Started as a side hustle in The Caribbean, now a million dollar business

In The Caribbean, before Covid, starting a digital business backed by technology was not very heard of. The Caribbean, being a developing country, often comes with some ifs and buts when we talk of setting up an online business. Lack of awareness, digital innovation and restricted parameters do not make the island very entrepreneur friendly. 

Which is why, an example of a woman entrepreneur in tech and business making to success is a one that needs to be told. In this piece, we will be sharing with you the story of Lindsay Williams, who not only broke the stereotypes and biases but also established a highly successful business for herself. 

Tune in. 

Lindsay runs an online marketplace and food delivery business in a Caribbean island. As much as we would want to name the business, it has been kept anonymous for private reasons. 

After her Masters, Lindsay landed a corporate job for herself, like any normal graduate. She was doing her own thing when an idea struck her. 

She quips, “I was doing okay with my job until I had this idea. I had a team and we started working on it. Initially, it was a side hustle, but now, it has taken over all my efforts and time.”

With Yelo, Lindsay’s business

• Witnessed growth of 2 years in 2 months 
• Adaptation was real quick 
• Delivered hundreds of orders daily 

Keep reading to know how Lindsay could crack the success code in a developing country and a cash economy. 

Challenges

Onboarding big brands

Getting the initial restaurants onboard was one of the biggest challenges for Lindsay. 

She says, “You know you have the best technology, your product is great, but people have their biases. A developing country itself has a lot of parameters and being a woman in tech and business, it gets really difficult to convince them. Getting them to trust you was a task.”

Cashless payments

Cash is big in a developing country and introducing a cashless system was a big challenge. Lindsay adds, “Online payments are still in a premature stage, debit card penetration is comparatively very less to other countries where we are. Which is why the system had to be very efficient.”

Solutions 

Quick launch

Lindsay wanted to launch quickly as she wanted to produce results as soon as she could. She says, I am a strong believer of going to the market at the earliest and Yelo was perfect for that. 

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Adaptability 

Yelo’s easy to use interface and integrations allowed the people of The Caribbean to easily adapt to the cashless feature and online ordering. 

Lindsay quips, “Being from a developing country, we wanted the platform to be easy to use and customer friendly, otherwise people would be very slow to adapt to it or not adapt to it at all. 

Why Jungleworks?  

Lindsay thinks that the hyperlocal tech stack by Jungleworks is the best possible solution for local entrepreneurs. She says, “If we had to build it from the scratch, it would have been a lot of work and money. We are grateful to Jungleworks and it’s efficient team.”

Jungleworks is glad to have helped Lindsay in achieving her goals. And powering local entrepreneurs is what we love the most.