2011-2012: Started from the Garage
Mintech started in the Salmon family garage with USD $120.00 by Mrs Sharmin Salmon and her son Gavin. Our product range was mainly the supply of plastic storage bins and plastic crates and pallets for the Jamaican agriculture industry.
Operating from the garage with a growing inventory, all available space was utilized (living, dining and bedrooms were no exception). By mid-2012 we hired two sales consultants and Mr Dexter Salmon joined the company full time in July.
2013: Stepping Out
With the input of the sales consultants and Mr Salmon’s expertise in purchasing, we started moving goods by the container loads which made it necessary for us to find a suitable and affordable commercial location to better serve our customers. We found our current head office location, which at the time, was in major disrepair. Half of the building was operable, so we moved the business in. It was also at this point that we finally started the second phase of feasibility studies in safety footwear and imported our first range of new kicks. Our main brands were Berrendo, Caterpillar and Wolverine.
Home is where the heart is, right? In late 2013, we sold the family home, renovated the second-half of the office building, and moved our home to the back. The rest of the proceeds was invested in the business.
2014-2015: Vision Revealed
In 2014 we introduced our first exclusive dealership with Cofra our flagship Italian brand and we experienced phenomenal growth. By then, we had the widest range of male and female safety footwear in Jamaica. We made a distinct difference in the industry by launching footwear-awareness workshops to introduce new footwear technologies to the market islandwide. By the end of 2014, our business vision was apparent to us. “To be the authority in providing corporate personal safety, material handling and branding solutions in the most modern and consistently convenient manner”.
We finally renovated our showroom in 2015, employed customer-service staff and opened a second branch in Manchester to reach our customers in that region. At this point, our overall staff complement had reached 11 members.
2016-2017: Bursting at the Seams
We started our On-Site Fitting Visits and customer staff database management, travelling around the country to fit the staff of some of our largest customers. Our record largest fitting then was for J Wray and Nephew’s Appleton, a member of the Campari group of companies, for approximately 364 workers; an exercise that took 2 days!
With this new innovation and with the addition of Personal Protective Equipment, growth was inevitable and once again Mintech began encroaching-on the home space. In January 2017, the Salmon family moved again making room for their growing business.
2018-2019: Our Mission
After 8 years of consistent growth, 20 full time staff members and over 15 brands including Cofra, Keen Utility, Buffalo, Hytest, Beeswift, Leo Workwear, SAS, Schiek, Vanguard, Tiger Grip and Cerva, Mintech has now evolved into the industry’s preferred source for safety supplies.
With a rapidly changing world - evolving marketplace - Mintech established its Mission by constantly seeking innovation, embracing change through research and development, and dedicating ourselves to fastidious execution.