- FileJulian "Jingles" Reynolds, producer/director of the documentary, "Jammin' in Jamaica - with The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari" points out a frame on the monitor to editor Salvador Schembri as they work on the film in August 1996.
Donna Ortega, News Editor
April 2000 marked the establishment of a new e-commerce site with a local flavour, by Jamaican marketer, Julian "Jingles' Reynolds.
The innovative site which had one year in the making is an important link for lovers of Jamaican culture - music and food - being significant products sold at fiwiproductions.com.
"The niche in which we operate is the Jamaican (Caribbean), African-American cultural experience," Mr. Reynolds said in an interview last week.
"Our objective is to promote our culture as an extremely valuable, yet affordable commodity in our daily experience," states the mission statement posted on the site.
The Home Page at www.fiwiproductions.com concentrates on two documentaries on Jamaican music and Caribbean music, respectively, "Jammin' in Jamaica - with the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari" and "It all started with the drums". Produced and distributed by the New York-based media production and marketing company, FiWi Productions, each documentary has a 60-minute duration.
Kuji, an African American publication available for subscription on the site, covers issues on health, culture and economics in the African diaspora. Healthee Endeavours Inc., a Jamaican-owned company, offers four herbal supplements to Website users: Doctor Bird Bitters, manufactured in the United States from Jamaican raw materials; Mount Atlantis Wood Root Tonic; Five Five Five tablets for glandular cleansing as well as organic honey. These products, manufactured from raw material he exports to the U.S. from Portland and St. Thomas, meet U.S. Food and Drug Admini-stration requirements said Mr. Reynolds and are "legally on sale in the U.S. market."
Another feature of the site is the publication, Our Voices, a series of essays and articles written by Jamaican academic Dr. Basil Wilson and other writers.
By mid-September two other areas are scheduled to be up and running on the fiwiproductions.com web site. The Kapo Gallery, in honour of Mallica "Kapo" Reynolds, Jamaica's foremost intuitive artist, will offer art from Latin America and the Caribbean. Seven artists including Winston Huggins, Carlton Ingleton, Shabaka and Algie Lewis have already signed up their works for sale in the cyberspace gallery. Orders can be placed online as well as through Amazon.com which handles all online sales for fiwiproductions.
Reggaeland, accessed by a click of the map of Jamaica icon, will offer music from Studio One and other CDs.
Mr. Reynolds is keen to diversify the offerings from the site and has entered negotiations to supply Jamaican furniture and craft to buyers on the Internet. "Both are substantial enough to appeal to a wider market," he said, as he observed that the scope for sales of his products was not just Jamaica but the world.
The site is getting hits from all over the globe particularly from South America and Europe but mostly the U.S. and with some interest from Jamaica.
As for profitability: "Most e-commerce sites have a three-year window to show profit. I am going in with limited financing because of problems of access, but I am planning to turn a profit in two years," he declared.
Equity financing, with a small source of financing through Citibank in New York, was the launchpad for fiwiproductions.com.
Mr. Reynolds said he will be pursuing major financing during the next six months. His cry is that of other companies seeking to raise funds to market intellectual property. "They recognise the importance of a cultural product, but banks don't know how to finance it. "They don't know how to deal with e-commerce. They're still into the bricks and mortar stuff," he said.
And even if offered collateral such as prime real estate, banks still decline applications to fund start-ups in this area. "They don't understand the industry and they need to educate themselves," Mr. Reynolds maintained.
So far financing is obtained through venture capital in the U.S. but financiers are primarily those who are investing in Internet projects.
There is room for public and private sector involvement in Jamaica.
"No venture capital window exists even after so many years of talk," he said.
With 40 per cent of business in the U.S. now being Internet-generated, he sees the need for the offer of a variety of interesting products and the creative marketing of e-commerce Web sites.
A company going into e-commerce can amass upwards of US$1 million for start-up costs but FiWi Productions is doing it for much less. "Our budget is US$200,000," Mr. Reynolds said flatly as he outlined the difficulties of access to capital.
Constraints notwithstanding, he and his fellow directors are determined "to make it" through strategic alliances with other North American mainstream companies, for economies of scale.
"Companies like ours have to form alliances which still allow you to retain independence, identity and give the ability to compete in your target market." The Mall site, for example, which is monitored by a central agency, gives a broader appeal to fiwiproductions.com, and a percentage of sales or use of the site, boosts its earnings.
