Our Story
Picture this: a 25 year old Antiguan Lawyer, clad in full suit and tie, walking tall but dripping perspiration under the midday sun between several large shrubs of fever grass bush, only able to steal a glimpse through the shrubs of a disappointingly desolate home – abandoned and uninviting. This was the scene of an all too familiar movie here in Antigua – “Property Auctions 101.”
While Jermaine stood alone wondering if this was the right place, or will the Auctioneer find him or the property within all this bush, he knew at that moment that it was a total unadulterated waste of time. Why would any right thinking person waste a quarter tank of gas, trying to escape the City’s hustle and bustle, to instead, venture out to who knows where, to spend just only a few hundred Thousands dollars, for a “fixer upper”, which to me is quite the stretch!
Unfortunately for Jermaine, it was month end so this house had to go in order to be paid. Then a bit of relief! The small joys of hearing the distant sound of a car rolling along the unpaved gravel. Was it a curious investor coming to take him out of his misery and purchase this House? Nope! Just a by-passer.
The History behind this home was widely known: An Antiguan with too big a vision, but too small a pocket found it fitting to secure loan funding to build his dream home. Instead, he chose to siphon the money elsewhere bringing about an early disaster. Now that the Bank was attempting to be reasonable and recover its loan, this defaulter has, in an act of war, gone ghost and ceased all present and future payments.
Drenched and defeated were Jermaine’s sentiments when reality set in without a person in sight even after 2 painful hours under Antiguan Sun. “Was the Price too high?” He thought. Was the Auction Notice information accurate? Did potentials get Lost? No one knew! What he did know at that moment however was that there must be a better way to sell homes in Antigua.
Just as he thought about tweeting his dreaded experience across social media, the common means of venting for modern day millennial, he decided for the first time, while staring at his phone, to do something different. – take action!
The concept of adding technology to the process of buying or selling homes arose just by fluke. Were it not for the exorbitant Web Development costs right here in this very island, the JMVI Realty concept would have been nothing but a website.
The thought came during a time when more and more Locals began dabbling into the tech-world and Jermaine became eager to also make this tech-leap of faith only with high hopes of achieving resounding success. “Why should we pay a Mortgage payment just for a website?” He pondered to his then girlfriend Monique, soon to be Co-Founder/Fiancé.
Then something amazing happened! During the period when his brother completed his medical studies, discussions began on scoping out for an App Developer. Merely a coincidence, the Doctor’s roommate knew of a Small Tech company who could Develop a mobile App.
This began the love-hate relationship that Jermaine had with this Team of Developers who had became the fundamental Partner in bringing the JMVI Mobile App Concept to life.
Contrary to popular belief, there was no easy road! There were two major hurdles to cross – one was funding and the second was know–how. How would a young Antiguan couple successfully fund a project that had only ever been seen in the USA and funded by multi-million dollar companies backed by Wall Street. This gave birth to the brainchild – JM Ventures Inc.
JM Ventures Inc. was founded not just as a Venture Company but as a pivotal tool backed only by big dreams, clear vision and hard work behind the scenes. After its 2016 formation, Jermaine fought to secure a working relationship with Law Firm Rhudd & Associates headed by his father Mr. Septimus Rhudd. And those who knew Septimus, knew what a daunting task it would be! The Result: the Law Firm agreed to offer Citizenship by Investment Services under Antigua’s inaugural CIP Programme. As the firm’s only Licensed Agent, Jermaine began capitalizing in this new market generating the much needed Revenue to fund JM Ventures Inc. in its Real Estate App Development.
What promised to be a 3-month Development cycle turned out into a full calendar year nightmare. Apparently, neither Jermaine nor the Developers knew how to execute what was envisioned. By the start of 2019, JM Ventures Inc. had then received not a functioning App which was expected but a bare minimum viable product with maximum Debt amassed.
All the while the two co-founders had been prepping and promoting the product as ‘the best thing since sliced bread’ hoping to connect with valued partners whose assistance will penetrate the Antiguan market.
The first was Sir Richie Richardson, Antigua’s world famous cricket legend. Lucky for the duo, Sir Richie owned a Charity and was about to host his first annual Charity Golf Tournament and was open to the idea of using JMVI’s tech platform with hosting a charity auction of sponsored prizes.
Much to the surprise of the Co-Founders, the one time when the platform was expected to work, it disappointed miserably. The App crashed merely because too many people were using the platform on an unstable Internet connection and causing much embarrassment.
A few months later, the Co-founders after the back and fourth with developers, seized yet another opportunity to penetrate the market, this time through sponsorship of an Annual Art Auction and Wine Tasting event organized by Mr. Regis Burton and his foundation – the Nolan Hue.
Similarly, another big disappointment! Not only were App users experiencing problems signing into the App, there was no functioning method to facilitate payments for those who miraculously got in.
Here we were, just about to approach Summer 2019, anticipating major strides with a successful real estate company but rather, we were nowhere closer to our goal than when we originally started. Only now, we were footing a major bill, this time not just for the continued App Development, but for an empty Office Space. Because lets face it, if we had no functioning Platform, how could two young persons convince any soul to work for the Company.
It was during this difficult period we used the little resources left to begin searching for a team. This was the first time we stumbled upon Ebby the Realtor. Our first impression of Ebby was that he was well-spoken, experienced in Real Estate and mature in his mannerisms. But at that very first meeting, he made it clear that he wasn’t looking for a job. What a bummer! He saw the JMVI marketing material and was interested to see what we were about. In Gentle banter, we asked him to put some thought into joining our team but when we began discussing numbers, there was no doubt in our young minds that a Startup Company cannot simply afford to pay a Realtor to close down his Company to join another. No Deal! We then just continued with the team searching, never once giving up on the ultimate goal – Revolutionizing Real Estate, as we knew it.
As we approached August 2019 and JMVI continued the downhill snowball into debt, Monique & Jermaine knew that some change had to be made. They both had no experience is managing a business and now their backs were against the wall financially.
At this point, two miraculous things occurred almost simultaneously with each other. First, the Government of Antigua & Barbuda, living up to their annual Budget Statement promises began offering Loans to Startup Entrepreneurs as they felt that this move might have been strategic in turning Antigua & Barbuda into an Economic Powerhouse.
As skeptical as we were, thinking that the so called EDP Fund was too good to be true, we risked it all and applied for EDP funding since they promised that the process should be quicker than the Banks and as a worse case under 30 days. Our August Application went without response for the rest of the year, so lets not discuss the negatives.
At the same time we applied for funding, the JMVI team stumbled into the Caribbean Tech Entrepreneurship Programme yet again. Again because a prior attempt was made a few months earlier to join and participate in the Entrepreneurship Incubator and Business Pitch Competition but led to failure.
For those of you who might be lost, CTEP is a virtual hub for Caribbean startups and entrepreneurs, helping small businesses to unlock economic transformation through digital innovation platforms.
When the duo decided to reenter to CTEP the motivating factor was the need to learn the business of entrepreneurship as well as the ability to impart that knowledge through Company training to their newest Marketing & Administrative Assistant. Over the next two months, team JMVI learned the ins and outs of various marketing and sales strategies as well as the pivot – when all things go wrong and the Business is required to start again albeit in a new direction.
While the Team’s only support staff learnt from the virtual Incubator, reality set in and the duo had come to realize that time was now of the essence. You see, Jermaine heard through the grapevine that the Government was impressed by the JMVI Company and that the loan would more than likely be approved. The only problem was it was on this assurance that the Co-Founders took the leap to hire a full time staff member as well as plan its Business Launch with monies they did not have. The Glamorous Launch was planned for November end at Black Sails’ the finest Ultra Lounge in one of Antigua’s newest hotel resorts, the Hodges Bay Club. As the days were numbered and no such Loan approval was in sight, the team, literally seeing a disaster ahead, had to make some quick and effective decisions.
The first thing to go, was the grand Ultra JMVI Launch to all Businesses, Realtors, VIPs and friends which was now significantly scaled down to a basic but business friendly Launch at the Trade Winds Conference Room targeted only to a few Bankers and handpicked Family, Friends and valued service providers who had been assisting JMVI from the beginning.
With no financial assistance and one support staff, JMVI utilized effective contingency planning to execute what might now be seen as a Symbolic Launch of the JMVI Mobile App to a room of curious but interested Bankers who enjoyed every moment and bit of information imparted. Luckily, with the assistance of Jermaine’s long time friends and business partners, JMVI’s Launch was filmed and the recording was later used at the 11th hour just as material to participate in CTEP’s regional Pitch Competition, which JMVI entered back in August.
What a relief it was after pulling off what can only be seen as a true miracle, since all arrangements for the event were coordinated virtually when the Co-Founders left island for a family wedding. The Lesson here is that nothing can be effectively accomplished without a team all on the same side.
What’s more, short of two weeks after the launch, Jermaine & Monique were notified that the business Pitch of JMVI Realty was a regional Winner having placed 3rd out of 242 Entrepreneurs in 12 Caribbean countries. They wanted the founders to travel all expenses covered to the awards Ceremony in Barbados.
It is hard to tell where exactly was the turning point for JMVI Realty because nothing felt like a switch or change from difficult to easy. Everything still seemed quite the challenge but to be fair things started to get better, one day at a time.
January, 2020 came and with quite a bit of positives! Through networking in Barbados, the JMVI duo was particularly pleased to introduce to the Brand, a full-time experienced Real Estate Agent in the person of Ebby the Realtor. Through open discussions, sound financial projections and a creative joint Venture Ebby partnered with the Company. As if this was not enough, January also saw the addition of the Company’s Tech Advisor and youngest team member in the person of 19-year-old Trevaun Solomon.
Now was the first time, the JMVI team had a tech translator for all the techy concepts which the Developers introduced and had the company lost with slow progressions.
Now that the first quarter of year 2020 has been concluded, there is an air of pride being felt not just by the Co-Founders but also by every team member, every family member and every well-wisher who rooted for the JMVI Realty Brand from the start. On May 8, 2020, JMVI Realty turns two years Old which some call the terrible twos. And while there is so much to fear in the world as every Business is being beaten down to their knees by the deadly economic effects of the largest health Pandemic in history, JMVI Realty and its team will celebrate amidst the chaos as there is so much to be thankful for.
JMVI Realty which once was only a concept, is today a downloadable reality! Our Birthday month will see JMVI proudly unveiling not just its brand new website, but also the most powerful Real Estate mobile App Platform in the Caribbean. While success is uncertain, the odds now more than ever are in the teams favour. JMVI Realty App has now grown 800+ Users Strong with Technology enabling the platform to operate in multiple Caribbean islands simultaneously. Its Brand and Trademarks are now protected locally and Regional Franchising is now a possibility.
Whether the future will see JMVI Realty as a publicly traded Company, it might be too soon to tell, but let this story tell the dreamers, the doubters and the minority groups thinking about impossibility, that nothing is impossible. The path in Entrepreneurship as with success, is never easy but as you will come to appreciate, it will be totally worth it.
Welcome to the Future of Real Estate at your Fingertips!
Signed,
Jermaine & Monique