By Sue-Ann Wayow
GETTING into trouble with the law at a young age and being stigmatised as a “bad boy” can certainly put a dent in a person’s character.
For Nigel Gangadeen, he used it as a stepping boulder to become a better individual with the help and support of persons who cared enough about him not to leave him the way he was.
Today, he is the owner of an Information Technology (IT) company that is registered both locally and internationally and has done work for some of the top companies in the country.
Gangadeen, who hails from Penal was in his first term in Form Four at ASJA Boys College in San Fernando when he got arrested for possession of ammunition and charged.
Thankfully, he was never convicted, he said, but he had to endure five years of court appearances even while attending school.
However, he persevered and received nine subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level, most with top grades.
Gangadeen, after Form Five, went to the University of The West Indies (UWI) Open Campus South, where he began his pursuit of a diploma in Information Systems Management focusing on Business and Information Technology.
But in a Bill Gates fashion, he dropped out to pursue his career with intention of completing his first degree.
To date that has not occurred.
Gangadeen told AZP News, “I had one more project to do. The final year project goals were similar to a client’s project goals so that gave me the confidence that I could have finished up at a later date so I dropped out then.”
While pursuing his studies at The UWI, Gangadeen had began working as an On-The –Job (OJT) training employee as an IT assistant at Parvati Girls’ High School in Debe.
He got the opportunity to work on two systems and from there he started to build on his projects and clientele.
In 2011, he started building a church website while continuing working on freelance projects.
Finally, he registered his business in 2014 as Goldan Web and from there he began to structure his work in a more efficient and profitable manner.
The name Goldan is an amalgamation of Jordan and Gilgal, two places of significance to the ancient Israelites. According to the Bible, when the Israelites fled from Egypt after hundreds of years of slavery, crossing the Jordan River, they entered into the Promised Land. Gilgal is the place they encamped immediately after the crossing.
Gangadeen drew inspiration from that place of promise.
And between himself and a few employees, he would be hired to work on larger projects with a sales team also assisting with more aggressive and strategic marketing.
Pandemic influence
With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Gangadeen launched a discounted campaign in April for persons wanting websites as more members of the population were utilising the worldwide web more.
“That was very successful. We built a lot of clients from that,” he said.
Piggybacking on that initiative came Goldan Cart last month.
Goldan Cart, an e-commerce platform was intended with the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in mind.
Gangadeen describes it. “A platform that allows anyone to create a website or ecommerce store in minutes. You can manage products, orders, customer details and billing, advertise and promote across the web, all on one platform. Goldan Cart’s complete ecommerce system integrates seamlessly with your social media stores and existing websites (WordPress, Wix. etc). The platform is free to try for the first 30-days-no credit card needed.”
There was a soft launch and several clients who have since begun using Goldan Cart have expressed satisfaction.
“They love it the process is easy and straightforward for them and they are pretty satisfied with everything and are anxious for upgrades,” Gangadeen said.
Education does not stop after graduation
The 31-year-old also shared some advice for young persons wanting to get involved in business.
“My advice to budding entrepreneurs would be to learn and build. Read a lot, education does not stop after graduation. Reading and listening to audiobooks like the E-Myth by Michael E Gerber has been a great asset for me.
“Go out into the real world and test your ideas, build a client base, get experience even if it’s pro bono work. Build processes, record everything, analyse and tweak. Improve a little daily and you’ll be successful.”
Gangadeen spoke about Trinidad and Tobago’s digital transformation especially as the Government had created a specific ministry designed for that transformation.
He said, “The digital transformation thrust is a great opportunity not just to digitise government’s legacy systems but also to develop a viable tech industry which generates foreign exchange. Government should encourage more tech and app entrepreneurs to create platforms and solutions which target a larger international audience. The model of making a ‘Trini’ version of an international platform or app works well in some cases, but our local creativity can shine in the tech world if the right incentives are in place.”
Being futuristic, Gangadeen will be working on a Non Fungible Token (NFT) platform for the Caribbean.
He explains, “NFTs are digital certificates of authentication that cannot be copied. NFTs are based on blockchain technology and can be used as a store of value much like collectible art.”
Gangadeen said he was looking forward to the launch soon.
He will also be working on partnerships that aims to assist local tech and app entrepreneurs in launching their products internationally.
Anyone who may be interested in more information can contact Gangadeen at nigel@goldanweb.com
