What does it mean to be Barbadian? This question can be answered in a number of ways. However, one characteristic that sets many Barbadians apart from others around the globe is their entrepreneurial spirit. This drive for many is behind their decision to start and successfully grow their own business.
Hakeel Watson of Watson’s Auto Mechanic Services is one such Barbadian entrepreneur. Though in his early 20s, he has been a business owner for the past four years. He specialises in vehicle servicing and general maintenance, underbody and engine washing and the importation of cars and the reassembling of them, among other things.
At his company’s location at Workmans, St. George, he briefly set his tools aside and took the time to chat with Homemakers. He shared that at age 21 he decided to start his own business. However, his love for mechanics came long before this.
“I went to school at the Barbados Seventh-day Adventist Secondary School and during that same time I was in fourth form and an afternoon…, I came home, usually I don’t watch the news at all and at that time you know you’re at secondary school, you don’t think about the news but somehow I managed to go inside and I just saw an ad about automotive training by evening classes,” Hakeel said.
He continued, “I told my father. I took the paper and carried to my dad and said, ‘look, I want to do this here’ and he was like ‘you sure?’ and I said ‘this is what I want to do, get me sorted.’ My dad went ahead and I took up the course and then from there I just grew to love it more and more, and I like to know how things work.”
As his love grew, so did his interest to know more about the field. To widen his skillset and knowledge, he undertook courses locally, regionally and internationally which focused on diesel and hybrid vehicles. He also worked alongside other professional mechanics and car technicians when he first got started.
“Just being around them, I found that mechanics is something I love. I don’t know if I was born for it but some things that seem challenging to some people – if I look at it, I can get it done. It might not be in a fast manner but I believe that I can get it done,” he said.
His desire to be the best at what he does and to continually build his business keeps him going. He stated in “five years, I actually see myself expanding a little bigger and I would have more staff, different vehicles. I would be actually going into more hybrid and more electric cars. The only thing right now, I am currently looking to go into after that is specialising in boats.”
