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There was a time when many young boys in the Caribbean wanted to play for the West Indies Cricket Team. Ramon Gregorio was one such youth. But he quickly realised that his true joy was analysing human behaviour and mindsets. This led him to start Lucent Research Limited, a full-service market research agency which operates in Trinidad and Tobago with affiliates in sixteen territories throughout the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and Africa. For thirteen years, he has been doing what he loves, but had to meet and beat the usual challenges of organisational growth. Here is his story:

My childhood was filled with many positive moments. I lived in Curepe in an extended family setting with my mother, who was a single parent, my younger brother, two cousins, grandmother and uncle. Life, as I remembered it, was multicultural, fun-filled and simple. I was part of the official Alice Street “Home Boys cricket team”. We played cricket for countless hours each day until we were summoned inside to do homework or take a bath. Inside the family home, there was a rich oral tradition. My grandmother would tell us hilarious stories, even though we may have heard them many times before: like the day she walked from Port of Spain to Arima or when she dove into the dangerous waters off Balandra to retrieve a rock. Those were great days!

In my pre-teen years, I wanted to be a fireman, doctor and even a lawyer but if I am to be very honest, I really wanted to be a West Indian cricketer. But age, brought wisdom.  When I started to examine what I really loved and looked at what brought me great joy, I realised it was listening to people and understanding their moods, their behaviours and mindsets. This is what eventually led me to focus on market research later on.

Throughout my childhood and adolescent years, my mother played an important role in my life because she always gave me the latitude to dream and grow. She provided the stable support at home so that I could pay attention in class and remain focused. Her input was also quite instructive as she helped me to understand people and guided me in navigating life …  whatever path I chose. My uncle Russell, who I grew up with and who nurtured my love of cricket and Mr. Balwant, a teacher at St. Mary’s College, saw the potential in this boy from Curepe. He went to great lengths to ensure that I utilised talents that I possessed and their support was instrumental.

When I decided that I wanted to start Lucent Research Limited in my thirties, I was blessed to have had great support and encouragement to help me launch. But being an unknown entity is a challenge for any new business. I had to prove myself a bit more than the traditional establishments that already existed. I knocked on a lot of doors, sent emails and experienced some disappointment but that fuelled my passion to go even further and dig deeper to produce a brand that people couldn’t resist. All the challenges that I experienced were great opportunities for the next phase and any closed doors, were transformed into opened ones.

During that new business phase and even now, my wife has been my fiercest critic and biggest cheerleader. She has molded my ideas and helped to shape Lucent into the successful brand that it is today. She has also continued to ensure that I remained focused because I tend to chase wild dreams or creations. My mother, brother, brother-in-law, and a close circle of friends, have always been extremely supportive and have continued to look out for Lucent’s best interest.

For 13 years, I have been doing what I love so for those still in the deciding phase, ask yourself, “What is my passion? What am I good at?” and then go into “What problem can I solve?” If you can answer these questions, then your journey has started. We all don’t need to be a doctor, lawyer, fireman or West Indian cricketer to make a difference.

Ramon has an undergraduate degree in Accounting from The UWI, St Augustine and a postgraduate degree in Marketing from London Metropolitan University, United Kingdom. He is a member of many professional research associations and a former lecturer at The UWI. However, his “most important role to date is as a husband and father to two beautiful daughters, aged 8 and 10.” When he is not searching for marketing insights for a client or spending time with his family unit, he can be found with a bat and ball, playing cricket in the yard just like his childhood days on Alice Street.

When I decided that I wanted to start Lucent Research Limited in my thirties, I was blessed to have had great support and encouragement to help me launch. But being an unknown entity is a challenge for any new business. I had to prove myself a bit more than the traditional establishments that already existed. I knocked on a lot of doors, sent emails and experienced some disappointment but that fuelled my passion to go even further and dig deeper to produce a brand that people couldn’t resist. All the challenges that I experienced were great opportunities for the next phase and any closed doors, were transformed into opened ones.

During that new business phase and even now, my wife has been my fiercest critic and biggest cheerleader. She has molded my ideas and helped to shape Lucent into the successful brand that it is today. She has also continued to ensure that I remained focused because I tend to chase wild dreams or creations. My mother, brother, brother-in-law, and a close circle of friends, have always been extremely supportive and have continued to look out for Lucent’s best interest.

For 13 years, I have been doing what I love so for those still in the deciding phase, ask yourself, “What is my passion? What am I good at?” and then go into “What problem can I solve?” If you can answer these questions, then your journey has started. We all don’t need to be a doctor, lawyer, fireman or West Indian cricketer to make a difference.

Ramon has an undergraduate degree in Accounting from The UWI, St Augustine and a postgraduate degree in Marketing from London Metropolitan University, United Kingdom. He is a member of many professional research associations and a former lecturer at The UWI. However, his “most important role to date is as a husband and father to two beautiful daughters, aged 8 and 10.” When he is not searching for marketing insights for a client or spending time with his family unit, he can be found with a bat and ball, playing cricket in the yard just like his childhood days on Alice Street.