‘Our work speaks for itself’ - Strong work ethic takes Westmoreland firm from local projects to global contracts

From clearing construction sites in western Jamaica in 2019 to helping deliver a US$1.37-million solar project just three years later, Elite Contractors of Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, has built an unlikely reputation in the renewable energy sector.
When UK-based energy company NxZen (formerly Enzen) secured the contract to construct a solar plant at the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) in 2022, it turned directly to Elite as its local contractor. There was no bidding process. NxZen already knew who it wanted on the job.
How did a little-known Jamaican company earn that level of confidence from international firms?
“Our work ethic and resourcefulness speak for itself,” Elite founder and managing director Shamar Atkinson told The Gleaner, noting that the company has never advertised or promoted its services.
For Atkinson, Elite’s rise demonstrates that small Jamaican firms can successfully deliver projects to international standards.
WILLINGNESS
The company began by offering painting and construction services, with Atkinson and his younger brother taking on a variety of jobs, including manual labour, to establish the business.
According to Atkinson, Elite’s reputation was built on its willingness to tackle tasks others avoided.
“We started out providing painting and construction services; from there, my brother and I, two young guys, we’re very ambitious, there’s nothing that we turned down. So, he was working at the largest solar plant in the Caribbean, Paradise Park Solar Farm in Paradise, Westmoreland as a labourer and I went in with him.”
A local manager at the site recognised their work ethic and began assigning them additional responsibilities. One challenge, in particular, proved a turning point.
“The water bill at the Paradise Solar plant went up to, like $3 million a month, and nobody could find out what the issue was.
“They asked us if we could find it, I said ‘Yes, sure.’ It was a lot of land, about 20 acres, I got two guys and we used machetes to go around and chop out the bushes to find where the leak was and we found it, cut if off and cap it, and from there they saw how resourceful we were. There was nothing at all they asked us to do where we failed them, so they asked us to take on more jobs.
“So, we started to do like building lunch sheds for them, doing fencing work, vegetation work, any little odd jobs we would basically do it, showing how resourceful we were.
“We actually got the first job which was landscaping, at the site, where we had to hire tractors, bush cutters, to complete the task because it was quite a few acres of land.”
The opportunities expanded. Elite was eventually asked to work directly on the solar installation itself, beginning with a major assignment.
“Our first job there was the re-torqueing the entire plant. You’re looking at 156,000 panels; they asked if we could re-torque every single panel. We did it. That was at Paradise.”
The work impressed French contractor Eiffage Energy, which later referred Elite to Spanish renewable-energy company Grupotec.
“They actually recommended me to another company in Spain, Grupotech, so our work speaks for itself,” Atkinson pointed out.
Grupotec operates solar projects across Europe, Africa, North America and the Caribbean. The relationship prompted Elite to relocate to Kingston in 2023 and begin work on a new wave of projects.
Since then, the company has worked with UK-based Soleco Energy on solar installations for Nutramix and CB Chicken in Linstead and Old Harbour, St Catherine; Marcus Garvey Drive in Kingston; and Free Town, Clarendon.
MORE REFERRALS
“As we said, our work ethic speaks for itself. Grupotec also recommended us to a next company from Spain as well, Nxzen, and that’s how we got to build the CMU solar project. We built the site through them, we being the primary contractor here in Jamaica for them.”
“Masdar provided the funding to Nxzen and Nxzen provided the work for us. We built the site from scratch, the land was a dumped-up area with containers and everything so we had to strip the land, marl the land, spread the land, roll the land, everything from scratch.”
The CMU project introduced a new level of complexity.
“We had to build an entire car port structure, so it was a new experience for us, but the challenge was welcomed because it helped us to grow mentally and individually and also the business as well.
“We had to do a two-part build – one is built on top of the school building with approximately 300 panels on top of the roof, and then everything else is on the carport structure on the ground.
“It was a different experience because it is built to withstand category-five hurricanes so there is a level of strength that was required for it, even the foundation, which goes down six feet in the ground, and the width of the foundation itself is eight feet by four feet.”
Atkinson said the project was completed successfully, with Elite constructing a 620-kilowatt solar plant capable of generating more electricity than the university requires.
carl.gilchrist@gleanerjm.com