The Military Man in Charge of DameSara Grocery Store
Jean Numa Goudou ·
Thanks to a $4 million investment from Dr. Gracia Étienne, Damesara grocery store is getting closer to its target clientele by acquiring a $2 million building in Montréal-Nord.
At six foot four with an imposing build, Isaac Bosquet, 40, is tailor-made for the Canadian Forces. He enlisted as soon as he could after arriving in Canada in 2008 as an asylum seeker and trained in Aeronautical Techniques. He is a specialist in aircraft landing systems.
Isaac graduated second in his class and loves the military. "I still have my veteran card. I always have it with me," he tells us proudly. But while he was based in Trenton (Ontario) during COVID in 2020, he joined his family bubble as recommended by health guidelines, hoping to return.
However, things didn't go as planned and he couldn't return to his base. He then tried to find a position in Quebec when it became possible to resume his duties, but there were no full-time positions here. He has a wife and children who need bread and butter on the table.
Born in Cité-Soleil (the largest slum in Port-au-Prince) and accustomed to resourcefulness, the serviceman decided to launch a small business selling soaps, paws and deodorants to Haiti. He then created a website Damesara.ca to sell Caribbean grocery products online.
DameSara was born.
"The Haitian restaurant Koupé dwèt was our first client," he still remembers today.
Isaac takes up his pilgrim's staff and scours Greater Montreal in search of Haitian markets. He identifies about 400 of them. Of this number, half do business with him today.
Isaac takes risks, even with his family. He mortgages the family home and recovers $100,000 which he throws into the project like a message in a bottle filled with his own calculations.
He knocks on every door: Afro-Entrepreneur, PME-Mtl, FACE, Groupe 3737 for entrepreneurship training and financing. For six years, he pitches his idea to everyone until he gathers a hundred investors around him, including Dr. Gracia Étienne who says he's betting on his "transparency" in business.
The latter just injected 4 million dollars into the company, making him the majority shareholder in place of Isaac Bosquet. "Fortunately for me. Because it will be easier to support the growth," he says with almost a smile in his voice.
Since 2020, Isaac Bosquet wasn't drawing a salary, living off his wife whom he doesn't fail to thank. "It was Dr. Gracia who found it wasn't fair that I didn't have a salary. All this time, it was my wife's salary that supported the whole family," confides the CEO of DameSara in an interview with In Texto.
"Yes, it cost my family dearly. I haven't been there often for my children," he laments.
Yet, he made sure employees got their due. Like Lili Cao, a woman of Asian origin, who, after an internship, wanted to work for free at first. Same for Kamal Subramaniam, an accountant of Indian origin who lost his job during COVID and has been working as a driver for three years at Damesara. Or Ulrick Bosquet.
He presented them with a plaque on November 18th, during the shareholders' general meeting as a sign of gratitude for their involvement.
Isaac never stops learning. After a Certificate from HEC in Logistics and Operations, he takes continuing education courses in economics, because he wants to list DameSara on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
He also never stops convincing people from the community to engage in the DameSara adventure. From a small business selling soaps, paws and deodorants, he now manages a 5 million dollar investment.
It supplies halal meat to prisons. It has as clients for various products the Ministry of Public Security, the Quebec Aquarium, the Ministry of Transportation, the Société de la Baie James and the Montreal Biodome who trust it in business.
Isaac is considering growth through strategic acquisition and hopes to modernize Haitian markets by launching into business succession (buying small businesses within the community), because "there is no succession."
"My goal is not to earn a big salary. I would have preferred to pay a CEO to do what I do: bring people together and create within the community," Isaac dreams.