Pandemic pushes young Bahamian to restart his business

Mon, May 10th 2021, 12:00 AM

By: Jhanae Winter

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to bring the creative and entrepreneurship spirit out of Bahamians. More and more, are stepping away from the traditional nine to five and are letting their passions fuel their income. 

Devontae Thurston opened his first produce stall named Nature Fruit & Veggie on Johnson Road.

The 22-year-old found his love for agriculture in junior school and always had a dream of owning his own business.  

“When I was small my father had us on the farm and I used to help him deal with the animals. At the same time he had pumpkins and watermelons too and from then I just had a drive. I wanted to learn more about these things and from that experience it really pushed me”, Devontae said.

He originally started his business in 2018, but it really began to take off in 2021.

He had a plan from the beginning how the business would operate. His main goal was to distribute produce, but his funds were not sufficient at the time. He decided to start with different plants like aloe and impatiens flowers to sell, so he could then afford to buy and sell various produce. 

In the middle of the night is when he comes up with most of his business plans and brainstorms ideas for the future. 

“I’m always home thinking about things and what the people really need and what they like. I went to back to 2018 and what people liked then and included that into this phase now”, he said.

Before he did this he was working at Bahamas Hot Mix, but because of the pandemic many businesses downsized and there were many layoffs.

“When the pandemic came in, I saw this is an opportunity now, for me to just start and the pandemic helped me a lot. It gave me the push to start this back again,” he said.

Devontate’s attitude when he first started compared to now has changed. He initially had the mindset to just make money, but he realized “that is probably why it failed” in 2018, he said.

Now, he has his own business because he loves agriculture. He wants to learn as much as he can but also teach others his knowledge. For example the benefits of certain produce and what they should be used for.

As always, in situations where people want to start their own business there are the naysayers and those who doubt their success. 

Devontae had his fair share of those who laughed at him and didn't believe in his vision, nevertheless he was still surrounded by friends and family who supported him.

“I always knew this was something I would be interested in, I knew what I was going to do and I made the dream become a reality,” he said.

The biggest support for him was shown on social media, where a fellow Bahamian, Shena Carroll, shared his information on Facebook and encouraged Bahamians to come down and buy him out.

This was the last thing Devontae expected to happen to him during that week. 

“I felt like a bag a quarter that Thursday. From Monday to Wednesday it was so slow. I just put in a prayer and a couple minutes later this lady passed and said she was coming back. When she came back she did an interview with me and later on that day I just saw everything blowing up.”

“After that day it just was crazy. It was hectic, I even needed a helping hand, it was really nice of her to do that,” he said.

The future is bright for Nature Fruit & Veggie. Devontae has a vision for his business, among the many things on his list, the first of them is expansion. 

“This is just the beginning right now. I want to be located in different places. That’s where people won't have to come so far to this one location and I can be mobile too.”

Right now his focus is to build his cliente, so that when he expands, he will have a following of customers who support him wherever he goes.

One thing he looks forward to is supplying produce for various restaurants and getting other businesses on board to encourage more Bahamians to buy local.

“I just wrote something the other day, I saw myself supplying for the entire Bahamas, so if I could be able to have other farmers help me and we can just grow, I see that happening,” he said.

Devontae is enthusiastic about his business endeavors and is doing all he can to make his dreams come true.

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