After twenty six years years of service to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Bridget Duncan finally returned to civilian life in November this year. But the 46 year-old Paradise resident is still far too young and she says, “too energetic” to embrace the status of a retiree and she is seeking to use the skills learnt over more than two decades of soldiering to pursue a new carerer in business.
The Carnegie-trained Paradise resident is seeking to use the culinary skills she learnt while in uniform to develop a catering service of her own.
She joined the army in 1982, fascinated, she said, by “the uniform.” Over more than two decades she has provided culinary service at Camp Jaguar, Tacama, the Weapons Batallion and the Agri Corps. During that period she has “fed” every Head of State and Chief of Staff at various army functions and when the Guyana Defence Force contingent was dispatched to Grenada in 2004 to support the recovery effort there following Hurricane Ivan she went along to feed the troops.
Today, Bridget believes that the skills has stood the test of time and the judgment of more than a few discerning palates and just a few weeks after packing away she has already begun to pour her energies into her new life as a caterer.
She is, she says, no stranger to private catering. She has done her thing – on the side – so to speak; weddings, birthday parties and other functions and over time she has accumulated several pieces of the tools of the catering trade.
Bridget told Stabroek Business that her current preoccupation is with making adjustments to her Dazell Scheme home – her kitchen particularly – to make room for an expanded catering facility.
But Bridget’s ambitions go well beyond a home-based catering facility. She is seeking to bring her fare to the city where she believes there is still a thriving market for good cooking. She envisages a meals on wheels facility, a caravan perhaps, equipped with the requisite conveniences and equipped to move from one location to the next in order to, she says, “that the whole of Georgetown can sample what I have to offer.”
When Bridhet spoke with Stabroek Business earlier this week she acknowledged that her culinary skills are by no means the only criteria for entering the world of business.
She ponders the planning, the day-to-day administration and the challenge of, perhaps, having to present a business plan to a local commercial bank in order to finance her venture.
Rather than allow herself to be daunted by the challenge, Bridget is upbeat and optimistic. She is, she says, comforted by the backing of a supportive family and encouraged by the urging of friends and relatives.
That is not to say, however, that she is unmindful of the challenge of building a business in Guyana, particularly in the catering industry. “I want to aim for high standards. Offering a service in the food industry today means that you have to set your sights high. I have seen the competition and I understand the nature of the challenge.”
Bridget concedes that she misses the military. “I enjoyed my years in the military.
The experience has put me in a position to do other things with my life. It has provided me with skills that have made me more independent.”
While she pursues periodic catering jobs and seeks to build a base for her planned takeoff into an established business Bridget is fashioning myriad ideas which she believes will provide her with a competitive edge in a growing industry. She understands, she says, that pretty soon, she will have to fashion her ideas into a structured business plan.
That will require support skills which she will have to seek elsewhere. At the moment, however, she is preoccupied with contemplating all the options so that when her business plan finally emerges it will comprise her own ideas, her own desired direction.