Barbara Ellington, Lifestyle Editor
Audrey Hinchcliffe, CEO of Manpower & Maintenance Services Ltd., shows off her wall of fame. - PHOTO BY SHELLY-ANN THOMPSON
SHE'S THE last of nine children for parents from Lorimers, Trelawny, where she attended Bohemia Elementary School. Back then, with the return trip home for lunch daily, young Madeline Stewart walked 24 miles daily to and from school. Now in her mid-60s, this queen of clean was encouraged to attend high school in Kingston after passing the First and Second Jamaica Local Examinations.
She went to Excelsior High School where she sat Senior Cambridge examinations. That led to a year at Fitzhenley's Commer-cial College, before she enrolled in nursing school at the University Hospital of the West Indies. Upon graduation, she worked briefly at Nuttall Hospital before starting the midwifery course at Jubilee.
She suffered from ill health during college, so midwifery training had to be aborted. Although Mrs. Hinchcliffe was an excellent nurse, that was never her personal career choice and she manifested her resistance to her parents' wishes by being a very rebellious student. Deep down she was hoping to be expelled from nursing school and chalked up the occasional suspension.
A stint at Mandeville Hospital preceded marriage and the birth of two children. Today, her son is CEO at MMS and her daughter is a doctor in Atlanta, Georgia.
Mrs. Hinchcliffe's next stop was at the Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Board at Moneymusk Clinic as relief nurse. She worked as a relief nurse at almost all the island's sugar estates. But, as was the trend of the day, she emigrated to New York in 1967 to do an industrial nursing course, fully intending to return to Jamaica when she was through.
In New York, she saw many opportunities for advancement, starting with a nursing permit and a first job as staff nurse at Brooklyn Hospital. Times were tough, pay was small and money had to be sent home for the children.
Mrs. Hinchcliffe returned for frequent visits and in her adopted country she did GED exams (American high school certificate), and SAT (Scholastic Achievement Test). She went to St. Francis College in Brooklyn to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in community health. While working at the Hebrew Home and Brookdale Hospital during the days, as well as at other jobs, she went to school in the evenings. On her days off, she worked more. Ill health persisted, but she still made the dean's list almost all semesters.
EXPLOITED
Foreign nurses were exploited with low pay, no promotion and all the dirty work.
She helped colleagues become unionised, but was subsequently promoted to get her out of the way. Racism and heavy job demands presented strong challenges.
In spite of all the achievements and accolades, Mrs. Hinchcliffe derives greatest satisfaction from the achievements of her children, grandchildren and those whom she employs. After 15 years in nursing, hospital administration, lecturing and consulting positions, as well as the school of hard knocks, she now shares her story.
BE: What other struggles did you have during the New York years?
AH: There were the usual problems of racism in terms of having to report to persons far less qualified than yourself. Then my ex-husband died, and it was hard to tell the children the bad news. But they came to live with me afterwards and I had to readjust my work schedule to accommodate them.
Studies continued, the children excelled and I developed courses for and taught critical care nursing at a college called St. Joseph's.
FAILING EXAMS
That was at the time when many foreign nurses were coming to New York, many of whom were failing the state board exams. I started a training school in Brooklyn called Nurses Own Education Centre, with a Jewish partner who owned Star Nurses Registry. I rented space and prepared them to sit state boards. Pass rate soared and on Sundays I held resume writing lessons to make extra money and spend time at home with the children.
BE: What happened next?
AH: I left Sunset Park Family Health Centre and was recruited to work at King's County Health Care Review Organisation. It was a federal government programme following the passage of a bill for quality assurance in hospitals. Flatbush General Hospital and Harlem Hospital came next; at the latter I was deputy director of nursing at a 1,000-bed hospital.
BE: You left New York shortly thereafter; why was that so?
AH: The children did not like the cold temperatures of New York and in 1978 I responded to an advertisement for a post in Jacksonville, Florida. It invited applicants to come south for sun and warmth and the opportunity to be on a college faculty. I had done a course called 'the new job-changing system' and it showed you how to package yourself for a job search. The message was that if you are changing jobs and can't double your pay, stay where you are.
I did a good curriculum vitae and sent it off. The call came and when I went for the interview for the director of nursing position, I was shocked to see the 'bush'. But I was bolstered by my power suit. The job-changing course also recommended that if you are after a US$40,000 job, wear a US$400.00 suit.
The person who met me at the hotel, upon seeing me, said, "My God, they don't know you are black." They hid their shock, but the interviews were gruelling and lasted all day. The board members and people from the University Hospital, Gainesville, asked many rude questions. I responded accordingly, being relaxed and thinking I would not be getting the job because of my colour. The administration was lily-white and the educated blacks were reporting to persons who were not even college-trained.
BE: How did you feel when you got the job?
AH: I gave the impression that it did not matter and requested time to think about it. I told them I had to give a month's notice where I was. I had been making US$18,000 monthly in my present job and they offered me US$40,000. I told him he was joking, I'd think about it and get back to him. Back home, I was encouraged to take it. I settled for US$46,000 per year. The hospital did a good job of settling me in the new job and home. That was November 1978.
BE: What were some of the challenges of that time in Florida?
AH: I became seriously ill in 1980 and it lasted so long. I lost all my savings, I exhausted all sick leave; my mortgage went into arrears; I did not qualify for unemployment benefits; I had two children in school; I was ashamed to let anyone know how destitute I was. My cupboards and fridge went bare on many occasions but for good friends - one of whom gave me her pay cheque two months in a row to pay my mortgage.
The church community and family always came through for me. But as sick as I was, I went to an agency and got some light private night duty so that I could feed the children. I remember becoming hysterical one day when I looked in the fridge and it was empty.
THE WAY BACK
But shortly after I returned to work, in February 1981, the hospital structure had changed. I was promoted to associate vice-president for nursing services. I worked as leader on a team to get the hospital from government control into a private situation. I introduced the system of a private hospital within the public facility and the proposal we presented was accepted. Again I was the only black and woman at that level.
UNDERHAND MOVES
But things were not all rosy and some underhand manoeuvrings in the department saw me being given an unsolicited assistant. They wanted me to resign in order to put a councilman's relative in my place but with the best civil rights lawyer in the state at the time, I put my case to the board, cleared out my desk and left.
Eventually I received hefty financial compensation of all benefits and allowances, plus a reinstatement. Meanwhile, I had applied for a job with CARICOM in Guyana and left Florida in July 1982.
BE: What was the Guyana experience like?
AH: I spent six years and was the health development officer for CARICOM countries. I travelled the world on that job and also had responsibilities for women's affairs and the environment. I returned to Jamaica in 1987.
BE: What was coming home like?
AH: Jamaica is the most difficult countries to return to even with diplomatic status; CARICOM agreements made some things free to enter the country but between the Trade Board and Customs, we nearly went mad. My apartment was rented and sub-let, my car was in bond; trying to find work was very difficult because I was thought to have too much experience.
So I registered a consultancy - Caribbean Health Management Consultants Limited. When I set up my company, there were no others in the region and I figured being known across the region and having done work with PAHO, it would be smooth sailing. Interestingly, similar companies mushroomed thereafter.
Some of my competitors were dishonest and put my name in their proposals as part of their team, even without my knowledge, only to seek me out after they had got the jobs.
When I realised that Government was serious about outsourcing janitorial services, we set up MMS in 1990. The Spanish Town and Linstead hospitals came up and I got the former in 1993; we are still there. The ministries outsourced and so did other Government agencies. The private sector stepped up outsourcing and bundled services. Cleaning, grounds and landscape, carpentry and plumbing were some of the services bundled and we benefited from that too.
BE: How many persons did you start MMS with and how many do you employ now?
AH: Twelve, then it went up to 18. But in 2004, we bought Office Services Limited so the combined total is 1,800 now. We had over 2,000 employees at one time, so pay day sees us paying over 1,800 workers islandwide.
BE: How do you find them?
AH: Manpower has a history of training; we acquired new premises with corporate offices upstairs, and the Institute for Workforce Education and Development (IWED) on the ground floor. We offer a range of things including a small auditorium for rent (capacity of 80), a library, four training rooms and a demonstration room.
We were recently licensed as a placement agency by the Ministry of Labour, so as we train we place personnel and we are now a designated independent school under the Ministry of Education. We plan to offer high school equivalency courses and CXC subjects so we can upgrade our staff.
We have a contract with the National Housing Trust where we have trained their people in grounds, landscape and pest control. It was so successful that under the Inner-city Housing Programme they funded, we have a project to train 100 inner-city workers. We are now assessing 52 to see what are their interests, and where can we place them. Out of that, we are now in the process of working on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to be signed soon.
The ministry is also identifying workers to do the same thing the NHT is doing. We feel we can empower communities if we train the people for useful employment. Our employees benefit from training and they are a great team.
BE: What other innovations do you have here?
AH: We have the Manpower Foundation, supported by MMS and myself through donations I request when I make speeches. We will eventually do fund-raisers but we use the money to underwrite some training, groom some staff for jobs and to assist workers in crises.
BE: How much did you start MMS with, and what are you worth now?
AH: We started with nothing, and depending on the number of contracts, we have exceeded the $300 million mark between the two companies. We just won the Cable and Wireless contract worth $26 million islandwide per year.
BE: What have been your most pressing problems along this journey?
AH: I have been hospitalised close to 20 times in my life. To all intents and purposes, I should have been dead already. As a student nurse, I had kidney problems, then my tonsils were removed; in 1962, I had a ruptured appendix; during my first pregnancy I had kidney problems and was in and out of hospital. I had a ruptured blood vessel in my brain and spent weeks at Kingston Public Hospital. In the United States, I had more challenges, such as kidney stones; then there was hysterectomy, ouvrectomy and a mild heart attack.
Back in Jamaica, I had one of the worse cases of dengue fever followed by gall stone removal. I also I broke my leg in a car accident and I am allergic to all narcotics, as well as seafood.
BE: And the other challenges?
AH: These have been mainly financial challenges because we operate on a credit system, so we literally live hand to mouth sometimes. I have come close to losing private property and there have been days when I can hardly make the payroll, but with a close relationship with my bankers, we pulled through. I live an easy lifestyle, hardly use my credit cards and live within my means.
BE: What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs who look at a successful company and think it happens overnight?
AH: You have to be patient. The want-it-now mentality does not work; every successful person had a journey and you must be prepared to walk that steadfast path. When something needs to be done, do it and quarrel afterwards. Avoid the blame game and remember that every setback is a set-up for a comeback.
BE: Do you subscribe to the view that it is better to do what you love in your quest for success?
AH: Yes. I don't suffer fools gladly and I don't find it easy to report to or take orders from others. I am independent-minded, I educated myself and I know that when you are poor you have no fear of joblessness because you know what it means to be poor.
BE: Would all this have been easier if you were a man?
AH: No, it's how you structure your business and meet requirements of the banks and other regulators. I have produced my own collateral, implemented the elements to function and followed the rules. I work closely with men but I have no desire to be one of the boys. It means functioning with competence and integrity.
BE: What about a mate, would you marry again?
AH: Having been married three times, I am not preoccupied with having a mate or a man. Although I sometimes feel like having someone at my side, I am seen as formidable and Miss Independent. Men tend to ask how they would manage me and that's such a wrong view to take. There is too much foolishness and falsehoods spread about independent women. I am a good woman and I will be a good wife to a good, strong man. Not the type who begrudges your position and possessions; plus, I don't think one adult should stay around and make the other miserable. I will not be belittled for my success, because I have earned it.
BE: What has been your biggest surprise?
AH: I did not know I was as valuable as I am being made out to be, because I don't take myself that seriously; people see more in me than I see in myself and want to be around me. That is a blessing.
BE: What is the future of MMS?
AH: My niece and son are now on the board and we are poised to move into the international arena. My son Garth Hinchcliffe is the chief operating officer and a lot of MMS rests on his shoulders. We are the only Jamaican member of Building Service Contractors International (BSCI) and we are among the who's who in the Cleaning Management Institute, so we are getting worldwide recognition. We have our website at manpowerja.com and with increased enquiries, we are looking to spread our wings into the Caribbean.
There is much more to be done and we are putting in the systems to see whether franchising is the way to go eventually. We are holding off on going public and instead making ourselves profitable.
I am focused on remaining healthy; I will not retire but I will slow down because I love to dress up and face the day at work. I want to see my grandchildren inherit this legacy.
BE: What is your wish for Jamaica?
AH: My wish is that we become more sensitive to the feelings of others and more honest in our dealings with others but it's our people who will make it happen.
Send feedback to barbara.ellington@gleanerjm.com.
She's one of the most easily recognised businesswomen around; she holds positions on several boards and has received numerous local and international awards. On the other hand, with close to 20 hospitalisations, Madeline Audrey Hinchcliffe also defied death along her journey to establishing Manpower and Maintenance Systems (MMS).
