JAMAICAN businesses could soon have access to a digital tool designed to help managers identify workplace problems before they contribute to employee disengagement, poor collaboration or the loss of good staff. Arenevo is now seeking to enter the Jamaican market, with five spaces reserved for local businesses to take part in the technology company’s second pilot.

“With the Jamaican labour market right now, I think it’s definitely about retaining talent, and how do you keep the good people that you have? Because hiring is not an issue in Jamaica, I would say, but I think it’s more about how do you retain people and how do you retain the good people?” Danielle Watson, founder of Arenevo, told the Jamaica Observer.

Watson sees employee retention as a particular opportunity in Jamaica, where employers are competing not only with other businesses for skilled workers but also with migration and entrepreneurship.

Arenevo is built as a digital companion for leaders, using surveys to identify gaps in areas such as psychological safety, connection and belonging, and role clarity and then generating an action road map with research-based recommendations tailored to the survey results.

WATSON…I’ve seen businesses sending their leaders on courses, have consultants coming to the workshops, and all of these kinds of things. And I said, how can this be translated to a company that doesn’t have the resources to pay for a consultant to come for a six-month engagement, for example.

It also allows leaders to compare their perception of the workplace with the experience of their employees through what the company calls a perception gap analysis. The same questions are presented to leaders and their teams from different perspectives, allowing organisations to identify differences between how a leader views the workplace and how employees experience it.

The idea for the tool emerged from Watson’s research for her master’s degree and conversations with her chief technical officer and co-founder, Simone Barbon, a software architect based in Paris. Arenevo operates under Jahwat Consulting, a company registered in Germany, with Watson serving as managing director and founder of Arenevo.

Watson had observed that while leaders could be highly skilled in their core areas of work, they could still need support when it came to managing people. The question became how to make that kind of support accessible to businesses that could not afford the traditional model of bringing in consultants for extended engagements.

“I’ve seen businesses sending their leaders on courses, have consultants coming to the workshops, and all of these kinds of things. And I said, how can this be translated to a company that doesn’t have the resources to pay for a consultant to come for a six-month engagement, for example?” Watson questioned.

Arenevo’s dashboard displays team insights, highlighting perception gaps across key workplace dimensions.

Additionally, Watson observed that some technically capable managers needed additional support when it came to leading people. That conversation led to the development of Arenevo as a more accessible starting point for leaders seeking to improve their management practices. Watson subsequently developed and refined the prototype with Barbon, who is responsible for the software architecture, while Watson leads the product concept and development. The minimum viable product was completed in June, followed by the first pilot at the end of July. The platform made its debut in Europe and the United States, with the initial pilot involving three leaders and four consultants. The team subsequently made changes and optimised features based on feedback from those users.

Arenevo was initially conceived as an HR tool but was later broadened to serve leaders directly, including those at smaller companies without dedicated human resources departments. It can now be used across industries, particularly by teams of 10 or more, and supports up to 1,000 profiles per team.

A second wave of pilots is now under way, with Jamaica among the markets included to take part in a one-month pilot at no charge, with their feedback helping to inform adaptations for the local market. Commercial pricing is based on team size, starting at €20 per month. The largest business package, which supports up to 50 teams, costs €200 per month.

Beyond the leadership tool, Watson is looking to use Arenevo to connect Jamaican businesses with international expertise. Her longer-term vision is for the platform to evolve into a broader networking hub, giving Jamaican companies access to experts with experience across industries and markets.

“I would really look for it to develop into a full networking platform where my island, Jamaica, as an island, can have a pool of experts in different fields and different areas. I ideally would love to have some kind of positive leadership summit on the island,” Watson
said.

Arenevo founder Danielle Watson .