Monday talk with ... Christopher Dehring: knows no limits

Christopher Dehring, chairman, Lime Jamaica, chief regional marketing officer

Christopher Dehring can effortlessly switch off the obvious effects of partying on the mound one day to all business mode the next. He knows his limitations though. "I hope a younger set of guys with the time and energy, can see the value in the mound and really take it on as a business ... so much potential," he said of the phenomenon that initially drew howls of criticism from cricketing purists but is now standard fare worldwide. Whether it be at LIME Cricket World Cup or Sportsmax, a boundless energy with a good dose of luck, coupled with a Midas touch, follows Dehring around.

The infant Dehring skipped three classes "I was to go from Kinder A to Kinder B at St Theresa's, but a clerical error put me in Grade 2! I was doing the work and getting by but the nuns called in my parents to find out why I was sleeping in class and I seemed so small for an eight year-old ... I was actually five!" He conveyed the wide-eyed amazement of all concerned at the time.

Good fortune followed young Dehring to Campion College where godfather Reginald Chin used his influence and generosity to secure a place for the bright boy too young to take the Common Entrance. "I didn't qualify (age wise) to take the exam until I was in second form! Success at that time kept me at Campion because my working-class parents could never afford it, even with the continued help from my godfather".

Regarding parents, Dehring had a bright but humble secretary for a mother and a Jamaica Defence Force corporal/self-made engineer who for a time was jobless, for a father. They both insisted on discipline and high performance for the four children (taking home Bs was never an option). "We didn't have all the comforts in our Vineyard Town home but meals were sure and we had to do our schoolwork ... looking back it must have been a stretch since there were times when it was my mother's salary alone", a faraway look came over Dehring's eyes as he tugged on the memory.

Dealmaker

Back to the present, at LIME is Dehring the groundbreaker and dealmaker, that's not too hard, DB&G, Cricket World Cup 2007 and LIME are mile-posts on the journey. How did he get there?

"Sports is my life, and it has revealed itself in everything I do," he asserted. Truth be told, some of the revelations are the stuff of legend. Dehring turned down a Duke University scholarship in favour of one from West Virginia Wesleyan University. "I didn't even think about the Duke's prestige, I just wanted to be with my friends," he recalled. Then armed with a solid degree in marketing and economics, Dehring thought a job would come easy. "I spent the summer of 1985 writing 120 applications, got 80 rejections and not one interview!" For the first time, Dehring's countenance betrayed hurt.

Getting a break

That hurt turned near reverence as he mentioned Real Mona FC coach and life mentor Peter Moses. "He saw me coming to practice every day, not working and he created a post for me at Citibank as an intern in a little unit there. That's the break I needed!" he leaned forward pounding the desk for emphasis with fire in his eyes.

That led to a 10-year meteoric rise for Dehring. Making his mark at Citibank, a group of investors led by Delroy Lindsay wanted him to work his magic at Corporate Merchant Bank. "I remember the first day after leaving my cushy Citibank office sitting in an empty room on a cardboard box asking myself, 'What the ... did I get into?" as he politely stifled the words he used then. An interesting sidelight is when Dehring was part of a high-powered delegation to Cuba when many captains of industry had started to explore the prospects, "I was with the group at a reception and Fidel Castro was on a platform with some top people. He sent for me and we chatted. Then I realised the whole room was focused on me, wondering how a young guy like me got there!"

That same questioning look would come again when Jamaica's first investment bank was formed in 1992. Dehring Bunting & Golding came out of a casual lunch with pal and former classmate Peter Bunting. "We just asked, why not form a bank? I thought about it over the weekend and phoned up Peter at Manufacturers' Merchant Bank and said 'Hey man, I left the job, let's do it.' The phone went dead for a long while". The young men raised the money on an IPO, and despite the questioning looks Dehring, Bunting and Golding changed Jamaican banking forever. "We couldn't agree on anything, but once we moved it worked," he recalled of their success.