The Olympic Group nowadays consists of 22 companies. The construction arm of the group “Olympic Construction Limited”’ has grown over time and is now providing construction support and services to practically every facet of the construction sector for the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Combined the companies that comprise the Olympic Group now amount to a full-service operation that serves projects ranging from mixed-use developments to luxury resorts. But while the Olympic Group’s various companies are primarily focused on serving the construction sector, its capabilities go beyond that.
“We have our own shipping and cargo service, ENE Shipping Ltd, which services the Dominican Republic, Providenciales and the Bahamas, and other charter services where required,” says Stephen Butler, CFO of the Olympic Group. “We are also the second largest distributor of wholesale diesel and gasoline in the Turks and Caicos Islands, as well as serving as a leading LPG provider. We can serve most requirements for hotels, resorts, and other hospitality clients in the region.”
That is alongside Olympics’ own building materials importation business and its own hospitality arm that operates within the Grand Turk Cruise Port and Terminal that welcomes a million cruise liner guests a year.
The company was founded by Holton Dickenson, who named his construction company Olympic Construction Ltd after the beautifully maintained vessels he saw owned by the Olympic Shipping Lines.
In 2006, Holton’s son Edwin Dickenson took over the firm. At this point, the business had an annual turnover of $7,000. Under Edwin Dickenson’s leadership, the company has grown and diversified, until today its turnover is measured in the tens of millions.
A Proudly Turks and Caicos Company
“We are a proudly Turks and Caicos-owned company. It is not just about the owners. It is about the strength of the company and its people,” Butler says. “What sets us apart is that we are one of the few companies in the TCI with our own supply chain leverage. This is a very import-heavy industry, so that is a differentiator. We can bring in materials, we have our own machinery and vehicle fleet and even our own in-house customs clearing agency. It means we can service our own projects while most of our competitors rely on third parties.”
But despite Olympics’ diversification into hotel operations and villa rental business, construction remains at its heart.
“I pride myself on owning a full-service construction company that will do everything from simply changing a door lock, to building a multimillion-dollar resort development project or luxury villa,” Dickenson says. “No matter how far we diversify, our vision remains one of integrity in business and excellence in execution and service delivery.”
But to maintain those levels of service delivery, Olympic Group needs to have the right people and resources on their side.
“Our first choice is to source talent locally within Turks and Caicos, but sometimes we have had to spread the net further afield to bring in talent from more widely around the Caribbean,” says Simon Cross, Chief Operations Officer for Olympic Group. “Where necessary we have recruited talent from Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, among others, to secure the trades and skills we need to deliver the high-quality standards our projects demand.”
To ensure that the local talent Olympic Group needs is there, the company has built strong ties with the local community.
“Our Group HR Manager, Florence Garrett, has links with the Turks and Caicos Islands Community College and the vocational college in Providenciales,” explains Butler. “That is where our future conveyor belt of talent will come from. By identifying talent at that early stage, we can develop and encourage the best people to work for us.”
The Group has found particular value in the ACCA Qualification, notably among its finance team, and Olympic Group’s employees receive contributions to their exam and course fees to acquire that qualification.
“We are investing in the employee and that brings loyalty to the Group,” Butler says. “We also have two employees currently undertaking associate degrees with the community college.”
But this is not just about creating loyalty, it is also about investing in future generations of the company, and the country.
“We invest locally at the grassroots and entry-level,” Butler says. “For our own training and development, we believe that the simpler the process is, the less confusion there will be, and that is reflected in the professional development we offer. Whether it is an ERP system or new accounts software, we are firm believers in introducing changes to the company in a straightforward and accessible way.”
An Olympic Future
With that conveyor belt of new talent in place, Dickenson has a strong vision for Olympic Group’s future.
“I want to continue to scale our company to service national development needs, but only as long as we are able to deliver projects to our client’s collective satisfaction,” Dickenson says. “The growth of the company is an important part of our support for the TCI economy, but it can never be at the expense of our standards or integrity.”
The next step in Dickenson’s vision is for the Group to undertake its own developments. It started with private property acquisitions and refurbishments for its rental business and is moving into larger scale commercial developments like “Ellipse” in Providenciales, a custom-designed 50,000 square foot mixed-use commercial, residential and food and beverage outlet.
This expansion is also accompanied by more subtle changes behind the scenes.
“We are in the process of a big change at the moment regarding our back-end systems,” Butler says. “We are introducing a new ERP system for use across the group, integrated with a range of other systems to provide real-time information to inform our business decisions.”
Olympic Group’s journey has been one of expansion, and it is a journey that is set to continue.
“Our vision for the future is to continue working across our businesses to seek out the greatest opportunities and avenues for us to explore,” says Cross. “This has included our shipping lines and imports of gas and oil, as well as the introduction of innovative construction technologies.”
Indeed, as we speak with Cross, Olympic is working with a market leader from the UK to deliver a modular construction solution for three new hotels.
“The completed hotel rooms are manufactured offshore then, imported and assembled on site,” Cross says. “That will be a key differentiator for us and the TCI construction sector.”
“We are always expanding never contracting,” Butler concluded.
