Father and son business, R9 Furniture, a success in the making
over to him so he can take his time and dress it how I want it then I carry it to my workshop at home. But obviously, it costs me extra money for transportation and of course I have to pay him to dress the wood; he doesn’t do it free for me so those are some of the challenges I face.”
Though business picked up two years ago, the pandemic brought with it new challenges. Many of his customers, James said, had difficulty paying for his work and had to do so in installments. This impacted his business drastically, but the furniture maker was able to cushion this impact and provide for his household expenses with his other job.
Most of the pieces he makes are done on order. However, sometimes his father, with the extra time would make a piece. Recently, he made a centre table to put on display.
Referring to the two tables and four chairs he recently finished, James shared that after the drying process, the pieces took less than two weeks to be completed.
Despite having a full-time job, the entrepreneur believes, “It’s important to know a trade, whatever it may be. It can be a retirement plan for persons who choose to retire from a [9-5] job early. … As the saying goes, ‘If you can be hired, you can be fired’. However, if you have a skill, nobody can take that away from you. You can earn an honest living from it. You can lose a job at any time. … Look at what happened to our neighbouring country, Venezuela. They’re going through a crisis. A lot of them would have had office jobs and highly paid jobs too. Then having to migrate to another country, they can’t use their qualifications in another country. But, if they know a skill, they can develop quickly, so it’s really important to know a trade.”
He also applauded the government’s plan to build a technical institute in the region expected to materialize some time next year.
James is working towards someday operating his business full time from a fully-furnished workshop. By then he hopes to train and employ several youths from his area. He hopes that by then his business will be recognized and he can be awarded bigger contracts in Region Nine and Guyana at large.
The Jameses have created wardrobes, tables, chairs, chest of drawers, centre tables, beds and cupboards that are capturing lots of attention on social media.
James can be reached at 672-7059 while his father can be contacted on 604-6099.