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 gal-livanting 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, mar-ketable 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”.

Monique’s creation, www.roamingdon-key.com, came from the an idea that she had that she could create a guide that people could get around with by tailor-ing their sources while getting usable in-formation about the places that they in-tended 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

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 com-panies 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

so far as it is evident that more and more Jamaicans are getting into eat-ing out. Monique herself holds the FourSquare(a location-based social net-working application) mayorship of two of New Kingston’s hottest eateries in Sweetwood Jerk Center and Cannon-ball Café. So where do you see Roaming Donkey in five years? “I want Roaming Donkey to be the go to guide for any-one 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”

Web DeveloperThe Roaming

yourmoney ezine

start upsbyAndreBurnett

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“I didn’t want it to work like a directory, because that’s what a directory is for”

Monique Powell

bussiness lounge

yourmoney ezine

n May of 2009, Jamaica’s Minister of Industry, Investment and Com-

merce, Karl Samuda said during his con-tribution 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 get-ting 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 Eng-lish speaking Caribbean have always surfaced, with the two countries seem-ing 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 To-bago (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 manu-facturing sector to Trinidad, and our Caribbean brothers and sisters to the south are slowly letting us know the im-plications of this.

In the first week of November 2010, a weather system named Tomas began a menacing run affecting a number of is-lands 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 as-sist the region but there must be some-thing 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 To-bago. A tall order if anyone bothered to look at half the things we consume and use daily.

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 can-not see why Trinidad would see us as worthy trade partners. We have gone out of our way to build their manufac-turing sector and then borrow money to buy the things that they send back to us. The paradox of it all is so mindbog-gling that it is tiring.

Was it wrong of the T&T leader to im-ply that if reconstruction aid was be-ing given out, Trinidadian companies

should be tipped to carry out the con-tracts? 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 anal-ogy makes sense. Of course being Ja-maican, my sensibilities are offended by her statements but we’ve put ourselves in this position so we can’t exactly feign

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 bel-lyaching.

TRinidad and Jamaica:an alternative angle

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She didn’t say she didn’t want to help, but she just didn’t want to be an Automated Teller Machine.

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here is something about work-ing at a company that does business in a booming indus-

try; 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

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 specu-lation because no matter how candid we all are about sex, religion, or even death, salary discussions might be ta-boo 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 dis-comfort, as workers realize that col-leagues they thought were on the same pay-grade as themselves are earning a bit more. Speculation would ensue as to the reasons for such dis-parity, human resources might be flooded with inquiries, but in the end we could end up better off.

Imagine negotiating a pay raise with the power that comes with knowing

exactly what your colleagues negoti-ated 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 compet-ing about financial health rather than superficial items? It could happen; it would be a paradigm shift, but so was talking openly about sexuality and re-ligious preferences. The problem is, who starts telling first?

The salaRy

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insights

A lot of the insecurity that is displayed by needless spending comes from the fact that we’re speculating on how much others make.

byAndreBurnett

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