Corporate Supplies, Print Smart and the business acumen of Derron Adams
If you look hard enough and for all the ‘tough times’ associated with doing business in Linden there are still a number of micro and small businesses run by proprietors who simply refuse to ‘throw in the towel.’ They have grown used to the peaks and troughs associated with entrepreneurship in a township that has had to readjust from an economic culture centred around wage labour.
Derron Adams, an executive member of the Linden Chamber of Commerce and Industry is currently in his twelfth year as the owner and manager of Corporate Supplies which he started in 2006. The business is situated in the building of the Linden Enterprise Network (LEN) , 97-98 Republic Avenue, Mackenzie, Linden.
It would never have happened, he believes, had he not taken a deliberate decision to fashion an enterprise that derived from thinking outside of the box.
Corporate Supplies is in the business of leasing office equipment to public and private sector entities in Linden and elsewhere under contractual arrangements that requires the leasee to purchase ink, toner, paper and other related material from the company. Whilst the vast majority of his customers are Linden-based he has, only recently, been securing modest contracts with entities in Region Four and is seeking to expand into parts of Region Three including the West Demerara and the Essequibo Islands. Additionally, he has put down roots in the capital, having established an office in East Ruimveldt from where he operates a branch of Print Start Initiative, a printing service which has its roots in Linden. If he concedes that his Georgetown printing service is ‘slow’ he remains prepared to brave the competitive environment presented by the capital’s more vibrant commercial culture.
There are, he says, “peaks and troughs” to business in Linden though what keeps him going is the nimbleness of wit that pushes him to constantly search for new opportunities to realise business growth.
One of his strategies has been to carefully ‘scout out’ what he considers to be a sound business initiative, immerse himself in it then, once the sector becomes overly competitive, move on to another challenge. That approach, he says, has worked for him.
Adams attributes such strides as he has made to the support he has received from the Small Business Bureau. With the support of the