Wong makes right move
Published:Saturday | November 30, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Tamara Bailey, Gleaner Writer
MANDEVILLE, Manchester:AFTER THE closure of one of the island's largest bauxite plants, Alumina Partners of Jamaica (Alpart), in May 2009, approximately 900 employees were made redundant.
With several challenges ahead and no clear way of conquering them, common sense kicked in. Some searched for another job, others migrated, and the entrepreneurially minded among the lot started their own businesses.
Laughton Wong, popularly known as 'Chiny Man', worked at Alpart for approximately 15 years.
"I was fresh and young when I started Alpart in 1990. I enjoyed the salary, the benefits were excellent, and it was through them (Alpart) that I owned my home and car and did all that I could financially," Wong told Rural Xpress.
So many of the workers depended solely on the salary from Alpart and had no avenue for income otherwise, but this was not so for Wong
"I was always doing little work on di side - repairing houses, mechanical work and those things - so when I heard Alpart was closing, I wasn't really worrying as to how I would maintain my lifestyle," said Wong
Two years after the closure of Alpart, Wong, who had been working in a field, decided it was time for advancement and elevation. It was for this reason Wong's Hydraulic Hose Repair Shop, located on the Queen Bee Plaza, Lane, Mandeville, which focuses on hose repair, hose clamp, filters, belts and lubricant sale, was born.
"I love mechanic, and it was this love that prompted me to start the business seriously. I realised there weren't a lot of businesses that did hose repairs, and that motivated me even more. I registered the business, maintained the contacts, and today have some of the biggest clients," Wong noted.
large construction
SNG Limestone, SNG Road Surfacing, A-1 Equipment and several large construction companies are just a few of the companies on the client list.
When asked if the possibility of returning to Alpart exists for him, Wong said, "I am not 100 per cent sure. I mean I don't think things will ever be the same, the benefits will change and plus me a old man now."
Wong also said the possibility of the return of a number of the former workers to Alpart was zero to one.
"I have quite a few friends who have left the island to work in the mechanic field in Canada; I even have friends who are getting ready to go to Africa to do the same thing," said Wong.