Robert Lalah, Staff Reporter
Oral Daley (centre) shares pleasantries with J. Lester Spaulding (right), chairman of the RJR Communications Group, and Governor-General Professor Kenneth Hall at a consultative breakfast held yesterday at Robin's Bay, St. Mary. The breakfast was aimed at getting the views of high-achieving young people in St. Mary and Portland on topical issues. At 22 years old, Oral owns his own landscaping company. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
WHEN THE going gets tough, the tough get going. Such is the mindset of Oral Daley, a 22-year-old resident of the tiny district called Snail Field in St. Mary. But Oral is no slouch.
Oral is a graduate of the College of Agriculture, Science and Education who has put his foot down and decided to chart his future.
The young man was part of a group of students from St. Mary and Portland who participated in a Jamaica Producers Group-sponsored Consultative Breakfast with the Governor-General at Robin's Bay in St. Mary yesterday. The function was aimed at involving youths in a discussion about the promotion of excellence, and Oral's story stole the show.
Fed up with waiting around for answers to the numerous job applications that he sent out, the young man, who lives with his grandmother in a humble home, decided to take matters into his own hands. He formed an alliance with three of his friends and the four of them have started their own landscaping company.
"We decided that we would not join those who simply sit and say 'nothing nah gwaan'. We decided that if we could not get jobs, then we would just go and start out own company," Oral said at the breakfast meeting chaired by Jamaica Producers Managing Director Dr. Marshall Hall.
The name of the company formed by the quartet is Royal Landscape and Agricultural Sciences. The group specialises in providing consultancy services to farmers.
SERVICES TO HOTELS
"But we're not stopping there. We plan to offer landscaping services to hotels and eventually we want to start selling plants," Oral told an audience which included RJR Communications Group Managing Director J. Lester Spaulding, Custos of St. Mary A.A. 'Bobby' Pottinger and the Custos of Portland Roy Thompson.
His dream is to be able to give back to his parents and his grandmother who have made great sacrifices to get him through school.
"I want to know that I can do something for them. It is my dream," Oral added.
The company is still new, having only been registered on Monday, but Oral is optimistic that it will be the answer to his prayers. "It will work out because we are determined to make it work. Nothing is going to stop us. No matter how hard it is, we will make it. We must," he declared.
