I started writing at 14 or 15 years old, officially and deliberately. After an almost 5 year break, I am writing again.

Writing...writing without AI now feels like a niche endeavour; a lost art and that's exactly why I am doing it. I am making a commitment publicly to write my posts on here without the use of AI. This is not some philosophical stance or anything of sort, I just genuinely enjoy writing...manually?

Here are the specific reasons why I am not going to write or edit my blog posts with AI:

• I enjoy writing, plain and simple. The gratification from writing by hand is indescribable.
• It's a great way to keep my mind sharp

Ironically, I love Generative AI and will be sharing on here how I use it in my life and the impact I believe it will have on Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean.

Also, please subscribe to my newsletter. I will talk about parts of my Entrepreneurial journey that I don't speak about publicly...family, friendships and specifically life as the youngest CEO of a publicly traded Jamaican company and the youngest person to ever list a company in the Caribbean. The newsletter Sub info form is below this post.

Thank you for joining me on my small corner of the internet; a place that I've held for almost 20 years with pride.

More Anon.

I want to add to that though. Yes, take it one year at a time, but also plan, produce, play and protect together because the version of the person you marry may not be the same version of the person you’re married to a year, two or even 10 years later.

Plan: Plan your individual futures, but also plan your collective future. It’s important to work on the future of US. 

Produce: Planning is useless without producing value for yourselves and for your marriage. Value should not only be thought about, it should be created. 

Play: I mean, this one is simple. Life can be challenging, but don’t forget to have fun while you’re on the journey. It’s ok to make a fool of yourself sometimes. Lighten up and don’t take yourself too seriously. We’re here for a good time, not a long time. So, we may as well laugh for much of the time.

Protect: Protect the sanctity of your marriage. Protect each other emotionally, spiritually and physically. In all things God comes first, your wife after. 

There’s nobody else in this world that I would rather be sharing those 4Ps with. My wife, Kemesha, has been my source of comfort, my best friend, my muse and my inspiration. What a blessing it is to call her my Wife and now, mother of my son, Alexander John-Lloyd Swaby. I credit any major growth of self to her as she has made me a better man; a kinder, more thoughtful man and I’m so excited about spending the rest of my life with her. 

Happy Anniversary to US.

Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2020-11-30 (recovered from the Internet Archive).

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”. I came across that phrase from Charles Dickins’ 1859 historical novel, when it was used by a good friend of mine, Andre Burnett, in an article a few years ago. I believe that the aforementioned phrase aptly describes 2020. For while I celebrate the birth of my son, I also mourn the death of a good friend; all while in the middle of a global pandemic. I mean, that’s a lot of emotions to process, to say the least.

In all of this, in all this chaos, in all this despair, I celebrate the life of a friend, a fellow entrepreneur, a father and a husband. Andre (Dre), I miss you.

For my company, EduFocal, it truly has been a groundbreaking year for us, truly, our best year ever. From private equity investment from one of our largest brokers locally, being able to grant free access to our platform to more than 60,000 students because of the support of corporate partners when traditional schooling was interrupted, to creating opportunities for many people in the middle of a pandemic, I am truly humbled by all of the opportunities we’ve received.

Becoming 30 is a milestone, and while I would have loved to have a big party with friends and family to celebrate this milestone year, I am always comforted that my circle of support is big; BIG, BIG, BIG! Starting with my head cheerleader, my beautiful wife, Kemesha Swaby, my parents, my siblings and my friends, thank you, thank you for lifting me up, cheering me on and providing support when I needed it. Thank you to the EduFocal team, an amazing team, who truly ignored the noise, focused and executed in an unbelievably challenging year.

I’ve never spoken about this before, but 3 years ago I created the first page of a prospectus, framed it with a listing date of October 16, 2020 and placed it in our bedroom. Little did I know at the time that while 2020 would be our best year ever, it would also be the year of a global pandemic. While our IPO hasn’t happened this year, it is within sight and will happen when the timing is right.

To my son…

Writing this annual blog post has become more meaningful to me because I know that one day you’ll be able to visit my blog and appreciate the growth of your father, from as early as 16 years old!

With the support of your ‘Mama Turtle’, I know that you’ll be a smarter, kinder and more empathetic human being than I could ever be. I know that you will learn from my mistakes and benefit from my successes. As I write this, you’re a little over 3 months old and my greatest blessing is to wake each day to see how happy and cheerful you are about life. My son, I need no greater motivation. When I chose to marry your mom, I knew that she’d not only make a great wife, but also a great mother. Turns out, I was right. I’ve seen how caring, patient and thoughtful she is with your intellectual, spiritual and physical growth. It is a blessing and a privilege to have you both in my life.

To my Wife…

I promise to always protect, provide and be the priest of our family. Thank you for being patient with me, thank you for praying for me, thank you for taking care of me, thank you for taking care of us.

In a few days we’ll celebrate our first year of marriage. Some marriages didn’t survive this pandemic, but ours has; in fact, it has become stronger. Thank you for carrying our child for all of 9 months. If I could, I would have helped to carry him too.

As I said in my note to you on the day I proposed, choosing to marry you wasn’t a hard decision to make, but I had to make myself ready to permanently stand with such a strong, phenomenal woman in my life to continue to grow with, learn from and love selflessly. When love is not enough, everything else is.

As our trainer regularly says, “There’s nothing challenging happening in our lives that we can’t handle.” As we close in on 1 year of marriage, I promise to stay faithful to you, I promise to protect you and our son, and I promise to do my best to aid in your growth.

I ended my “On becoming 29” blog post by saying that I wanted to act as an enabler of people. I wanted to create pathways and ongoing opportunities for growth. While 2020 didn’t go exactly as planned, I’m happy with what I’ve been able to achieve this year, despite all the craziness that has happened around us.

To all the people in my circle, thank you for being on this journey with me, thank you for trusting me. I hope that we can go into 2021 stronger with renewed hope and optimism for the future.

Here’s to a milestone year and continued growth. Here’s to 30.

Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2020-11-18 (recovered from the Internet Archive).

This year was all about change, big ones and small ones.

The biggest change this year was my decision to give my life to Christ, a decision that has affected me in so many ways.

Another big change in my life, happened on January 14, 2019. I decided to propose to my then girlfriend, now fiancee and wife-to-be (November 30, 2019), Kemesha Kelly. 

Proverbs 18:22 says, “He who finds a wife, finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord.” I love that verse, but I haven’t found a good thing, I’ve found a GREAT thing. And to be honest, that’s still putting it mildly.

On finding favor with the Lord, I mentioned that I let go, and let God. I really have done just that this year. I’ve let go of problematic habits (mostly), problematic friendships and associations. 

The status quo is sometimes a safe place, but a safe place doesn’t always encourage and stimulate growth; growth really does happen outside of your comfort zone. What is, was created and crafted by you, sometimes deliberately so, sometimes not, but ultimately you have the power to effect the change you want to see in your life. You can’t control outcomes, but you can influence them. It can be unnerving, but when change nudges you, listen. EduFocal’s team size, for example, went down to 3 people from a high of 6, to now ending the year at almost 15 people. Change called, I listened and we’re so much better for it.

My wife, yes, I am calling her my wife now, has brought so many blessings into my life. She has helped me to become a kinder, more thoughtful and patient person. I am not deserving, but I am thankful to have her by my side. I can’t wait to make everything official later this month. Kemesha deserves her own post, so I’m not going to spend anymore time writing about her in this post, even though I want to! 

Back to EduFocal. This year we:

• Experienced unprecedented growth
• Grew our team significantly
• Moved offices
• Hired a full-time sales team
• Grew our engineering team
• Launched a sister company called EduFocal Business Ltd ( I’ll speak more on this at a later date)

In letting God, I’ve nurtured new friendships and strengthened old ones. I have more opportunities than I could have imagined at the start of this year. Honestly, I can’t recall having this many opportunities at any point in my life. For that I am thankful and as I grow I have an even stronger, burning desire to help others and pay it forward. 

On Productivity

When I started 2019, I knew it would be one of the busiest and most challenging years of my life. I have juggled many things this year. Moving offices, traveling, wedding planning, hiring, maintaining and growing friendships and so much more. I’ve struggled and continue to struggle in certain areas of my life; one major area being exercise. However, I’ve found myself not getting sick as often, even with my helter skelter exercise regimen. 

With that in mind, I knew that the only way for me to not only survive 2019, but thrive was to be deliberate about my own productivity. I analyzed varying points of my life and in each instance, I asked myself, “How can I become more efficient at a particular task while maintaining or increasing quality, ultimately leading to less time spent on a single task. I identified illness (obviously) as a big productivity killer. When you’re sick, it’s such a time suck, and with only 4 weeks in a month, being sick even just a week out a month can kill or hinder your productivity significantly. To counter that, I invested more time in exercise and vitamins, this yielded great returns for me. I can’t recall being sick a lot this year. I plan to double down on this in 2020.

If you find that there’s something you do everyday or multiple times per week, chances are, you can optimize the task. As a knowledge worker I use technology a lot. I spent a lot of time this year researching how I could optimize tasks that I use on my computer. This has been extremely useful for me. None of these things have to be complicated or sophisticated. Sometimes, it’s as simple as keeping files you use often in a specific area, using keyboard shortcuts or keeping your files organized. 

I plan to spend even more time thinking about productivity in 2020. 2019 was a BIG and BUSY year for me, but 2020 will be just as or even more hectic. I am ready!

As usual, travel is a privilege and I’m thankful that I have the opportunity to do so a few times annually. This year I didn’t do a lot of traveling and I didn’t visit any new countries. I visited the USA and Trinidad and Tobago. My travel plans for 2020 already look pretty exciting, though!

I’m excited about 2020 and happy that I’m closing the year with a great woman by my side. We’ll continue to grow together, laugh together, cry together and accomplish together. Her happiness and success is my priority and I’m grateful that I’ll be able to call her Mrs. Swaby, my number 1. I’m also thankful that we’ll be starting the year with a solid team at EduFocal. In 2020 I want to act as an enabler of people. Creating pathways and ongoing opportunities for growth. Here’s to an amazing new year.

Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2019-11-18 (recovered from the Internet Archive).

All lights in house go off, porch light comes on.

• A/C in the living room goes off, if it’s on.
• A/C in the master bedroom comes on, if it’s off.
• TV turns off, if it’s on.

My fascination with automating processes in the home has been a thing long before it was a thing. This thing is known as the Internet of things, or IoT for short.

I know, you’re like me, even if you don’t want to admit it. There are days when I don’t want to get up to turn off the bathroom light, the kitchen light, or any light in my home for that matter; but you have to, you know, because of insert your utility company of choice here. Some people call us lazy, I call us efficient.

So, all of this sounds crazy and you’re this far into the post because you’re curious about how you can also say “Alexa, bed time” and have all of these magical things happen in your own abode. For me, this has been a 2 or 3 year journey that started in or around December 2017. The gateway drug for me was a Google Home Mini¹, a “smart speaker” as they’re called. It allows you to ask stuff and it responds with the correct answers, most of the time. So, you could say “Hey Google, who’s the president of the USA and it would say “Barack Obama”, Donald Trump, magical, eh?

Your own “Alexa, bed time”

So, as I mentioned earlier, my gateway drug was a smart speaker from Google called “Home mini”. I liked it, it worked well and I used it for a while. I eventually got bored and wanted more, I also realized that I couldn’t connect my Apple Music account to Google Home Mini and switched to Amazon’s answer to Google Home called Echo. You can find it here. It’s pretty easy to setup. Plug it in, follow the instructions and you’re well on your way.

Once your Echo Smart Speaker is setup, you’ll need to purchase some hue lights, this particular package comes with 4 lights, but if you’re a white light kind of person as my wife-to-be is, go for the more expensive package if you have it like that.

Again, follow the instructions, set the lights up and you’re twenty percent close to saying “Alexa, bed time”.

To get your air conditioning off, any air conditioner, you need something called Sensibo. You can find that here. Sensibo turns your dumb, non-smart Air conditioner into a smart A/C that you can control from anywhere in the world.

To get your TV to turn off or on, grab a smart plug² called Etekcity. You can find it here.

We’re almost finished! So, you have all these devices, but you’re operating them individually via varying apps on your smart phone. Let’s fix this

Open the Alexa app on your smart phone, preferably an iPhone, connect all the devices you’ve purchased in the Alexa app by going to the “devices” section. Once you’re there, click the plus sign in the top right hand corner and find the respective brand for the respective devices and connect them.

Once you’ve connected them, select the 3 lines in the top left hand corner of the Alexa app.

Select the plus sign in the top right hand corner of routines section

Under new routines select “When this happens”

Click “Voice”

Aaaaand, we’re here! Enter whatever phrase you want, of course I use “Alexa, bed time” this phrase subsequently triggers a series of actions which I’ve outlined above. You can of course create whatever routine you want, you’re also not limited with what you can create, so get creative.

You can see my full “Alexa, bed time” routine below.

Earlier today, I was discussing with my fiancee the next routine; she doesn’t really care about the technical aspects of it, i.e all of what I’ve written above, but she does enjoy the actual routines. We’ve decided that it’s going to be “Alexa, we’re home”. This will immediately activate the living rooms lights, soothing music
(for her that’s India Arie) and it will likely turn on the air conditioning in the living room; fun times.

If you’re an Alexa Echo fan and you use routines, I’d love to know what you’ve created. If not and you choose to execute something like this please reach out and let me know. I’d love to know what you create as the possibilities are endless.

1. Fun fact, you can’t find Google Home on Amazon, fun story behind that and the complex Google/Amazon relationship ︎
2. There’s a smart everything nowadays ︎

Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2019-07-06 (recovered from the Internet Archive).

2018 has been challenging, but fulfilling and rewarding, both personally and professionally. Growth comes with sacrifice and change and I suspect that going into 2019, continued growth will require more sacrifice and change.

If 2017 was about friendship, I feel like 2018 was about family. I spent a lot more time this year with family.  Not only did I spend more time with family, I was supported in more ways than I can count. I can’t thank my Mother and Father enough for the the support that they have given and continue to give me.  Thank you to all my friends and family who continue to support and encourage me.

I’m 28 and that’s a bit surreal. It means children, marriage; adult things. Not children or marriage for me though; not yet! But children and marriage for my friends; just other adult things for me, for now. I started the year attending a friend’s wedding. I’m ending the year doing that too, attending a wedding. In fact, I’m writing this a few hours before attending the  wedding of my good friend. I have one more wedding to attend before the end of the year. 3 weddings in 1 year! That’s more weddings than I’ve attended in the last 5 years! I’m not sure what that means for me, but let’s see.

I know I say this every year, but 2018 has been EduFocal’s best year yet. It has not been without its challenges, and to be honest, our challenges are more internal than they are external, which means that I need to become a better leader for my team and for the company to continue growing. My cousin recommended I read Ego Free Leadership by Brandon Black and  Shayne Hughes, I’m only 30% into the book and I’ve already received so much value.  There’s so much insight from it that I plan to leverage going into 2019. Suffice to say, 2018 was the year I saw a clear path for EduFocal’s IPO in the near future

This year, I visited 3 countries and 5 cities. Of the 3 countries, 1 was new. The new one being Haiti. The other two are the United Kingdom and the USA. In terms of cities, I visited Port-au-Prince (Haiti),  Fort Lauderdale (USA), York (UK), London (UK), Miami (USA), New York (USA) and Miami ( USA). I had a great time in Haiti and hope to visit again in the future.

2018 was the year that, with a serious push and insistence from my girlfriend that I finally got serious about my health and started exercising regularly. The impact of that was me getting sick less and feeling so much better in my body. I’ve fallen off again the latter part of this year, but I plan to continue working on that going into the new year and beyond. It really is true what they say, ‘Health is wealth.’ I also took up a sport this year, tennis! I’ve enjoyed it thoroughly and it’s something I plan to do long term. Playing tennis has also allowed me to make great new friends and deepen existing ones.

The last big highlight of 2018 for me is my Profile interview, which will air on December 16, 2018 with host, Fae Ellington.

For 2019; I plan to double down on what I was already doing in 2018 10x.

Here’s to a great 2019!

Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2018-11-18 (recovered from the Internet Archive).

We are always more inclined to share our wins publicly. It’s what we do, and that’s true for individuals, companies, families etc. We even feel pressured sometimes to find and share wins; some even share wins that don’t exist to fit in or match up.

You’re great not because you thrive, you’re great because you try. You’re great because you keep on trying, because if you keep on trying, your “wins” may come. Don’t be fooled by my social media or others, for every success posted, for every win, there are many NOs, many “failed” attempts, many stressful days, weeks and months. Both personally and professionally.

Life is chaotic, and the path to personal and professional achievement and success is never linear, and even then, success is not sure. It’s not guaranteed. Your dreams, hopes and aspirations are not your birth right. Your ideas will be rejected, your project(s) will not work, people will betray you, you may even betray others. You will be let down. You will feel disappointed. Make peace with all of that, embrace that, accept it, own it. Why? Because it’s all a part of the process, it’s guaranteed.

So, the next time you see somebody killing it on social media, instead of falling into the trap of believing that that’s all they do, or even worse, feel jealous or compare, and as a consequence, feel inadequate. I want you to try, and then try some more, because while your dreams may not always come true, you’ll feel far more fulfilled and you’ll learn way more by trying.

“Only great pain is the ultimate liberator of the spirit….I doubt that such pain makes us ‘better’; but I know that it makes us more profound.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Amor fati.

Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2018-06-15 (recovered from the Internet Archive).

As a kid growing up in a middle class family in rural Jamaica I was afforded opportunities that many of my peers weren’t. My exposure to certain things gave my dreams scope and breadth, but certainly not the scope and breadth that my life is and has been.

Many things I’ve experienced as an adult have been beyond my wildest dreams, hopes and aspirations. The above quote from Trevor Noah encapsulates my thinking on the matter. The more you achieve, the more your eyes open to the possibilities of what is possible and what you can accomplish. Experiencing any kind of success, especially success that you’ve longed for gives you a kind confidence that is unparalleled. Experiencing success that you never thought possible? Next level.

I remember driving into Kingston with my father as a child, and in my child-eyes Kingston was big, impressive, chaotic and confusing. My hopes, dreams and aspirations began and ended in Kingston. I never thought my life would have scope beyond the capital city. If I ever did think so, I would have, for example, taken my Spanish classes more seriously in high school, but in my limited dreaming I never saw the need for it. Why would I ever need to learn Spanish? Why would I ever need to learn a second language?! I never thought that I’d travel often and if I did, it probably wouldn’t be beyond America.

I’ve never liked traveling. I remember in Prep school I was in the Cub Scouts and we had the opportunity to travel to St. Vincent to climb a Volcano. Travel to St. Vincent to climb a mountain? Hell no! As an adult I regret that decision. I still don’t like traveling, but traveling gives you scope. It opens up your mind to new possibilities.

In all honesty, I started EduFocal because I thought it was a cool idea and that I’d get the opportunity to be in the press and make a lot of money! I had no grand plan. Oh, how limited my imagination was! Five and a half years later and we’ve been featured on every major (and many minor ones!) radio station in Jamaica, every major newspaper in Jamaica and also every major TV station. We’ve also been featured in major press regionally and internationally; from Virgin to BBC to the UK Guardian and many others. My limited imagination couldn’t think beyond my original ambitions. We’ve accomplished so much more since my original selfish ambitions. We’ve transformed thousands of lives, provided employment for Jamaicans and along the way we’ve given back to both our country and others. And guess what? We’re just getting started.

EduFocal celebrated five years at our home base at the Technology Innovation Centre on the UTech campus. Five years later and it still feels like day one. Thank you to our teachers, students, parents, principals, team members, board and every other stakeholder for trusting us, believing in us and supporting us. My scope of what I thought possible was limited, however, if you’ve interacted with me in any way over the last five years, you have helped to expand my mind and show me what’s possible. We at EduFocal have touched so many lives in a positive way, and for me that has been a truly humbling experience.

Thanks to Project Binario, EduFocal had the opportunity to showcase its offering at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco; if you’re not familiar, TC Disrupt is the equivalent of the Super Bowl for startups. It was such an amazing experience and once in a life time experience.

This year, I visited 3 countries and 8 cities. Of the 3 countries, 2 were new. The two new ones are China and Bolivia. The final was the USA. In terms of cities, I visited Beijing (China),  Fort Lauderdale (USA), Shanghai (China), Miami (USA), San Francisco (USA), New York (USA), Miami ( USA), Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia). I’ve always wanted to visit China and I was very happy that the opportunity presented itself this year.

In 2017, I found myself in new and exciting professional circles that I’m grateful for. Thanks to the Inter-American Development Bank for my appointment to their Civil Society Consulting Group and also to the US Embassy in Jamaica for my appointment to their Social Media Working Group

My big highlight for 2017 was the deepening of friendships. I made new friends and grew closer to old ones. Strengthening friendships was something I committed to doing going into 2017, and I am happy that at the end of the year, I have meaningful relationships with some amazing people .

Whatever you’re doing, whatever you’ve done is just a small fraction of what you think you can do and what’s possible. I’m grateful to have exceeded what I thought I was capable of, but I know that I’m still capable of much more. 2017 was a really great year, but also a challenging both personally and professionally. I’m still struggling with weight loss and I got sick more often than I would have liked, primarily because of chronic sinusitis.  I did lose some weight, but not as much as I would have wanted. Fortunately, I’m going into 2018 with more support in that department. Professionally some key deals that I would have wanted to happen, did not.

I’m excited about 2018; if I was to sum up my expectations for 2018 in one word it would be scale. More personal and professional growth and just generally pushing myself beyond what I think that I’m capable of. Here’s to a great 2018 and beyond!

Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2017-11-18 (recovered from the Internet Archive).

I lost my grandmother this year and it hurt like hell. I still cry about it.

She lived a full life. She accomplished a lot, prayed a lot and touched the lives of many. She was a truly selfless person and I miss her dearly. My grandmother, my god-mother and the person who gave me my name, rest in peace.

I accomplished a lot in 2016 and I know that my grandmother would have been proud of me. After she died and we started packing away her belongings, I came across a scrap book with newspaper clippings of my past accomplishments. She was always excited to read about me in the newspaper and listen to me on the radio. She was my cheerleader and I know that she supported me in all my endeavours.

Death is hard, but it gives us the opportunity to reflect on our own life and, cherish the best memories of those we love who have passed, and also treasure and value the time spent with those that are still with us.

I have to say it again, 2016 was kind to me; truly my best year yet. EduFocal grew, I grew and my relationship grew. I won’t speak at length about my relationship here, but I can’t write about my year without mentioning the most significant part of it. I’m fortunate to be with a strong, kind and loving woman that I have so much respect for. She’s better than I am in more ways than I can count.

What I do professionally isn’t work. At least, it doesn’t feel like work. I’m fortunate to lead a strong and growing team and I cannot speak about my accomplishments without mentioning them. Thank you to Paul, EduFocal’s co-founder. Thank you to Godiva, Sheldon and the newest addition to the team, Krysta-Leigh. Thank you to my board for their guidance and the solid advice that they always give. Thank you to my parents who always support me. And last, but not least, thank you to old friends and new ones who are honest, loyal and supportive of me and my work.

EduFocal grew by leaps and bounds. Every previous key performance indicator was destroyed this year, and really, we’re just getting started. In May I got the opportunity, via a feature on BBC, to leverage a very big platform where I shared EduFocal’s story and our future plans with the world. Many people provided positive feedback, for which I am grateful. Because of this interview, I have connected with valuable new partners that will help to push EduFocal forward.

In June, I got the opportunity to speak at President Obama’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit at Stanford University. It was truly an amazing event and opportunity. Thanks to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for providing this opportunity. It was my first time in San Francisco and I excitedly took the opportunity to do a tour of LinkedIn and Google. Visiting the campuses of companies that I use on a regular basis was mind blowing.

This year was also a year of board appointments for me; wow! I was appointed to the Jamaica Library Service board, the National ICT Council and the NCB Foundation board. All very different boards, but each an opportunity to contribute and learn. Thank you to everybody who has given me these opportunities.

On the subject of contributing and giving back. I believe that I am privileged and therefore I have a responsibility to give back. This year I have given a lot of my time through speaking engagements, one-on-one sessions with aspiring entrepreneurs and through financial contributions to schools and students. We also executed our 4th Annual EduFocal Excellence Awards ceremony; our largest one yet.

This year, I traveled more than I usually do. 2016 saw me travelling to 5 countries and 8 cities across North America, Europe, the Caribbean and Africa (I actually travel to Africa a few days after this is published). I traveled to the USA, England, the Bahamas, Scotland and Nigeria. In terms of cities, I traveled to Charlotte, New York, Lagos*, San Francisco, Nassau, Miami, York, London and Edinburgh. I truly enjoyed traveling this year, and if you know me, you know I hate travelling. I particularly enjoyed Edinburgh and the time I spent there with my partner.

Life is about balance, so if there were successes, there must have been some ‘failures’. My biggest challenge and failure in 2016 was my inability to lose weight. Weight loss is a major challenge for me and constant struggle. I will try again in 2017. I’d also say that my relationship with God isn’t where I wanted it to be in 2016. I intend to work on that in 2017.

This exercise in reflection annually on my birthday is always something I enjoy. It’s always good to search my mind and smile about everything that I’ve experienced. Sometimes I catch myself saying “Wow, this happened this year!”

To conclude, it’s been a great year for learning and growth. I look forward to 2017 and all the successes and challenges that it will bring. I plan to double down on all my relationships, focus on my goals and push EduFocal on a clear path to an initial public offering.

*I travel to Lagos a few days after this is published

Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2016-11-18 (recovered from the Internet Archive).

What is Mobile Money?

The value of mobile money isn’t immediately obvious to most. In fact, I’ve found that most people generally have a hard time wrapping their head around the concept, but follow me. I want you to think about how you pay for goods and services now, say, your meal at lunch time or anything else you’d buy in a store. You’re either going to pay by cash, debit or credit card. As it is, most Jamaicans pay with cash.  Mobile money, as it is called, allows you to make and receive payments through your mobile telephone without needing a bank account. Fancy!

To deposit or withdraw money from your mobile money account you are required to go to an access point. A number of companies, both local and foreign, are interested in and will eventually roll out their own mobile money solutions in Jamaica. The first to hit the Jamaican market was Conec, but for various reasons  they have not been able to penetrate the market. In some regard, one of the major challenges that Conec has faced has been too few access points. Currently, the only access points that Conec has are Paymaster and credit union locations.

The second challenge that they face is in regards to merchants accepting Conec. As it stands only about 12 locations islandwide accept Conec Mobile wallet as a form of payment, clearly not enough. I should note that merchants that allow you to shop also allow you to withdraw or deposit your money, i.e. they act as Conec access points.

After being around for more than a year, I would have expected Conec to have expanded to more locations, but alas.

The third problem that Conec faces is what is required to use their service. Not only do you need a smart phone, you also need a data plan. So there’s no way to use their mobile money solution without downloading their Android or iOS app. This is of course is not ideal if they want mass adoption.

Enter Quisk

National Commercial Bank (NCB), Jamaica’s largest commercial bank, recently rolled out their own mobile money solution in partnership with Advanced Integrated Systems (AIS). The service is called Quisk, and of all the solutions I’ve seen, I’m most optimistic about its ability to penetrate the Jamaican market. Quisk’s mobile solution is however not exclusive to NCB, and other banks will be partnering with AIS to roll out Quisk in the near future.

For me, the two biggest things needed for mass adoption of mobile money in Jamaica are convenient access points to deposit and withdraw money, and merchants/business places that will accept Quisk as a form of payment. NCB has both. Through their branch locations (for withdrawals and deposits), but more importantly through their 280 ABMs and  19,962 point of sale terminals islandwide.  Quisk works with existing bank infrastructure, that means you’ll be able to go into an NCB ABM at some point in the near future to deposit and withdraw cash from your Quisk account. You’ll also be able to go to a store with an NCB point of sale terminal and easily make a purchase or withdrawal (at authorized locations).

Person to person (P2P) transfers through Quisk can easily be done via SMS text messaging. It’s as simple as somebody typing SENDto a Quisk number. Once you type that and hit send you’ll receive a call from Quisk. At that point you’ll be prompted to enter your Quisk pin number and the pound (#) key. One that has been entered, Quisk will notify the person that you are sending the money to via sms/text message. Quisk will also give you a code for the person receiving the money. All the recipient will need to do to accept the money is type GET  and that’s it, the money is now available to them. At that point they can either withdraw the money or use it to make a payment (at some point through Quisk itself, e.g a bill payment).

NCB launched Quisk a few days ago, so it’s early days yet. So far they have about 20 merchants/businesses that accept Quisk

How to Sign Up

Acquiring a mobile money account is  extremely easy. All you need to do is fill out a simple form, go to one of the NCB branches listed with your TRN and an ID and you’re good to go. Compare that process to opening a regular savings account, where you’d need two forms of identification,  proof of address and two reference letters. Crazy right?

You don’t need to have an account with NCB to sign up, but if you do you can actually ask them to connect it to your Quisk mobile money account. Doing so means that you can transfer money from your NCB account to your Quisk account. You unfortunately can’t transfer from your Quisk account to your NCB savings account.

Any mobile money solution that is successful in Jamaica will be extremely disruptive. It means that people will no longer need to stand in line to pay their utility bills, or any other bill for that matter. It means that you’ll be able to pay the taxi man through your phone.

It also opens the door in the future for internet companies to accept mobile money as a form of payment for their services. As I mentioned before, it’s still early days, but the possibilities are endless. NCB is well positioned to become the leading mobile money solutions provider in Jamaica. If not them, I suspect it’s going to be a tussle between Flow and Digicel who I know are both working on their own solutions. Interesting and exciting days ahead, may the best company win!

Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2016-08-17 (recovered from the Internet Archive).

Entrepreneurship isn’t a hustle
It isn’t, so don’t treat it like one. You’re not in it to make a quick buck. You’re in it for personal and professional growth. You’re in it to make other people’s lives better. If you think about it like a hustle you’re going to treat it like a hustle.

Bookkeeping isn’t a distraction
Record everything, everything. This has been a big pain for me. I’ve never been a fan of accounting, and bookkeeping has always felt like a hassle for me, it’s not. Please take it seriously. At the very minimum, put everything through your business’ banking account. Note, I said your business’s bank account, not your personal bank account. It’s never a good idea to mix your personal and professional accounts. Open a checking account specifically for your business. This helps to develop your relationship with the bank and also a paper trail. It doesn’t matter if you’re putting a lot of money through the account or not, just do it. When/if you ever have to raise money or get a loan good bookkeeping will save you a lot of headache.

Have a Board of Directors or an advisory board

Part of not treating your business like a hustle is not being an authority onto yourself. You should hold yourself accountable and you should have others to hold you accountable. That’s where your board comes in. Choosing your board of directors/advisors is important as you want to have people who are well connected, experienced and can help to push your company forward. Take it seriously and meet regularly. My board meets on the third Thursday every other month. Having a board is extremely important as they’re not too involved in your company, but they are also not divorced from your company’s operations. Their unique position allows you to get invaluable advice.

The media is your friend

And by media I mean traditional media and social media. Twitter is important, Facebook is important and LinkedIn is important. You should have a personal presence on social media, so should your brand. Traditional media helps to establish credibility, especially if you’re a first time Entrepreneur. Don’t get distracted by media attention though. It’s useful, but it doesn’t pay the bills.

Join useful networks

When I started EduFocal I joined the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship. It was and still is a valuable network to me. I’ve benefitted a lot from the Branson Centre and you can too. I encourage you too join. If not Branson, there are many others valuable networks to join. Do your research and make the right decision.

Hire the right people

At some point, you’ll have to hire people. Having the right team is extremely important. Hiring too early is bad, hiring too late can also be problematic. I can’t tell you when it’s right to hire, but growing your business means hiring, but a bad hire can hurt your business. Hiring is an art and you get better at it each time you have to do it.

Be honest

Be honest with yourself and others about your challenges. You can’t get help if you’re not honest about the problems you’re having.

Negotiate

Humans are not robots. If somebody tells that the price is x, negotiate. Negotiating doesn’t mean that you’re asking them to lower the price, it could also mean that you’re negotiating payment terms or something else. Don’t be afraid to ask and don’t be afraid of hearing no.

Rejection is OK

On the matter of hearing no. You’re going to hear that, a lot. It’s ok, don’t sweat it. Your emails will also go unanswered, people who you’ve met many times will forget who you are and so on and so on.

People will let you down

Guaranteed. Your priority isn’t their priority. But, push on.

Your existing network is valuable; you’re valuable.

In growing our network we sometimes forget that we already have people in our network who are valuable. It’s important that you pull on that network. Maybe you’re a great marketer, designer or writer. It’s a valuable skill in business. Use it. It means that you won’t need to spend money on that skill because you can do it yourself. We also have family members or good friends who will help us for free or at at steeply discounted price; even if only for the formative stages.

Read, everyday.

This is my last tip, but probably the most important. Read everything you can get your hands on. Priority reading? Books and the newspaper. Read the latter daily and the former regularly. You can’t exploit opportunities if you don’t know about them. Being in the know is your responsibility, nobody else’s. You may learn something new from reading a book and you may spot opportunities in the newspaper, you may also spot opportunities for your business. Read, read, read!

When you have little or no money it’s easy to have singular focus on just that; making money, but a part of making money is putting things in place to make that money. A weak foundation can cause a strong structure to crumble.

I hope these tips are valuable. Happy Easter!

Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2016-03-25 (recovered from the Internet Archive).

2015 was a year of transition for me.

The first quarter of the year was personally very challenging. It allowed me to rediscover how supportive family is and I experienced the kindness of friends and strangers. As it turns out, the best time to find out who your true friends are is when life throws you an unwelcome curveball.

I fell out of love, I experienced great betrayal and I fell in love; an emotional rollercoaster would be an understatement.  I was told by a close friend as a teen that the only thing constant in life is change. That thought has stayed with me ever since. So, I welcome change in whatever form it may come. Change has allowed me to rekindle old friendships and create amazing new ones.

In March, I was invited by the World Bank to speak to a group of young professionals at their HQ in Washington DC. It was an amazing experience and I truly enjoyed speaking and interacting with them. I will close 2015 having spoken to more than 3,000 people. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to speak to others and I do jump at it every opportunity I get.

In July I travelled to Canada for the first time for a Global Shapers event. It’s truly a privilege to interact with so many millennials who are doing great things in their respective countries. I left Canada inspired to continue to contribute to Jamaica, the region and the world.

EduFocal continues to grow and I couldn’t be happier. Happy, but I’m certainly not satisfied. Our team is strong and we continue to expand our reach in Jamaica and we have plans for an even larger expansion. In 2015 we made our first multi-million dollar cash acquisition; purchasing a defunct competitor’s content base. This acquisition allowed us to become the largest online GSAT resource in Jamaica. We’re still very much a small company, but 2015 saw us giving back more than $300,000 in cash and kind to students, NGOs, the local tech community and others. This year’s EduFocal Excellence Awards has also been our largest yet.

I’ve been writing my “Year in review” posts for a few years now and it’s been such an interesting and worthwhile exercise for me. It forces me to reflect on the year I’ve had it helps me to plan for the year ahead and it helps me to reflect on the progress I’ve made both personally and professionally.

2015 was a year of challenges and change, but it was also a year of growth and opportunity. The mission continues in 2016 and I know that it will also be a year full of more opportunity and growth.

A big, big thank you to those who continue to help and inspire me on my journey. My family, my better half, my board of directors, friends and even strangers. Thank you to those who are honest with me, those who encourage me and provide invaluable feedback. I truly do appreciate and I look forward to continuing on this journey called life with your guidance and support.

Happy 25th birthday to me!

As usual I want to thank local, regional, international media and others for following our journey. Here are some of the many stories throughout the year:

“Jamaica Hosts First Ever Nexus Caribbean Youth Summit” by Huffington Post

“Jamaica’s move from ‘education for all’ to ‘quality education for all’” by Virgin

“EduFocal Provides More GSATready Resources” by The Jamaica Gleaner

“GSAT, CSEC Students Top EduFocal Excellence Awards” by The Jamaica Gleaner

“EduFocal Awards top Users” by the Jamaica Observer

Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2015-11-18 (recovered from the Internet Archive).

The requirements for happiness varies from person to person. Your requirements may be different from mine. My advice to you? Go where you can find your own brand of happiness. I have found mine in my home country Jamaica.

I am the product of a broken country and imperfect education system.  I was educated at Sacred Heart Academy, a small catholic school in Christiana, Manchester, Knox College, a high school in Spaldings, Clarendon, Holmwood Technical High School, a technical high school in Christiana, Manchester and the University of Technology, one of Jamaica’s major Universities.  Many of my peers grew up in countries with better healthcare, a better education system, safer environment, but despite that, they are my equals. In March 2015, I was invited by the World Bank to speak to a group of young professionals at their HQ in Washington, DC. A part my talk was encouraging  them to acknowledge and leverage their privilege. Because yes, living and working in DC is a privilege. I try to do the same, to acknowledge my privileged life in Jamaica. My success is a privilege that I am acutely aware of.

At 24, I have little to no personal debt and through my company, I am able to fully maintain myself financially and provide temporary and permanent employment for a few others. What is my brand of happiness? My brand of happiness is value creation. Creating value for myself and others. It so happens that in Jamaica, a lot of value needs to be created. I am privileged to own a growing company that is creating value for myself, others and children. A company that can stand toe-to-toe with a similar company in Silicon Valley or anywhere else in the world. In 2014, I was recognized by the Inter-American Development bank (The IDB) as 1 of 10 innovators in Latin America and the Caribbean. I consequently had the opportunity to travel to Brazil to present to the IDB’s board of Governors and President, Luis Alberto Moreno. I don’t do what I do for recognition, but it’s humbling to know that an entity like the IDB can honor  and acknowledge the work of a country boy from Christiana and his team; I’ve achieved this in a broken country, imagine the possibilities for me and others if we were even marginally better off. What if I didn’t have to worry about the struggles of a 3rd world Entrepreneur?

In 2013 and 2014 I had the opportunity to travel to Geneva, Switzerland. I visited the World Economic Forum and something that its founder, Klaus Schwab said in regards to his foundation resonated with me. He said “…I am happy, but I am not satisfied”. A shared sentiment; I am happy, but I’m certainly not satisfied. I am not satisfied because the success that I’ve had as a young adult in Jamaica is the exception, not the rule. I am not satisfied because I have been provided with opportunities and support that many others don’t have access to. I am not satisfied because too many Jamaicans go to bed hungry each night. I am not satisfied because too many Jamaicans continue to be victims of crime and violence. I am not satisfied because there’s so much to be done. However, I am happy because unhappy people don’t produce great work, and I want to produce great work. I will always see the opportunities in challenges and I will always seek to create value for myself and others.

Jamaica, I love you. Happy 53rd birthday. Let’s continue working to fix our amazing, but broken country together.

Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2015-08-06 (recovered from the Internet Archive).

For whatever it’s worth, I would love to add to the conversation.

Like her, it was my first real relationship.  Prior to that, I had “relationships” in my teenage years spanning no more than a few months. We entered into a relationship young. I had just turned 19 and she was just about to turn 17 (I’m now 24 and she’s 22).

Prior to writing about me and our relationship publicly, she wrote to me privately with an explanation about why she was leaving. I went through the gamut of emotions. I was mostly focused on the why, not the how. Why did she leave me when just a few hours before, we saw each other, spoke to each other normally and exchanged I love yous the way we usually do only to wake up to a text on my phone the following morning saying that she was unhappy and that she was leaving. I was confused, disappointed and angry.

When we first met (via twitter) I was not interested in a relationship; I was indifferent to relationships and I thought that love and relationships were a distraction.  In fact, in the footnote of the plan for my life (which I wrote it 16 or 17 years old) I said that marriage and love may offset my goals by a few years.  I was bitterly opposed to the idea of a relationship and I expressed that to her in the most vile and disgusting way; that was the genesis of our relationship and my emotional abuse towards her.

As I mentioned earlier, I was mostly focused on the why, not the how. I read her post, re-read it many times it and decided to think about the how. How did our relationship end in the way that it did and is there any merit to the things that she said? My answer to that is yes. As it’s said, hindsight is 20/20. I can accept that I was passive aggressive, controlling, overly jealous, belittling towards her, emotionally abusive and unavailable among other things. I am not happy or proud about many things that I’ve done or said in my past and I work daily on becoming a better person. Nothing that she has spoken about publicly are things that we didn’t speak about in private, not once, but many times spanning over a few years. I recall that my response/remark to many of our issues was a cavalier “it’s not that big of a deal”; my default response to most of our issues.  For her, I think that the love, concern and need for a resolution turned into resentment over time. What I naively saw as an improvement in our relationship dynamic and a resolution of long standing issues that followed us throughout our relationship for years was just her choosing to keep her thoughts and emotions to herself which inevitably caused us to become distant, but I was too busy being lost in my own head to see it.

I have never loved any other woman the way that I have loved her and I don’t regret any of the time that we were together. I can truly say that a lot of the growth that I’ve experienced as a human being between 2010 and 2015 I attribute to her and our time together . Our conversations were many and varied from speaking about women’s rights, racism, homosexuality, education, love, religion, health, work  and many others; my evolution of thought on many topics are as a result of these  conversations.

We had an imperfect union, but every experience is an opportunity to learn, take responsibility and seek out growth. I am not in denial or oblivious about my shortcomings as a human being and the demise of my relationship is a consequence of those shortcomings. I accept that. I will continue to work towards becoming a better leader, partner/lover, friend and human being in whatever form that may take, whether through counseling or other otherwise.

We had a public relationship and a public breakup. The separation has been very hard for me, it being public has made it even more difficult. Thank you to everybody who has reached out in support; I appreciate every kind word.

Relationships are challenging, understandably so. Two people from two very different backgrounds with different views, experiences etc trying to operate as a unit in this crazy, but beautiful world is very, very difficult, but if I had to do it again, I would.

But I hope with all my being that I would be able to do it better.

Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2015-03-31 (recovered from the Internet Archive).

Entrepreneurship is hard and even in the most ideal environment the chances of a business failing is pretty high.  Entrepreneurs the world over have similar challenges, but I think that the challenges entrepreneurs in developing countries face are far more acute.

The third world Entrepreneur has to grapple with a myriad of problems. Bad roads, lack of capital, crime and violence, high energy costs, underdeveloped public transportation system, corruption and government bureaucracy to name a few. The third world Entrepreneur has to contend with most of the problems of the First World Entrepreneur plus the challenges that come with living in a third world country.

Despite these additional challenges, many third world entrepreneurs experience great levels of success; success that rivals that of any first world company. I believe that it takes a certain kind of grit, sheer will, confidence and resolve to succeed in less than ideal situations. The returns of which are not only financial, but can potentially in the short term transform their countries. Problems in developing countries are many and big, but every problem problem is an opportunity. Opportunities that can provide employment and transform lives in a big way.

I believe that Entrepreneurs that thrive in less than ideal environments are super people, people that you could place in almost any environment and they would excel.

I didn’t write this to discount the success of first World Entrepreneurs, it is instead to acknowledge all the Entrepreneurs that make it work despite all odds. So, kudos to all Entrepreneurs who make it work; against all odds.

Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2015-03-26 (recovered from the Internet Archive).