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New Business Incubator Up And Running
Published: Monday | July 22, 2013
From left Wilfred Baghaloo, Senator Imani Duncan-Price, and Kirk Hamilton pose for The Gleaner at the launch of JGX Labs on July 18 at Bolt's Tracks & Records. - Colin Hamilton/Photographer
Sacha Walters-Gregory, Staff Reporter
On Thursday evening, JGX Labs, a technology incubator, was officially launched at Bolt's Tracks & Records in Kingston.
Four local software companies, three of which are start-ups, are a part of the technology incubator which is helping to turn the ideas of young software developers into feasible businesses and offer the more established software businesses an international customer base.
"The tech industry in Jamaica is growing though it's nascent. It's growing and we have some of the key factors in place for more incubators like JGX Labs to be established," said Senator Imani Duncan-Price, who has responsibility for business development, partnerships, as well as strategy at JGX Labs. Duncan-Price emphasised that the company's CEO and majority of the team members were from the University of the West Indies, an institution which sometimes is not at the top of persons' minds when it comes to innovation.
business model
Only two and half months old, the technology incubator is the brainchild of J.J. Geewax, vice-president, engineering, of Invite Media, an advertising technology company based in New York City, which was acquired by Google in 2010.
"What we're trying to do here is build something that can do more than your standard venture capital," said Geewax, who is responsible for technology decisions and overseeing strategy of the incubator. The business model focuses less on purely monetary investment up front and provides more diverse expertise to support the new businesses.
The companies are provided with free office space, Internet, mentorship and guidance in the coding and software development, legal advice and business development training so they can concentrate on creating market-relevant software.
"That's a huge advantage that changes a whole lot of things," said Geewax. He emphasised that this is an experiment which if it fails, they will learn from their mistakes and try the experiment again. This is a mantra which is followed in the incubator daily.
The other key facilitator is Ashley-Ann Robinson-Foster who provides legal advice.
The audience was walked through a demonstration by Blaze Payments Limited of their mobile payment tool which allows patrons to purchase, for instance, food items from a set of merchants in Blaze's network. The patron would top up their account with a credit card or from credit transferred from another friend.
With some hiccups, the demonstration got off to a slow start but they emphasised the incubator's experiment mantra and noted that the software was still in the beta stage and that they craved feedback.
The other companies are Hireforge Solutions Limited whose product is an online application tracking and hiring pipeline system which focuses on small companies who need to track and efficiently execute their hiring process. Check Flow Solutions Limited, an "internal version of Twitter", is focused on helping small companies keep track of what everyone is up to on a daily basis by using the daily reminder and team summary emails. EduFocal Limited is the only established company with an online learning website focused on training and test-taking to prepare students in Jamaica for GSAT and CXC exams. The long-term goal of EduFocal is to tackle the corporate learning market.
'The tech industry in Jamaica is growing though it's nascent. It's growing and we have some of the key factors in place for more incubators like JGX Labs to be established.'
Published: Monday | July 22, 2013
From left Wilfred Baghaloo, Senator Imani Duncan-Price, and Kirk Hamilton pose for The Gleaner at the launch of JGX Labs on July 18 at Bolt's Tracks & Records. - Colin Hamilton/Photographer
Sacha Walters-Gregory, Staff Reporter
On Thursday evening, JGX Labs, a technology incubator, was officially launched at Bolt's Tracks & Records in Kingston.
Four local software companies, three of which are start-ups, are a part of the technology incubator which is helping to turn the ideas of young software developers into feasible businesses and offer the more established software businesses an international customer base.
"The tech industry in Jamaica is growing though it's nascent. It's growing and we have some of the key factors in place for more incubators like JGX Labs to be established," said Senator Imani Duncan-Price, who has responsibility for business development, partnerships, as well as strategy at JGX Labs. Duncan-Price emphasised that the company's CEO and majority of the team members were from the University of the West Indies, an institution which sometimes is not at the top of persons' minds when it comes to innovation.
business model
Only two and half months old, the technology incubator is the brainchild of J.J. Geewax, vice-president, engineering, of Invite Media, an advertising technology company based in New York City, which was acquired by Google in 2010.
"What we're trying to do here is build something that can do more than your standard venture capital," said Geewax, who is responsible for technology decisions and overseeing strategy of the incubator. The business model focuses less on purely monetary investment up front and provides more diverse expertise to support the new businesses.
The companies are provided with free office space, Internet, mentorship and guidance in the coding and software development, legal advice and business development training so they can concentrate on creating market-relevant software.
"That's a huge advantage that changes a whole lot of things," said Geewax. He emphasised that this is an experiment which if it fails, they will learn from their mistakes and try the experiment again. This is a mantra which is followed in the incubator daily.
The other key facilitator is Ashley-Ann Robinson-Foster who provides legal advice.
The audience was walked through a demonstration by Blaze Payments Limited of their mobile payment tool which allows patrons to purchase, for instance, food items from a set of merchants in Blaze's network. The patron would top up their account with a credit card or from credit transferred from another friend.
With some hiccups, the demonstration got off to a slow start but they emphasised the incubator's experiment mantra and noted that the software was still in the beta stage and that they craved feedback.
The other companies are Hireforge Solutions Limited whose product is an online application tracking and hiring pipeline system which focuses on small companies who need to track and efficiently execute their hiring process. Check Flow Solutions Limited, an "internal version of Twitter", is focused on helping small companies keep track of what everyone is up to on a daily basis by using the daily reminder and team summary emails. EduFocal Limited is the only established company with an online learning website focused on training and test-taking to prepare students in Jamaica for GSAT and CXC exams. The long-term goal of EduFocal is to tackle the corporate learning market.
'The tech industry in Jamaica is growing though it's nascent. It's growing and we have some of the key factors in place for more incubators like JGX Labs to be established.'
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