ve never been to Jamaica say, because they’ve come to the garage, they have to put Jamaica on their bucket list