From high-tech to low-tech to UTech

I had no doubt I wanted to come home, that I wanted to contribute to Jamaica in some way – but how?” She had completed her MBA at City University in London and was preparing to return. The challenge of the Jamaican environment for JoAnn Fraser was to find a way to adapt the high-tech ideas she’d been introduced to abroad to low-tech surroundings. Fittingly, her quest has taken her to the University of Technology, where she’s the incubator manager for the Technology Innovation Centre.

What was her chosen contribution to the Jamaican scene? “Introducing efficiency into a system which is fraught with inefficiencies. Technology obviously played a role in that but the challenge is about changing attitudes. How could I effect any change? I guess it is by embodying the change itself.”

Embodying the change, signals Fraser, means first to see the possibility to do things more efficiently, by valuing productivity and not accepting mediocrity. “This seems so basic, “she admits, “but it’s worthwhile going back to the fundamentals that have merit.” One of Fraser’s strengths is her application of theory in practice — even in the heady world of corporate strategic planning at Lascelles deMercado.

“The main thrust in that exercise was to clarify thinking about the future and how to get there.” She got the management teams of nine subsidiaries, and of the overall company, to think critically about their long-term goals and put a plan in place to achieve them. A clear thinker and imaginative planner of her own trajectory, it’s no more than she’s done for herself. It’s this which gives body and force to her business ideas: what she advocates, she is and does.

Fraser has evolved over time. From a non-traditional person in a traditional business, as one of the first women to market cars in Jamaica, she sought to revamp a traditional business and has come out of the other side into a non-traditional field — that of incubation. No, not chickens, entrepreneurs. Business incubators have spread rapidly from their beginnings in America: from only 12 in 1980 to just under 1,000 in 2001. Now in place all over the world, incubation has been recognised as one of the leading economic development tools a government can employ, say surveys by the US-based NBIA (National Business Incubation Association). The Technology Innovation Centre at UTech is not only Jamaica’s first but also the Caribbean’s.

Fraser explains, “The principle behind incubation is basically to increase the survival rate of entrepreneurial businesses. Incubators do this by providing business advisory support, facilities at a subsidised rate and networking opportunities in an environment that encourages their development.” Studies in the US indicate that the survival rate of incubated start-up companies is 87 per cent, as compared to the 20 per cent survival rate for traditional start-up companies.

“We want to play a role in developing entrepreneurs on campus. Our goal for this particular incubator is to help our economy grow into a knowledge-based economy, to the point where we’ll be commercialising technologies developed on the campuses here,” said Fraser.

This has been made in countries as far-flung and diverse as Israel and Korea. Fraser’s vision is more inclusive than even that goal.

“First, we need to re-value entrepreneurship and to make it a lot easier — that’s the role of incubation. Here, it is not uncommon for people to rely on what can be given to them: for example, in “safe” jobs. Instead, we aim to play a role in developing an entrepreneurial culture in Jamaica. It goes hand in hand with schooling. Imagine kids in high school doing entrepreneurial classes!”

What is an entrepreneur, according to Fraser? “It means to create wealth for yourself, to be a provider of jobs instead of a looker. It’s a totally different way of thinking. It’s looking for opportunities — and getting help where you need it. You can be an entrepreneur and yet not be totally on your own. For example, it seems likely that Butch Stewart did not do it alone, although he had a vision of his own.”

Fraser cites Paymasters’ Audrey Marks and Sharon Cooke of Starfish Oils as two good examples of Jamaican women entrepreneurs. As for herself, Fraser’s conversion to entrepreneurship was prepared by years in the classic corporate structure — although, even there, she broke the mold. Starting at Kingston Industrial Garage, fresh out of college, she says, “It was unique for a woman to go into the car business in Jamaica in 1991, especially a 21year- old woman. “People who knew the car business would say, “What are you doing there?'”

“I threw myself into it and into the open market. At the time, the Jamaican car market was just being liberalised — remember how few new cars there were on the roads then and how difficult it seemed to buy one? — so there were a lot of new and interesting ways to market cars for the first time. I took more than a passing marketing interest in motor sport as I participated in four-wheel drive rallies and dexterity challenges. What a wonderful way to see Jamaica — beautiful and exciting. So I’d say, “Where else would I be racing through a riverbed, or barrelling down a canepiece at 90 miles per hour heading into a hairpin turn?'” she remarked.

From KIG, she moved to a venerable behemoth: J Wray and Nephew. “The liquor business is also a male-dominated field. I operated from the Export Division as the regional manager for the Canadian market. People I had to manage were significantly older — men who had been in the business for years. There was a period of testing, in the bars and liquor stores of Canada, “all the while having to drink my Appleton with the best of them — while attempting to ski downhill!” Fraser remembers.

“I brought in a lot of technology. Although the Canadian Appleton brand management team had extensive experience in the spirits business, they lacked the skill set to take them to the next level of marketing the Appleton brand. When you are asked to review an annual budget in WordPerfect (a word-processing format) instead of Excel, you realise you’ve got a job to do. By the time I left the Canadian market, Appleton was the number one imported gold rum in Canada… and the brand management team could confidently prepare their own budgets!”

Cut to her studies in London for her MBA. “I spent a hectic year immersed in new possibilities. I was exposed to theory and practical new approaches. It was very multicultural. My classmates came from Sri Lanka, Scandinavia and everywhere in between. While I was there, I started to better appreciate the efficiencies that could be had from better using technology. I used virtual libraries, like ProQuest, for the first time, and for the first time, conducted projects completely on-line — realising that distance just doesn’t matter. We did a lot of teamwork and didn’t have to be in the same place – and the technology made it happen!”

Fraser wanted to bring what she’d learned back into the Jamaican environment, and make a change. “Hyped up from that year, I decided to come home.” She accepted a position to develop corporate strategy at Lascelles DeMercado. “I implemented that first strategic planning sessions throughout the nine subsidiaries.” Then, she left to start up her own enterprise: her marketing management consulting company, Oasis Consulting Limited.

“I started with a bright idea — bartering, which I’d researched intensively in England and trained in, in Canada. The barter idea reflected the principle that inefficiencies, like spare capacity, can be converted profitably if you take a creative approach to problem solving. Introducing the concept and getting people on board was my biggest challenge — it takes time to embrace a new way of solving a pervasive problem.” Once again, the need for planning arose. “My business morphed from a specific focus on barter as a marketing strategy, to the creation of overall marketing strategies for small to medium-sized business.”

Why does JoAnn Fraser consider the Technology Innovation Centre her highest point so far? “It allows me to multiply my efforts and expand my reach to help companies succeed, which will ultimately help Jamaica.” She’s incubating a new generation of Jamaican business. “My objective is to continue the process and increase the population of people doing it for themselves — well!”