WORKING IN A NEW WORLD
By Merle English.
Newsday, November 12 1998
Immigrants have helped transform New York City's workforce, creatingnew businesses and jobs that have added to the region's economy. Concludinga five-part series, "Working in a New World," Newsday offersfive stories today about immigrants who successfully started businesses.
From the age of 10, when he delivered newspapers and managed a gas stationfor his uncle in his native Guyana, Ray Rafeek knew what he wanted to bewhen he grew up.
"I had entrepreneurial blood in me," he said.
It propelled the 41-year-old Bayside resident to own a flourishing courierbusiness in Manhattan with gross sales of $3 million per year.
Rafeek had worked as a fuel checker on a major sugar estate, a fire-industrysalesman, and an engine-oil distributor for Texaco before leaving his homein Corriverton in 1987 to join his parents in the United States.
"All that time, I knew I wanted to be in business for myself,"he recalled last week.
As he spoke, a dozen members of his multi-racial staff of more than100 took orders over telephones and dispatched couriers on foot, bicyclesand in vans and trucks to make same-day deliveries throughout the tri-statearea.
Just a week before, his 7-year-old business, Twenty-Four Hours CourierInc., had moved into the spacious, newly carpeted Midtown office. It allbegan in 1991 when Rafeek, the oldest of four children, and a partner setup business in a $400-a-month, 12-foot by 15-foot room on 14th Street.
He left a job with a courier service to go on his own, starting outwith one van, one employee and a $5,000 loan. His father taught him howto get around the city.
"I knocked on doors. The first day, we only did two deliveries,"he said.
He didn't take a salary. His wife Shafi had a job that covered livingexpenses for the couple and their three children. Rafeek and his partnerran into difficulties trying to grow the operation.
"The people who promised to give me business didn't give me any,"he said. "And the banks didn't want to touch it." But help wasavailable. "One of the major reasons for my success is my involvementin trade associations," Rafeek said.
He's a director of the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industryand treasurer of the New York State Messenger Courier Association.
"By being with my trade associations, mixing with people from theindustry, attending national conventions and stuff like that you can shareexperiences and learn," he said.
"That is what enhanced my business." He sought clients inthe advertising, publishing, printing, and airline industries, in legaland graphic-arts firms.
The business developed, and in 18 months, Rafeek bought out his partner.He moved to a bigger space on 37th Street and last year opened anotherdispatch office in Wall Street. Today, the firm does 900 to 1,000 deliveriesa day, and Rafeek is forecasting growth to $10 million in gross sales withinfour years.
Now, Rafeek, who was a delegate to the 1995 White House Conference onSmall Business, is looking to help others with his expertise. "I wantto see other immigrants do business," he said. "Business is thebackbone that can make immigrant communities stronger."
He added: "The moment I feel most proud of was at the White Houseconference when I stood on the balcony of the State Department and realizedthat I have come a long way."
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