start ups by Andre Burnett
The Roaming Web Developer
so far as it is evident that more and more Jamaicans are getting into eating out. Monique herself holds the FourSquare(a location-based social networking application) mayorship of two of New Kingston’s hottest eateries in Sweetwood Jerk Center and Cannonball Café. So where do you see Roaming Donkey in five years? “I want Roaming Donkey to be the go to guide for anyone living in the Caribbean or visiting the Caribbean,” says Monique, “I want to grow Roamie but in a way that the relevance is not lost and the initial goal of the site is still maintained”
S
o…Roaming Donkey? “Kinda strange huh?” Twenty six year old Web Developer and Designer, Monique Powell responds to my question with a knowing smile that indicates that she’s used to having to explain the reason behind naming her website after a gallivanting mammal. “When I first came up with the name I thought, Wow that’s kinda cool”, says Monique, “I told some friends but they just laughed at me but it immediately struck me as the kind of name that I could build a quirky, fun, marketable brand around”. I laugh, “well it certainly is quirky but it works”. “That’s just it!”Monique says, “I didn’t want it to b something as plain and forgettable as jamaicanplaces.com or something like that”.
“I didn’t want it to work like a directory, because that’s what a directory is for” Monique’s creation, www.roamingdonkey.com, came from the an idea that she had that she could create a guide that people could get around with by tailoring their sources while getting usable information about the places that they intended to visit. “I didn’t want it to work like a directory, because that’s what a directory is for” says the self taught web developer who studied business at the University of the West Indies. The site has only been up for a month but has caught the attention of a number of industry insiders with its unique mix of social media, information storing and
Monique Powell
advertisment
good old fashioned community as users create and share content. “In the first month of operation we had 25,000 visitors and 3000 unique page visits”, says Monique, “It hasn’t been bad for a first month of very little promotion and no marketing.” The website allows users to write reviews and post ratings which are an integral part of keeping the website viable and useful. “This aspect of the website can be instrumental for businesses who want to gain feedback from actual people on the ground. It is this aspect of the site that Monique is most excited about. “We eventually want to offer the possibility of posting specials at different venues which companies can post through listings that they have created or existing listings”, says the young entrepreneur. Roaming Donkey’s resident traveler Roamie’s reviews of restaurants has proven to be the most popular aspect yourmoney ezine
bussiness lounge
I
Trinidad and Jamaica: an alternative angle
n May of 2009, Jamaica’s Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Karl Samuda said during his contribution to the budget debate that he was displeased with an alleged blocking of Jamaican exports to Trinidad, through the use of non-tariff barriers. At the time, Mr. Samuda said he had received news from an established manufacturer that they had been blocked from getting an import license in Trinidad, until the officials had performed a site visit in Jamaica. Cue righteous outrage and subsequent acceptance. Of course, reports of such alleged dealings between the two largest and most competitive countries in the English speaking Caribbean have always surfaced, with the two countries seeming like prizefighters on opposite ends of the fighting circuit. Jamaica, the pearl of the 1970s, has seen its potential go largely to waste while Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) has seen its fortunes rise steadily. The 15 to one trade imbalance in favour of the twin island republic that was reported in 2009 brought a number of things into sharp focus for the Jamaicans who bothered to look. It seems we have outsourced our manufacturing sector to Trinidad, and our Caribbean brothers and sisters to the south are slowly letting us know the implications of this. In the first week of November 2010, a weather system named Tomas began a menacing run affecting a number of islands in the Lesser Antilles, and looked sure to threaten Jamaica and the unfor-
tunate Haiti. In a statement, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad-Bissessar said, among other things, that Trinidad would look to assist the region but there must be something in it for Trinidad. Of course her statements, which she contends were taken out of context, were met with venom in the public arena with many persons calling for immediate boycott of all products from Trinidad and Tobago. A tall order if anyone bothered to look at half the things we consume and use daily.
should be tipped to carry out the contracts? Maybe it was wrong of her to say it then and there, but it isn’t wrong of her to want this for her country. Maybe it is this type of looking out for number one that needs to be employed by our leaders. She didn’t say she didn’t want to help, but she just didn’t want to be an Automated Teller Machine. She wants to be a credit union; if that analogy makes sense. Of course being Jamaican, my sensibilities are offended by her statements but we’ve put ourselves in this position so we can’t exactly feign advertisment
She didn’t say she didn’t want to help, but she just didn’t want to be an Automated Teller Machine. It is obvious that Trinidad is feeling the effects of being the rich kid that has to play with the poor kids at school simply because of where he lives. After being asked to front the money for a broken play thing one time too many, the rich kid begins to feel a little bit resentful and frankly, I don’t blame them one bit. If we imported over half a billion US dollars worth of products and only exported US$21 million in 2009, I cannot see why Trinidad would see us as worthy trade partners. We have gone out of our way to build their manufacturing sector and then borrow money to buy the things that they send back to us. The paradox of it all is so mindboggling that it is tiring.
righteous indignation. I say, boo hoo. Let’s forget Trinidad for a minute and work on re-establishing ourselves to at least equal footing and quit the bellyaching.
Was it wrong of the T&T leader to imply that if reconstruction aid was being given out, Trinidadian companies yourmoney ezine
insights by Andre Burnett
the salary
T
taboo
here is something about working at a company that does business in a booming industry; there is just an almost carefree attitude towards spending on fellow employees or spending altogether. I worked at an alumina plant in high school, and in college I worked in the purchasing department of an airport. The feeling of security was evident from the ease with which lunch could be bought for an entire department, or how easily the after work drink tab could be picked up by the bearer or one of the gardeners.
I mention the bearer because he was an enigma of sorts; he would hop off his little company motorcycle in the afternoons and get onto his brand new motorcycle, hop into his new Honda Accord or get one of his
A lot of the insecurity that is displayed by needless spending comes from the fact that we’re speculating on how much others make. route taxis to pick him up. I suppose he rotated it according to the days of the week or his mood. In companies where office workers hold on to the façade of prestige, but the men and women who work on the ground hop into the nicer cars to go to the nicer neighbourhoods, salary speculation is always a hot topic. And I say speculation because no matter how candid we all are about sex, religion, or even death, salary discussions might be taboo among co-workers. The question however is, should it be? People keep their earnings, debts and savings a secret because we were taught to be private in that regard, but if the salary disclosure of our CEOs, public officials and sports figures are meant to keep them honest, could that work for us too? I suppose if the earnings of everyone in a company were suddenly released via internal email then there might be some discomfort, as workers realize that colleagues they thought were on the same pay-grade as themselves are earning a bit more. Speculation would ensue as to the reasons for such disparity, human resources might be flooded with inquiries, but in the end we could end up better off.
exactly what your colleagues negotiated and received. Bosses might lose some power in that area, but they receive the opportunity to say “Well, that’s what Johnny Boy is getting, why do you think you should get more?” It’s all a bit of give and take, but I daresay it could lead to a less stressful financial existence. A lot of the insecurity that is displayed by needless spending comes from the fact that we’re speculating on how much others make. People change cars because they assume that’s what others who are supposedly in their pay bracket are doing. If our debts and earnings were public knowledge,
would we find ourselves competing about financial health rather than superficial items? It could happen; it would be a paradigm shift, but so was talking openly about sexuality and religious preferences. The problem is, who starts telling first?
Imagine negotiating a pay raise with the power that comes with knowing yourmoney ezine
$3&%*54 16#-*4)&3
F;JOFT -JNJUFE 4VJUF 5FDIOPMPHZ *OOPWBUJPO $FOUFS 6OJWFSTJUZ PG 5FDIOPMPHZ 0ME )PQF 3PBE ,JOHTUPO 5FMFQIPOF ."/"(*/( %*3&$503
5ZSPOF 8JMTPO
.0/&:
:063 .0/&: 3&1035&34
"OESF #VSOFUU %&4*(/ "/% -":065
8BSSFO #VDLMF
XXX ZPVSNPOFZF[JOF DPN
46#4$3*15*0/
TVCTDSJQUJPO!ZPVSNPOFZF[JOF DPN
4FOE VT ZPVS DPNNFOUT UP FEJUPS!ZPVSNPOFZF[JOF DPN
&%*503*"-
FEJUPS!ZPVSNPOFZF[JOF DPN :PVS .POFZ F;JOF JT B QSPEVDU PG F;JOFT -JNJUFE BOE JT EJTUSJCVUFE WJB F NBJM BOE PUIFS POMJOF TPVSDFT TVDI BT GBDFCPPL 5P TVCTDSJCF '3&& MPH PO UP XXX ZPVSNPOFZF[JOF DPN UPEBZ PS FNBJM UP TVCTDSJQUJPO! TVCTDSJQUJPO!ZPVSNPOFZF[JOF DPN
&BDI UJNF ZPV SFBE :PVS .POFZ F;JOF ZPV BSF TVQQPSUJOH UIF mHIU BHBJOTU HMPCBM XBSNJOH BOE BMTP B NPWF UPXBSET FDP GSJFOEMZ QSPEVDUT
Read Your Money today...
© 2010 eZines Limited. All Rights Reserved