From living in tent to owning factory, uniform company CEO fulfils dream
At one point in her childhood Crystal Lam and her family lived in a tent and later she became a teenage mother but she never allowed those challenges to prevent her from one day fulfilling her dream of having her own business.
Over the years she worked at two banks and while she enjoyed that period of her life, Lam, now a mother of two girls, ages 10 and 4, never felt she could spend all her youth building someone else’s company. Today, she is the proud owner of a Crystal Lam’s Designs. It is a uniform company which specialises in corporate uniforms.
The idea was birthed since in 2011, when Lam worked at Citizens Bank and realised that their uniforms were imported.
“Upon noticing that I started doing some research and realised that we actually don’t have a company that does this in Guyana and I thought it a bit strange that we had to be importing something like uniforms all the way from Trinidad, when it could be done right here and create employment,” she told Stabroek Weekend.
While it took some time, years to be exact, Lam said she knew then and there that was the line of business she wanted to get into. Crystal Lam’s Designs was officially launched about week ago, even though they she did have some contracts prior to that and outsourced the sewing to another factory.
She said the journey has been “interesting, not all good” but the Linden-based company has been getting support and has received work from some of the major companies inclusive of providing fabric to banks. And because it is a service that is readily available, she said, a lot of companies are open and receptive as they have had issues sourcing the right kind of material for their uniforms.
Initially, Lam did the cutting and outsourced the sewing but she currently has four employees and plans to add four more in the near future. Because she grew up in Linden, Lam said, she decided to keep the company in that community even though she now lives in Georgetown. She travels to the mining town daily, a challenge she does not mind, as she believes it is good to provide job opportunities since that is one of the struggles residents face.
Lam is a far way from where she started out as a child. She helps out where she can today and sympathises with the less fortunate. “We grew up under what I call very difficult and adverse circumstances, which is part of reason why I am determined to do and become more,” she said.
Lam noted that there are many people in Guyana who have struggled and she wants to be one who says it does not matter where you started you can “still overcome aInd become great and become successful”.
Lam also shared that because of the traumatic nature of some of those years she believes that she has blocked out some of the experiences. Now a psychology student at the American University of Peace Studies she is more aware of this fact.
Teenage mom
Lam said that at the age of 18 she become a mother after an unplanned pregnancy. But as a woman who embraces challenges, Lam said she did not find it overwhelmingly difficult as she vowed not to be a “typical teenage mom…and for me it was more of a motivation; I was like this happened then you have to do more, you have to be more”.
It was about defying the odds and succeeding regardless of the challenges thrown her way. Lam said she did not believe in abortion so while the pregnancy was not planned, for her there was no option but to bring the child into the world. “It was not my way of evading consequences. It was like this is what happened, you accept it, you learn from it and you move on,” she said.
However, Lam admitted that it was a devastating period for her and at one point she did wonder what her life would be after the pregnancy but she quickly readjusted. She dealt with the stigma that comes when unmarried teenagers get pregnant and while it was a shock to her parents they in the end were very supportive and it was because of the tremendous support that she persevered.
Being a young mother was indeed challenging as Lam said she was still grappling with finding herself but she had to strike a balance on being there for her baby daughter and focusing on herself and achieving her goals. She took it on, and looking back she is proud of where she is today as mother to one but two daughters.
She said her “amazing support system” has helped her to get this far and even as she now focuses on her business she has the support of her parents and particularly sibling who assist and ensure that her children are accessing and benefiting from the new norm of online learning.
She made it clear that without that support system it would have been difficult and as such she is grateful for the assistance she receives; for her it is a team effort.
‘Still struggling’
Lam, who attended the Mackenzie High School, said that as she looks around the mining community many of the businesses are still struggling and even though residents are innovative and go-getters, they often have to learn from their own experiences which can be a setback.
According to her, mentoring for young business people is not available in Linden. Then there is the issue of unemployment as there are not many opportunities which she does not understand, since production is much cheaper in the mining town in terms of labour and electricity.
She believes more factories are would address the issue of unemployment. However, she said Lindeners have been doing a fairly good job at creating opportunities for themselves.
Lam sees her company expanding and employing more people. “…Where I see Crystal Lam in another five years: I would have regional branches and we would have a large factory in Linden creating employment for over 150 employees,” the young business owner said.
