Mr. Jean Odelin Ordelus, in being a recipient of the Digicel Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Construction Category. Mr. Ordelus launched his company, OD Peint Groupe Construction, at the age of 19.

Jean Odelin started OD Peint in 2002 at the tender age of just 19 – more to get away from the gas station job he was working in at the time than because it was convinced it was the business for him.

The idea was to paint houses. The problem was that since he had no experience he couldn’t point to anything he had done before. So he presented himself to his first client complete with business card and a company t-shirt – offering to do the job before being paid, if the owner would buy the paint.

It was an imaginative start, and it worked. As his confidence and experience grew, he realized there was additional work needed outside decoration, and so he expanded into insulation, cleaning, dry-lining, and installing suspended ceilings – always with a reputation for good, reliable, work.

His first real breakthrough came in 2007 when he landed a contract with the US Embassy, whose subsequent glowing reference opened the doors to a whole list of other top-notch clients, including other diplomatic missions, government bodies, and banks.

With no stopping its success, it has just been divided into four separate divisions, construction, concrete solutions, air conditioning and finish, a restructuring that’s expected to boost turnover five-fold by 2020. The direct fulltime workforce is 25.