“The COVID-19 pandemic has reset the ICT agenda. It has also accelerated the need to do more in less time, highlighted the resilience of our people and demonstrated that challenges are never too great to overcome,” says Rupert Martin, senior manager, B2B Mobile Solutions, Flow Business Jamaica.

Martin’s job is to create mobile solutions to help businesses and the Government embrace this world of opportunities. “One example is the Flow Business Mobile Service bundled with our ‘Business Social Plus’ module which allows employees to use business collaboration tools such as WhatsApp, e-mail, Microsoft Teams, LinkedIn and Zoom without impacting their core data. These mobile solutions help companies to innovate and compete in the global economy,” Martin explains. He is supremely confident about the role his company can play in digital transformation. “Flow Business is set to change the way in which small businesses embrace the world of opportunities that digital provides. We invest in our people, network and solutions because we believe they can help small businesses to compete in the global marketplace. I believe this is an essential path for recovery during and after the COVID-19 pandemic,” he adds.

Passionate about his job and its impact, Martin’s career spans 26 years in the information and telecommunication technologies (ICTs) industry. “After leaving high school, I took my first job in a supermarket, where I interacted with my first ‘real’ piece of technology in a business setting. The special technology was a bar code scanner! I was fascinated by the real-time updating of the inventory management system and seeing all these individual components: the hardware, software and wireless connectivity working together in a seamless solution was just too amazing to ignore. This gave me the impetus to pursue a career in ICT,” Martin discloses.

Exposure to the barcode scanner was the push he needed to enrol at the College of Arts, Science and Technology (CAST), now the University of Technology, Jamaica where he pursued a BSc in computing with Management studies. He later completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at The University of the West Indies and a postgraduate diploma in innovation and design thinking at Emeritus, executed in collaboration with MIT Management Executive Education, Columbia Business School and Tuck Executive Education.

Martin is proud that he was the chief product executive assigned to develop and implement digital solutions for small businesses in Jamaica. His work formed the backbone of the products and solutions under the new Flow Business brand. He continues to do his part to propel small businesses into the 22nd century, maintaining that we can’t take anything for granted. “Have passion in what you do — it makes hard work lighter. Engage your customers by listening more. Learn from every failure for better outcomes. Engage in the process of lifelong learning — it makes you a stronger person,” says Martin.