Gary White is no ordinary businessman.

He is the kind that takes control of his situations and turns them into successes. And when those successes happen, he doesn’t keep them to himself but ensures that the more vulnerable in volatile communities benefit too.

White is founder and CEO of White Rain Publishing, publishers of educational children’s books, with 23 titles currently being enjoyed by little curious minds in a number of kindergartens islandwide. But while he enjoys writing, publishing and getting books into schools to stimulate these young minds, he has an even greater passion — the upliftment of inner-city communities.

“It is something that my father had always advocated for. So that is where that passion to serve came from. I always try to lend myself to serving people who might not necessarily have the same opportunity that I have, or their circumstances might be a little bit different,” White said.

Growing up in a rough community off Olympic Way in Kington, White was forced to move frequently because of regular tensions. This allowed him to experience life on a wider scale in each community. As a result, young White was determined that he would someday play his part in making others circumstances better. It was no wonder then, that after he started his own company and seeing it succeed, he became entrenched in serving.

The 43-year-old, who sees himself as a community activist and advocate, explained that he had always found himself working with young men, senior citizens, various camps, and cadet programmes that would allow inner-city residents to experience what takes place outside of their own environment. He has been actively involved in violence intervention programmes and working with those trying to defuse conflicts and tensions. One of his greatest joys is just bringing a smile to someone’s face.

One of the recent joys of White’s heart was a Christmas dinner last year that he hosted in Craig Town, (St Andrew Southern constituency). That is a community he had been actively involved with for some time. Here, he and his team feted over 80 senior citizens with a full-course Christmas meal, did health checks, and gave them all care packages.

“And that was very important to me because I believe the seniors are the consciousness of our communities and they often get left behind because they are the most vulnerable. As a result, I felt the need to do something special to see how we could serve them, and it was a resounding success,” White said proudly. “So that is one of the things I am most pleased about in regard to recent interactions with the community. We plan to do this on a yearly basis and we hope to move it from 80 to hopefully 800. And move from just Craig Town to other adjoining communities. That is the vision that we have.”

At this event he had the support of the Member of Parliament and the police hierarchy, along with the citizens of the community who showed great appreciation for that initiative.

He explained that now that he has a corporate entity that operates from the epicentre of those rough communities, he is constantly aware of the turmoil taking place around him, thus giving him the thrust to work with community leaders, political directorates, and security forces to see how best they can be transformative in their approach to maintaining peace and be more impactful.

“We have partnered with the Bureau of Gender Affairs that have conducted several parenting intervention workshops in the community and we have seen where the community is being engaged to talk about the role of parenting in the household and the change it brings about in the child’s development and well-being,” White explained. “We have also partnered with the police to mitigate some of the tensions in the community through engaging. And recently we sponsored a peace funding initiative in the Maxfield area where warring communities were brought together to play sports — netball, football, domino competition — just to maintain some level of calm. And while we partner with these groups we utilise some of the content that we provide. We [White Rain Publishing] operate in these spaces so we feel the need to serve these communities that we also do business in.”

As much as possible, White walks the communities with the police in the western division in an effort to not only mediate but to also identify and partner with social programmes that will uplift those communities.

“So my take on it is that we have to do our part as a corporate citizen to see how best we can uplift and impact positively the space that we operate within. So we find different target audiences and different initiatives where we feel we can lend some support,” he said.

White is also working on developing a reading programme in the communities to deal with literacy and learning loss caused by the pandemic. However, this is something that requires funding and budgeting to make it sustainable over time and not just a short-term goal, he acknowledged.

“Why we focus on these areas is that when we walk the community and talk to the people we recognise that these are some of the more pressing matters that come out at us. And even though our business model is geared towards children, sometimes we can’t just jump and give the community what we think is needed but we really have to assess where the greatest needs are and that is how we choose where to start and what needs to be addressed.”

Through his company, he also sponsors the Arnett Gardens Under-10 football team which has been having a solid impact on the young men in that community and Kingston & St Andrew in general.

“I am passionate about serving, and my organisation has created an outlet for me to pursue that passion while building my company brand,” he said. “So I am fortunate to have that outlet available and I’m just trying to be as transformational as I can to the community that I serve.”

The Calabar High School past student, who also attended Caribbean Maritime Institute where he pursued logistics, has worked in corporate Jamaica for the major telecommunication companies. However, not getting that sense of satisfaction from those jobs, he decided to explore entrepreneurship in different areas — automotive, print, sales, among many others.

“You name it I have done it,” White said. “I was always very entrepreneurial. My wife and I started a brick and mortar bookstore supplying schools directly and the teachers started asking for content that was not available in that space, and so she and I started the journey of developing content and tested the market. At first this did not fly because we were new at it. However, we kept on getting the feedback and input, and kept on producing and engaging the teachers until we started to get some traction. We kept pushing and growing from strength to strength until we got to where we are today.”

White is looking to expand his business to have his books distributed not only in Jamaica but in schools throughout the Caribbean.

And to those getting discouraged from failing at what they love, White said, “do not delay, go at it with everything you got. The best thing you can do for yourself is to explore whatever fire is burning inside of you. If you have a dream and an idea, pursue it and find a way to make it work.

“My personal story — I have failed my way to success. But I never stopped trying. I never gave up. I always push through whatever challenges come my way. I worked through it and it has ended me up at a place now where I have a very successful business in a non-traditional sector,” he added.