Where do great business ideas come from? For Shamar Thomas, a young farmer from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, his entrepreneurial journey began with the surprising sound of a shovel turning over the family lawn. His story offers practical, counter-intuitive lessons for anyone interested in business, passion, and the art of seeing opportunity.
In an interview with the API, Shamar said he was exposed to farming from an early age by his father. However, for him a single event crystallized the business potential of agriculture. He came home from school one day to find that his father had dug up their entire green lawn. The reason was simple economics: the cost of maintenance was a constant drain. His father replaced the grass with eggplant, transforming a recurring expense into a source of income.
The results were immediate and tangible. As Shamar recalls, his father would drive him to school in a jeep packed with “eight garbage bag full of eggplant,” which he would sell at the market after dropping his son off. The lawn went from a liability to a cash-flow-positive asset overnight.
“He tell me, ‘Sha, you have to pay too much money to cut the lawn and maintain the lawn.’ … he making money off the lawn now before he used to have to to cut the lawn and now he making money.”
A common assumption in business, especially agriculture, is that more is better—more land, more resources, more scale. Shamar’s experience proves the opposite. He argues that a small farm operating as a resilient, data-informed agricultural engine will always outperform a large one running on hope and tradition.
His 5,000-square-foot farm is more productive than a colleague’s 5-acre operation—an area over 40 times larger. The difference isn’t the land; it’s the strategic implementation of modern systems. For Shamar, climate change makes this approach a necessity. “If you just rely on the rain to fall and wet your crops,” he warns, “you’re planning to fail.”
Instead, he’s building a future-proof farm with:
• Targeted Water Management: Planning for rain harvesting projects and using different irrigation for different crops—efficient drip irrigation for tomatoes and wider-coverage sprinkler systems for lettuce.
• Renewable Energy: His chicken pen is powered by solar panels on the roof, a tangible example of using technology to create a self-sufficient and resilient operation.
• Data-Driven Decisions: He plans to implement data tracking to monitor crop yields, turning intuition into information and enabling consistent production.
• Controlled Environments: His vision includes investing in greenhouse technologies to create a stable environment, eliminating variables and ultimately making produce more affordable.
“So, a farm is not just the amount of land you have is the systems that you put in place on that farm… that makes a farm a farm… in retrospect my 5,000 square ft of land that I have my farm on right now is more valuable than a 5-acre piece of land…”
As a graduate student, Shamar’s path shows that fulfillment often lies elsewhere. With a bachelor’s degree in Geographic Information Systems, he initially sought jobs in land surveying but found the work unfulfilling.
The true turning point came when his father presented him with a challenge: sell a surplus of lettuce and keep the profits. That experience ignited a passion and revealed a natural talent for sales he hadn’t fully realized he possessed. It was this hands-on, practical test—not his degree—that set him on his current path.
“…I believe that he gave me the talent of salesmanship. So, my mother always um encouraged me to find something that I could sell, you know, and daddy just provide me with that avenue with the vegetables.”
When asked for his core advice to other young people, Shamar’s answer is direct and actionable: “just get started.” He emphasizes that you don’t need a grand, perfectly funded plan to begin.
He uses the tangible example of starting with just one bed of lettuce and selling it to friends, family, and schoolmates. His philosophy is that business ideas are not born fully formed; they gain clarity and direction only through the process of doing the work.
“Every business starts with an idea, and ideas do not come out fully formed. They only become clear as you work on them. So, as you start to work on your idea, you’ll have a better understanding on the direction that you need to go. So, my advice to the young people is just get started.”
The young farmer says his vision extends beyond supplying the tourism sector. He aims to provide fresh produce to hospitals and schools, adding a layer of social mission to his commercial success.