Office Administration Sba
ikjnmbDocuments in this section were taken from Douglas Hall’s Grace, Kennedy & Company Limited: A Story of Jamaican Enterprise 1922 to 1992
The Beginning
Grace, Kennedy & Company Limited was founded on February 14, 1922 by Dr. John J. Grace and Mr. Fred William Kennedy. Prior to the founding of Grace, Kennedy, these two gentlemen worked for Grace Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of W.R. Grace & Company of New York City, New York.
In the United States a brief post-war economic boom which lasted from 1918 until the summer of 1921 was followed by an equally brief but sharp recession. Insolvencies tripled between 1919 and 1921. W.R. Grace and Co. of New York felt the pressure and decided to divest its Jamaican branch. Dr. John Grace realized that Grace Limited in Jamaica was not itself a failing concern but that it was being divested in order to relieve the pressure from the parent company in New York. He decided to keep it. Fred W. Kennedy, who recommended that James Moss-Solomon, then with United Fruit Company, be invited to join the new firm as Accountant, backed his decision. Like Kennedy, Moss-Solomon was of Jamaican stock.
Thus on February 14, 1922, St. Valentine’s Day and Fred William Kennedy’s Mother’s Birthday, a new firm, Grace, Kennedy & Company Limited was launched on the successes of its predecessor. The Memorandum of Association gave the Company room to carry on a general mercantile and commercial business and any other business, manufacturing or otherwise, as its Directors deemed desirable ‘…. To enhance the value of or to render profitable any of the company’s property or rights’. It was a widely permissive document. Subject to alteration or addition as the Directors might deem expedient. The Capital of the Company was £25,000 divided into 250 shares of £100 each, with power from time to time to increase the capital.
The first Directors Meeting of Grace, Kennedy & Company Limited was held on February 15, 1922, at the
The Beginning
Grace, Kennedy & Company Limited was founded on February 14, 1922 by Dr. John J. Grace and Mr. Fred William Kennedy. Prior to the founding of Grace, Kennedy, these two gentlemen worked for Grace Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of W.R. Grace & Company of New York City, New York.
In the United States a brief post-war economic boom which lasted from 1918 until the summer of 1921 was followed by an equally brief but sharp recession. Insolvencies tripled between 1919 and 1921. W.R. Grace and Co. of New York felt the pressure and decided to divest its Jamaican branch. Dr. John Grace realized that Grace Limited in Jamaica was not itself a failing concern but that it was being divested in order to relieve the pressure from the parent company in New York. He decided to keep it. Fred W. Kennedy, who recommended that James Moss-Solomon, then with United Fruit Company, be invited to join the new firm as Accountant, backed his decision. Like Kennedy, Moss-Solomon was of Jamaican stock.
Thus on February 14, 1922, St. Valentine’s Day and Fred William Kennedy’s Mother’s Birthday, a new firm, Grace, Kennedy & Company Limited was launched on the successes of its predecessor. The Memorandum of Association gave the Company room to carry on a general mercantile and commercial business and any other business, manufacturing or otherwise, as its Directors deemed desirable ‘…. To enhance the value of or to render profitable any of the company’s property or rights’. It was a widely permissive document. Subject to alteration or addition as the Directors might deem expedient. The Capital of the Company was £25,000 divided into 250 shares of £100 each, with power from time to time to increase the capital.
The first Directors Meeting of Grace, Kennedy & Company Limited was held on February 15, 1922, at the