Downloading the Beta Version

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Techies with a taste for the social scene should take comfort in the bi-monthly staged Kingston Beta.

"Kingston Beta is both an event and a community," shares Connectimas CEO Ingrid Riley, who is responsible for Kingston Beta, which sees technology professionals and practitioners getting together to share ideas.

"Anybody who wants to know what Jamaican and Caribbean people are doing online, this is the place to be," adds Riley.

And it seems she might be on to something, as roughly 50 techies turned up at the Spanish Court Hotel last Thursday for the summer renewal of Kingston Beta.

Those in attendance wear tags indicating their name and the companies they represent.

"Most of the Kingston Beta set are young entrepreneurs who have started tech-focused companies," Riley notes, outlining that the mix of individuals ranges from web content developers to the social network-savvy.

Sharing thoughts on technology is further facilitated in a section called Pitch This, a five-minute session which sees proprietors of new online companies promoting their big idea. This is followed by a Q&A session. On this particular night, Jerome Campbell is pitching his new product homeinjamaica.com, a software outfit that specialises in real estate. There is, too, a presentation from Jonathan François who is beamed on screen from Trinidad & Tobaga via Skype to speak on his caribbeantutors.com, an online learning resource aimed at CXC students.

"People are seeing Jamaica as the hub of user-friendly technology," Riley told Thursday Tech, noting that the Kingston Beta crowd consists of those who use social media like Facebook, Twitter and Skype, among others, in creative ways to promote their businesses; Kingston Beta offers them a different scene where they can exchange ideas with like minds, people who know their way around the industry.

"This is the nucleus of the local technology set, these are those who drive it," said Riley.

She's quite proud of her three-year-old event, which has since taken on new life and has been able to capture the imagination of the local Internet community.

"I heard about it on Facebook," says first-time patron Anya Cushnie of DSE Media Productions, "and I just wanted to see what it would be like."

Matthew McNaughton, director of GYC, an online facility that allows young business owners to access information on loans and grants, believes that Kingston Beta is an excellent platform from which one can develop the resources to make a company profitable.

The stories of those who turned up are filled with praises for the event, one which many believe is long overdue. But it is Riley who says it best: "There is support here, and who better to offer business advice than your own?"

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