Creative from the Outside, which is located on the West Coast Demerara, was established in November last year after jasper Medas finally listened to a friend who had been telling him again and again that he was creative and had a lot of potential, having seen his work. He finally listened.
With the business, which provides an array of services in steel works, carpentry and masonry, tradesman Jasper Medas set out to not only provide quality services but also to train and provide jobs for the youths along the West Coast of Demerara.
So far, Medas has succeeded as he and a team of talented young men like himself have been shouldering the company’s workload, which has been steady.
When he made his decision to go forward with the business, Medas was already skilled, having studied his father, Charles Medas, a metalwork engineer, and he was also qualified, having pursued studies in both data operations and metal work engineering at the Leonora Techni-cal Institute. Prior to that though, his interest was piqued by watching his father.
Medas, who recently turned 22, shared what led to the opening of the business in November. He said that late last year, his father had some work to do on the church and needed a welding plant for the project. When he was done with the welding plant, he offered it to Medas. That was all he needed to get his business underway.
Speaking of the idea to have other young men work with him, Medas said, “On the West Coast, you would see at the corners they have a lot of idle people. This one particular person … Jason Rose that lives through my street works for somebody that does joiner work and back in January somebody came to me to do some work and I wasn’t as good in the woodwork so I asked him to do the woodwork part and I did the steelwork part. Now there are like six of us so it’s not all fabricating work and carpentry but we also have persons doing electrical works and plumbing.” The workers are aged 17 to 25 years old.
Since it was established, Creative from the Outside has been busy every day. The business is open Monday to Friday. But sometimes when the workload is heavy, Medas also works on Saturdays.
As Chief Executive Officer of the company, Medas is very hands on. Because he wants a business that is reliable, he has to ensure that the young men working with him are organised. Time management was never really an issue, Medas said, as he ensures that the other tradesmen’s dead-lines are a day before customers expect their work to be completed.
Creative from the Outside delivers work of a high standard and often receives customer commendations. Medas said quality work is important when operating a business and one has to let one’s work do the talking. Additionally, to attract customers the services are offered at affordable prices.
Medas is also responsible for dealing with social media and taking new contracts.
Some of his best work includes shelves for the business entity 592 Tees, a steel staircase and a fence for a church.
Medas recalled that he recently constructed some shelves for a woman living in Georgetown who repeatedly said how pleased she was with the work he did. It was heartwarming, said the entrepre-neur, and such remarks are always motivating for him and his team.
In the ten months that the business has been opened, its name is becoming popular not only on the West Coast Demerara but as far as Berbice and Linden as well as in Georgetown.
Medas takes the most pride in the fact that his company trains youths who can either choose to stay or go off on their own and start their own businesses. “One of my major goals is keeping the young people constructively occupied. I want to see them using their hands. It bothers me when I see young people idle, to know that they have so much potential and they are just wasting it,” said Medas.
According to the young man, the way he thinks reflects the way he was brought up. His father, he said, has always been occupied with church or work. His three siblings are the same: singer Samuel Medas, photographer Jason and Peter who works in the agriculture sector.
Medas said he believes that knowing a trade provides a foundation for a comfortable life for a young man whether he chooses to remain single or start his own family. He noted that even if someone has a secure office job, it is always a great idea to have a trade to fall back on.
Medas shared that being an entrepreneur does not come easy as he works really hard, but he has business and personal goals he is working tirelessly towards. One of these goals is making Creative from the Outside a household name in Guyana. Medas hopes too that he could provide training to more youths. All of this the entrepreneur said is so that he could one day expand his business and be able to travel the world.
Creative from the Outside can be followed on Facebook or contacted on 617-2806.
