Do It Center opens

In business in Dominica Karl Nassief is a household name. He is the proprietor of Auto Trade, KFC, Fine Foods Inc. and a number of other top businesses. Now, on the Hurricane Maria caused ruins of E. Nassief located on the Edward Oliver Leblanc Highway near DBMC, Karl has opened yet another business place- Do It Center (DIC).

Evadney Esprit, the general manager, says the aim of DIC is to be a "one stop shopping center for contractors and home owners."

"Do It Center is a fully branded "do it best" store and is a brand from Indiana. We introduced Do It Center to Dominica to really change the landscape of hardware shopping and lumber yard to the general public," Esprit said.

The hardware store, she said, carters to the needs of the do-it-yourself public and to contractors.

"You get from foundation to roof at Do It Center. Everything you need for your house is here and we are now preparing the place to sell cement," she said.

"Since opening their doors to the general public a few weeks ago, DIC has been well received by the general who are very satisfied at what we have to offer," Esprit said.

"We have a staff of 48, so you can well imagine our contribution to the Dominican economy. The employees are very happy…in fact they were all part of the setup of the organization and that for them was a very exciting time because 98% of them had not been part of a company's setup. It causes them to have a feeling of belonging to the company," she said. Esprit told the SUN that constructing the building, which took about six months, was a challenge.

"We pushed the contractors and we are happy. To the customers we say thank you and you have received us well. We have a pro-desk and hired someone dedicated to serving our contractors who don't have to go in line but just call us and we will do the rest for them," she said.

When asked about the cost Esprit said "it's a huge investment."

"We made this investment to serve Dominica; it's a bold step and a significant investment which will definitely benefit Dominica," she said.