Pump Xperts tapping into niche market

WHILE the idea of venturing into a business may seem daunting, Dave Ramsaroop saw it fit to tap into a niche market which he believed was greatly needed.

In January last year, he opened the first Pump Xperts store in Freeport and, almost a year and a half after, the second location was opened at Prince Street, San Fernando on Friday afternoon.

The road to the newest location was not easy, Ramsaroop, director at the company, said because of the uncertainty of the pandemic and the effect on business, especially entrepreneurial ventures.

“It is very scary, but we saw a need to serve the client base that we have. Throughout San Fernando and the greater environs, we get a lot of calls for our services.

“Pray, put God first, talk about what you would like to get into and then jump into it. There are always going to be opportunities, we have to look at where the need is and go for it. For young people who want to get into business, reach out to successful businesspeople and go from there,” he said.

Pump Xperts is a subsidiary of Amalgamated Facilities, a property and engineering management company. Like the name suggests, the company deals with all things pump — supply and servicing of residential, commercial and wastewater applications, industrial solutions and high-occupancy facilities.

Ramsaroop said the need for pump technicians and maintenance was exacerbated during the pandemic, as having a reliable and dependable supply of water was important.

“With everyone being home because of covid19 we saw a lot of pump and water usage going up. We saw a lot of failures. Our workshops were created for our personal use, corporate clients and the larger scale industrial and commercial clients.

“We saw the community reaching out for help. We decided to open our doors to the immediate community and then we saw an opportunity to serve larger than that through requests and referrals,” he said.

Ramsaroop said there were plans to expand with talks currently taking place to find a location in east Trinidad and was hopeful that location would get started by the end of the year. Other locations of interest were west Trinidad and Tobago.

“What is stopping us from entering the west is investment as the cost of property acquisition is very high. In Tobago, for now, we send our employees out since we don’t have a direct footprint, but it is something we are going to strategically look at in the next 12 to 24 months.”

San Fernando mayor Junia Regrello said he was happy about the business which showed there was hope even in the challenging times in the aftermath of the pandemic.

“I want to commend this young man for his entrepreneurship and, more importantly, for going into an untapped area and it was cleverly done.

“People are saying there are no opportunities now, but you have to start thinking outside the box, and that is what he did.”

President of Greater San Fernando Chamber of Commerce Kiran Singh said it was welcoming to see jobs created as the economy reopened and begins to heal from almost two years of covid19 pandemic-related closures.

“We have been faced with several business closures due to the pandemic, and locally and internationally we have had challenges with the economies slowing down. When we see a new business opening its doors, it inspires a spark of hope for young businesspeople.

“He is also creating employment opportunities, his first tranche of direct employment will be eight persons and he is going to indirectly employ two dozen workers, which creates a significant amount of employment in the small and medium enterprises sector, and this is good for the southern business community.”