Building a courier’s legacy

I don’t feel like a professional. I just feel that I am a simple person doing what I like to do and making a difference,” says Linda Kendal, CEO of JSL Speedpak, one of the major players in the local courier business.

JSL Speedpak presently provides a two-day courier service, the Express Cargo service, the Classic Mailbox service (CMB) and the Shop America Service. This allows Kendal and her team to purchase items in the US for customers and ship them to Trinidad. Clients are then required to pay for the merchandise in US dollars. They also provide customs clearance with delivery in Trinidad as well as a pick-up service in Miami. Eight years ago, Kendal, who has training in customer Service, cargo operations and what she calls “extensive training in people skills at the University of life,” left Trinidad for Miami, Florida. She was joined by two of her three children and her husband of thirty years, William. It’s a well-run family business. Her eldest son, Nigel remained behind to take on the responsibility of the custom clearance duties at Piarco; her second son, Curtis, who holds a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Biology, manages the Miami office, while her only daughter, Ayana, a student at Florida International University, is the warehouse supervisor in Miami. JSL Speedpak began as a small package service in the early 1990’s, under the name BWIA Jetpak, offering a same-day service to the Caribbean, mainly Trinidad, on BWIA passenger aircrafts.

Kendal established the Jetpak Service while she was employed with BWIA as a cargo sales representative. Before that she had held the position of a BIWA reservations assistant for 18 years. The Jetpak service was developed by Kendal from an airport to airport service into an all inclusive courier business — all this before she left her job at BWIA in 1992. She recalls that after her departure, the courier service began to suffer.  “I was called in and offered the contract to handle the service on a private basis,” she remembers. “I could not have been happier because I always had a desire to go into business.” In February 1993, she registered and launched the company now known as Jetpak Services Limited (JSL) in a small office at the old Piarco Terminal. “We never turned back,” Kendal said. In 1993 they also established agencies in Guyana and Barbados, with the office in Miami being opened the following year, along with the third branch in New York. Over the next few years, other agencies were opened in Grenada, Antigua, St Lucia and Toronto, Canada. However, these agencies were discontinued after  BWIA opted out.

“This is in no way a permanent thing,” Kendal asserted. “My decision to establish the company was fulfilled in the service we offered and the satisfaction of fulfilling a need.” In 1998, Kendal left BWIA for a second time, this time for good to establish herself as a freight forwarder from the company’s Miami office. “The move was very timely,” she said, “because of the demand by our customers for an express cargo service to Trinidad.” While the company’s main office is situated in Florida - the gateway for operations to South America and the Caribbean - Kendal maintained that the original base for JSL is Trinidad, which continues to remain the head office. “We service the Trinidad public,” she said, adding that the majority of their  customers are based here. Trinidad, she says, continues to dictate the pace at which we operate our business.”

She covers a diverse range of clients. From electronics, cosmetics, medical supplies, technology to  machinery and the auto industry. “In short we service both the large and small businesses, as well as individuals,” she maintained. The company also has its own web site (www.jslspeedpak.com) which provides a tracking system for all packages shipped by JSL. According to Kendal, this website is presently being updated to include all the services offered by the company, along with information and forms which are required for these services. It may seem like it was all easy sailing for Kendal in establishing her company. However, she maintains that this is not so. She recalls that her greatest challenge came when they embarked upon the construction of their two-storey complex at Piarco. Soon after breaking ground, her contract was terminated by BWIA. “We were determined to press, on,” she stated, adding that, “I never knew that being a woman was a disadvantage until I tried to get a bank loan to complete the building.” “Many doors were closed on us, but God is good,” she went on. “He made a way for us and after much stress and trial and error, we managed to get a loan to complete the building in late 1999.”

Today, this very building houses tenants such as Air Canada, DHL, Servisair, R&O Real Estate in addition to the Customs Facilitation Centre for the courier companies. In keeping with its motto of service and customer satisfaction, JSL Speedpak will soon be launching its newest business venture - a shopping website (www.shopmetoo.com), which will provide Trinidadians with a shopping outlet whereby they can take advantage of all the major sales in the USA. “They will be able to go online and purchase items at the sale prices and have them shipped to Trinidad and delivered to their door via our Classic Mailbox, Express Cargo or any other services,” Kendal revealed.

The website, she noted, is equipped to accept credit cards. “This is is a big plus for Trinis, because most foreign credit cards are now being declined by US companies for purchases on the internet,” she said, explaining that US companies are only shipping to the same address as the credit card billing address. For Kendal her greatest motivation has been to provide a service with which  her customers are satisfied and proud to use. “My dream is to build a business of which my family can be proud and to leave a legacy for my children.”