ENTREPRENEURS Oneil and Gennette Clacken are currently on the lookout for venture capitalists who will help them to scale their business in a market which is worth billions of dollars and crosses national borders.

Their company is PaperLess Solutions Limited, a venture located in Kingston for which they are chief operating officers and principals.

The Clackens started PaperLess Solutions as a sole trader in 2011, but it was later incorporated into a limited liability company in 2016. They state, "We saw a need to provide process automation services to businesses that were still paper-based or wanted to have a centralised information system to manage all their applications." Paperless Solutions was the answer.

It is the first business venture for the couple who, since 2016, has expanded to a staff size of nine including part-time and contingent developers. They are currently a member of the Jamaica Business Development Corporation Accelerator programme.

PaperLess Solutions Limited provides digital transformation consulting services to companies who wish to optimise their business processes and develop integrated applications.

Oneil Clacken, CEO, is the driving force behind the company created to bring other companies, large and small, into a more efficient and profitable future. He is involved in the development of software, marketing, and customer experience strategies.

Gennette Clacken is described as an expert in instructional design and digital learning experience who specialises in training and design.

Chief company designer is Diannjah Coleman, who is described as an experienced UX/UI designer in the software industry, who "loves taking on challenges". The CEO says on his website.

"Diannjah is among the best minds [who] has helped the company to where it is today."

The Clackens automate end-to-end solutions for small to large enterprises based on the requirements definition of the clients.

"We achieve buy-in from upper management by presenting cost-benefit analysis and digital transformation tools."

The company targets small and medium-sized enterprises in the short run, but plans to focus on larger enterprises in the future. They consider their competitive advantage to be "a highly skilled and committed team".

The largest projects to date involve accounting, inventory, CRM and HR applications. "Paperless Solutions has a comprehensive suite of everything that the client can ever imagine," Oneil Clacken stated. The company outlines its services at paperless360.com.

PaperLess offers production automation for manufacturing functions, time sheets and statutory deductions. Under its project management and planning portfolio, it refines business process with automation software.

The company also offers POS and e-commerce solutions, integrating payments with accounting systems.

Fraction

The entrepreneurs estimate the size of their targeted market, the software industry, to be a multi-billion-dollar industry. At present, they say they only have a "a fraction of a percentage of the market".

Challenges experienced in setting up and running this business were mainly attracting and training new talent. There was also the issue of financing and tightly managing projects.

The entrepreneurs declined to share investment to date but said that "We have been making a steady increase in profits over the past year or two."

In fiscal 2020-21, the increase in profit margin was 25 per cent year over year. The next year it was 38 per cent growth year over year.

Going forward, the intention is to train more and increase marketing to support company growth.

The entrepreneurs believe that an alliance with venture capitalists can be one source of helping the company to reach its medium- and long-term goals.