Getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to Marc-Arnold Christophe and Ryan Ferguson.

Their terminations gave them the freedom and spark to launch their own business, True Green, a landscaping company.

The 23-year-olds met in 2012, at their first job. They were hired by a landscaping company primarily servicing gated communities and up-scale properties, with the duo bringing to bear the experience of their teenage years when they worked part-time in yard maintenance for neighbours and friends.

For Mr Christophe, landscaping was a hobby, enabling him to earn extra cash while he pursued his dream of joining the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) and ultimately becoming a detective. Mr Ferguson, too, wanted to join the force with the goal of saving enough funds to invest in his own landscaping business.

When Mr Christophe was terminated from his job in 2016, it shocked him and prompted some soul-searching. "I felt like I did everything right and they let me go," he said. "It hurt. That was my first job.

"I had been there five years and was let go without severance pay. I thought at the time: 'So this is what it was like working for someone after all the sweat, blood and tears you put in'."

Before seeking employment elsewhere, Mr Christophe formed True Green in February that year. He reached out to his former co-worker and friend, Mr Ferguson, to share the good news.

Although he had received two promotions from the landscaping company, Mr Ferguson had left his first job for greener pastures after only a year-and-a-half. Chasing pay increases, he had changed jobs twice since then and was working with a company catering to a predominantly Lyford Cay clientele.

"I was happy for him. I was always ready to go big. We had talked about forming a business before, but he wasn't ready. He thought I was dreaming too big," said Mr Ferguson. "I told him if I ever lost my job I would come and join him."

Shortly after forming True Green, Mr Christophe accepted a job with a well-established landscaping company, having exhausted his savings purchasing a truck, tools and equipment for the new business. He stayed with the firm for six months before resigning.

In the meantime, Mr Ferguson was thriving working with his third lawn maintenance company. By 2016, he had been promoted to foreman, having spent many hours enhancing his knowledge, studying online, and implementing what he had learnt.

"My boss started to give me bigger yards. Then he took the skilled guys from me and gave me recruits," he recalled. "So he wanted me to train guys and push out these big yards. I didn't have a problem doing it. The problem was at the end of the day if I didn't complete a job I was penalised, not the guys. Plus, there was no additional compensation."

Becoming increasingly frustrated, Mr Ferguson came into conflict with his superiors and was ultimately let go.

The journey from terminated employees to owners has not been easy, the duo said. They have had to work out issues in their partnership, pursue self-development opportunities and exercise a willingness to make personal sacrifices for the sake of the business.

Family support was crucial in those early days when Mr Christophe's mother, or Mr Ferguson's grandmother, would provide lunch for the pair and their helpers since money was scarce.

"It has been a learning experience," said Mr Christophe. When the pair went full-time into their business venture they would head out to look for work around 9am. "We had to learn time management," added Mr Ferguson. "Now we leave home at 6am.

"On weekends we would go to upscale communities, hand out business cards, knock on people's doors, just be a pest, a nuisance, until people got tired and gave us a job.

"People saw that we were young and wanted to work instead of being out there doing dumb things. In the beginning, they didn't have much work for us, but they would find things for us to do to keep us busy, to keep us encouraged, and to keep us going."

For the duo, failure was not an option. "We were just hungry," said Mr Christophe, thinking back to the early days when the pair went to local radio stations in an attempt to 'cold-pitch' hosts on letting them appear as guests on a show.

The strategy paid off at the Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas (BCB) where, for two days straight, they staked out popular radio show host, Darold Miller. He expanded their idea into a show centred upon entrepreneurship.

"That was the biggest come-up of our career," said Mr Ferguson of the April 2016 appearance.

Another milestone occurred that year when Mr Ferguson obtained a $10,000 grant from OWN Bahamas, an entrepreneurial initiative sponsored by Island Luck. The money was invested in tools and equipment for the business.

The education and mentorship opportunities associated with the grant enabled the pair to meet with the likes of Paul Major, Ed Fields and Robert Sands. They were also able to participate in small business development classes offered at the University of the Bahamas (then College of The Bahamas).

"Other guys are worried about cars, vanity and other expenses. We cut back on a lot of things in our day-to-day life, like partying. We don't do that," said Mr Ferguson.

Mr Christophe echoed similar sentiments. "It's about living within your means," he added. "We're not sinking profits into our pockets, or our bank accounts. We are investing it back into the business."

Aside from the owners, True Green has a workforce of two. That number swelled to 20 in the wake of Hurricane Matthew when the restoration effort in New Providence was at its peak.

True Green currently has a 40-strong client base, although the business attracts new customers daily.

The duo are continuing to expand, and are working to secure storage space, another truck and, ultimately, a brick and mortar storefront.

"Our goal is to have dedicated crews for maintenance, landscape, irrigation and interiorscape (using plants to decorate inside a building)," said Mr Ferguson. "We believe the sky is the limit."