Icy Golding is dedicated to fuelling lives through service
ICY Golding has always had a love for business. When she was just a girl growing up in rural St Catherine with her parents who were farmers, she dreamed of one day being her own boss and being able to provide employment opportunities for others in need.
Not daunted by her humble beginnings, especially being one of 10 children from a small town called Bannister just about a mile from Old Harbour, she diligently worked her way up through various secretarial jobs until she was able to realise her lifelong dream. Today, Golding is the proud operator of the very popular RUBiS Old Harbour Service Station, which operates 24 hours a day, each day of the year and employs more than 20 people from her community.
“As a child I always liked business,” said Golding. “I think my parents unearthed the talent that I’ve had in me from a very young age.”
While acknowledging her dream, however, Golding did veer down a different path right after her secondary school years at St Catherine High. She furthered her education by becoming a trained secretary and would later thrive at noteworthy jobs with the then Custos of St Catherine Ivan Vaz at the National People’s Co-Operative Bank of Jamaica, and then Master Blend, a subsidiary of Jamaica Broilers Group’s Hi-Pro division. It was while at the latter that she decided to apply to become a petroleum service station dealer after being in the secretarial field for close to two decades.
When asked what attracted her to the petroleum fuel site, she said, “It wasn’t an attraction, so to speak. It’s just that I have this business instinct. My husband and I saw it and we applied; but thought we would never have gotten it because we were young. But it happened.”
The Goldings were selected as the dealers after a series of interviews in 1985, and the couple started operating the site on September 1 that year.
RUBiS Energy Jamaica Limited has since rebranded the location and, today, everyone stops at RUBiS Old Harbour— whether they are local community members carrying on about their day-to-day lives or people from out of town simply passing through while on trips to or from the country. Its newest bill-payment facility, too, serves the community by allowing for numerous types of transactions to be conducted that some people would usually have to travel to Kingston for.
“When RUBiS came to Jamaica in 2013 I was happy to progress with the company because we understood that they were willing to make a very large investment in Jamaica. That included the upgrading of the sites and associated infrastructure, and we also learned that RUBiS invests heavily in technology,” Golding said.
“We felt that this would really enhance what we could offer to the customer,” she continued. “This meant a lot to us and we figured RUBiS’ commitment to the community was in line with our little community’s values. It’s nice to hear when customers say: ‘Mi nah go nowhere else, mi a go dung a Miss G RUBiS’.”
In support of this, a main component of the company’s brand presence in the island has been to provide entrepreneurial and upliftment opportunities for Jamaicans through its dealer-operated model.
RUBiS’ support for Golding’s entrepreneurial venture has also afforded her the opportunity and tools to give back to her community while also becoming a pillar for all. She gives back not only by employing persons from the community, but also by way of charitable efforts including feeding the homeless, awarding scholarships, and mentoring youth both locally and internationally.
Golding, who promises never to turn her back on the community, remains dedicated to being a stalwart.
“I am a community person; I’m attached to my community a lot,” she said.
