Intrigued by how people think and societal norms, Ryan Sterling stayed true to his passion for sociology and psychology, which led him to pursue his undergraduate degree in social sciences. However, shortly after graduating and working in a client-facing, nine-to-five role, he was approached by a customer who instinctively told him that he was meant to have a more significant impact and gave him a Les Brown book titled There Is Greatness Within You.

After reading the book, Sterling felt even more compelled to step into his greatness after watching a Bloomberg interview that highlighted the value of technology and how it can be mutually beneficial to both organisations and customers. Intuitively, Sterling thought to himself that if he wanted to make the most significant impact, he’d have to leverage his knowledge and understanding of human behaviour to build a business that will bring people together to solve problems and inspire great things.

As a seasoned entrepreneur, the CEO of Vertis Technology implores young entrepreneurs to be passionate about their purpose and seek help from and partner with like-minded people who also want to make a difference. He’s also an avid believer in loving what you do; and that a young entrepreneur should always treat his business with the respect it deserves. For those in the early days of their start-ups, he believes they should also embrace and learn from mistakes and never allow their ego to get in the way. He is also convinced that continuous learning and keeping abreast of changes in the industry and understanding the implications of those changes on team members and clients are vital.

Understanding the value of having a sense of direction and recalling the adage “a ship without a port doesn’t know what to do”, the Sterling-led Vertis Technology has been able to navigate the pandemic by remaining agile and leveraging the core areas of cloud, cybersecurity, and application development. Vertis has been focused on securing the work from home space and providing infrastructure that will allow employees to return to the office securely. They have also begun offering cloud services to micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) while continuing on the trajectory of helping organisations to digitise by automating their manual processes for maximum efficiency. In addition, while it’s not a new offering, Vertis Technology has also been refining its managed services offerings to support organisations to help them further to navigate the changes that the pandemic has brought forward.

Sterling also believes that what is wrong with Jamaica can permanently be fixed with suitable approaches. Therefore, his conviction is that we should turn the conversation into action by coming together as highly skilled professionals to achieve true digital transformation in the region.

Sterling wants to be remembered for always staying true to himself and living every day to the fullest. He also wants his legacy to be that of doing his best to help people and his country and for being someone who genuinely loved because, as he puts it, “Our days are limited.”