Nordian Thompson is finally ready and equipped to revolutionise her online business. The small business owner was the first user to download the Honey Bun Foundation GAPP APP and complete the survey, which identifies gaps in a company’s business model. The Digicel Foundation, which is a partner of the application, stepped up to donate a laptop for Thompson thanks to The Honey Bun and Digicel Foundations.
Thompson was awarded the laptop at the Digicel Foundation’s downtown headquarters, the Delves Building, on April 14. She downloaded the app after watching the Honey Bun Foundation’s live stream to help her identify growth areas in her St. Ann-based clothing boutique, Porte-Bonheur.
Speaking about her early days as a business owner, Thompson recalled, “It was incredibly challenging. I started with a ZTE Blade – a ‘not so smartphone’ but I had to make it work. I often had issues accessing certain apps to edit or to set up pages/posts that required using a computer. I once had a small business Zoom presentation and was unable to showcase my products as I needed a computer or any other device which I didn’t have access to at the time.”
Now, equipped with her new laptop, Thompson can do so much more. She fondly recalls the moment she found out she had won the grand prize from the GAPP APP launch. “I was in shock! I was screaming, hugging my friend and sent it to a few persons asking, ‘Hey, you see this? That’s me, right?’ Oh my God I was overjoyed, super excited. At one point I became teary because a few days prior I was looking at a laptop. I was just saying like, ‘This is you, God’.”
Now there is no stopping this budding entrepreneur who started her store while also overseeing her mother’s community-based grocery shop, and working part-time at a bill payment outlet in her community of Bonham Spring, St Ann.
Closing the ‘Gapp’
Now, Thompson is focused on closing the gaps identified through the GAPP APP survey. For her, using the app was very eye opening. “I was just focused on having what was needed and providing it. I didn’t realise that there were other routes to marketing that I was overlooking and would aid my sales projection,” she explained. “I never had a business plan, and no way to identify the areas of my business that I could improve on. I just took what I had saved and decided I wanted to do something for myself and I did.”
Having used the app, she said, the most immediate change she will introduce to her business is accountability. “I was just spending and replacing, and after I started using the GAPP APP, I realised that I did not even know if I was operating at a profit or loss,” she recalls. “So, now I am more selective and budgeting when making purchases, researching cheaper vendors while satisfying the need for quality, yet affordable items. I am working towards a greater score for my next review.”
Thompson’s experience perfectly captures the aim of The Honey Bun Foundation GAPP APP. “The benefits Nordian gained from the app are exactly what we intended and what we want more small and medium businesses to access,” said General Manager of The Honey Bun Foundation Nashauna Lalah.
“The fact that the grand prize from the Digicel Foundation was also such an essential missing piece of the puzzle for her gives me goosebumps. It’s the start of great success for Nordian and we’ll be here to guide her and others like her along the way,” Lalah added.
Thompson is now looking to the future and sees her business someday becoming “a recognised entity that will provide employment for Jamaicans – an example to other small businesses that with commitment, hard work, dedication and a dream, the impossible will always become possible.”
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