Using technology to create a legacy, Nigel Carter is a ‘Special Person’

Jan 27, 2019 Special Person

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Pull Quote: “Nothing good comes easy and anything good takes time. The easy way out is always the short way out, and to me, giving up is the easy way out, and that is not an option for me.”

By Sharmain Grainger

Have you ever had a yearning for some good fast food minus the hassle of dining out or even having to call a restaurant to place an order and have it delivered? Such a service is offered on a daily basis in many developed countries. However, what many people do not know is that this service is very much available right here in our dear land too.
At the helm of this fledgling business venture is a young man who simply had a desire to offer a service with which he could build a legacy for himself. His name is Nigel Carter and the service he offers is called ‘Food Monkey’.
Food Monkey is an application [App] that can be readily downloaded by individuals via the Google Play Store. Carter is currently working on an interface to make his App compatible with iOS systems, too, and he hopes to achieve this by next month end. This has, however, not limited the usage of the App which was designed to help food lovers order food and have it delivered to them without ever having to make contact with another person – well, up until delivery, when payment is made for the service.
Situated at Lot 1 D’Urban Street, Georgetown, the Food Monkey Service is one that has been taking the capital city by storm and, Nigel confided, its future is looking especially bright.

“Right now it is in the infancy stage, and so I don’t mind working with a tight budget, because I see the potential for growth… even if I get quarter of the market that will be more than enough to be successful,” he noted.

In fact, this enterprising young man shared his conviction that in the bright future for the Food Monkey app will be the addition of features that have not yet been introduced here, but are sure to leave customers in awe.

WHO IS HE?
The second of three children born to parents, Vernie and Timothy Carter, Nigel is brother to sisters Charmaine and Cinesse. The now 38-year-old remembers growing up in the Werk-en-Rust area and attending St Margaret’s Primary and Central High before heading on to the University of Guyana [UG] to pursue studies in Computer Science, with a focus on software.
But Nigel hadn’t a remote interest in technology when he was a young boy. In fact it wasn’t until after graduating from secondary school that he had his technology-driven epiphany.
He recalled being in the business stream at secondary school and was sure he would’ve followed such a career path. Overwhelmed by the desire to do “something exciting”, Nigel opted to take a chance on technology which he hoped could augment any business aspiration.
For the past eight years, he has held the position of Information Technology Manager at the National Insurance Scheme [NIS].
He developed a passion for things technology almost overnight and recalled that while at UG, he, along with a fellow tech enthusiast, conceptualised an idea to introduce a new service powered by technology to the Guyanese public. It wasn’t yet the Food Monkey idea, but rather, an online job application programme.
“The intent was to help persons find vacancies and apply for them online. We tried to get the government ministries and agencies involved so that they could post all of their vacancies on our website at no cost. We envisioned we would have been able to make an income by attracting advertisers to the site,” Nigel disclosed.

He recalled, however, that “at that time, maybe around 2003, it was not very well received…people weren’t really ready for that. There are a few websites like that now, but back then people weren’t ready for that, so it never really got off the ground.”
It was back to the drawing board for Nigel and his partner, who together decided to divert their attention to the entertainment arena. This saw the development of an entertainment website named www.evybez.com.
“We really wanted to get into something and have it going. We took photos, videos, and we did entertainment updates; that was a full job by itself…we used to be out late at nights taking photos till 4 in the morning sometimes even though you had your day job,” Nigel recalled.
“It wasn’t like I enjoyed partying, but I wanted to show people Guyana, not only here, but across the world, so they would want to log in and see what’s going on,” Nigel shared.
But undertaking this venture did not help him achieve the satisfaction that he was longing for.
“It wasn’t something that I could say ‘yes this was my achievement’ because there were other websites like that already…we were somewhere around the number three spot; we weren’t the first to do it…so I felt like something was missing,” he reflected.
He continued, “I had to be doing something else, something bigger, and it had to be something where people could say ‘wow I like this’ or something people could use on a daily basis besides entertainment.”

FOOD MONKEY
Nigel started surfing the internet to see the possibilities that existed in the developed world. He was intrigued by the Uber [taxi] service being offered in the United States, and was soon caressing the possibility of introducing such a platform here in Guyana. But in order to bring this to fruition, he would have to develop a suitable application.
He therefore made full use of the technological knowledge he garnered at the level of the university and was soon creating an app intended to help make catching a taxi a breeze.

“It would be like this, if you are looking for a taxi, you go to the app and you see where the cars are and you decide ‘okay, I want this one because it is close by’…then there is a pick up and a drop off and then there will be charges,” Nigel explained.
However, just when he was about to unleash his app to ‘Georgetowners’ a similar app was introduced by someone else causing him to rethink treading the same path. But since he had put such effort into creating his app, Nigel noted that he started to visualise integrating another service into it.
“I started thinking what service you can provide that people would need every day…of course people have to eat every day and many people need to have the food they eat delivered to them,” Nigel shared of his epiphany moment.
By this time the previous failed ventures had discouraged Nigel’s partner, thus he had to move ahead by himself with his ambitious Food Monkey idea.
“A lot of persons thought this thing couldn’t work….many people, when you brought the idea up to them, were like ‘Guyanese nah, they wouldn’t use a service like that’,” Nigel recalled.
Convinced that success would be in how the business is marketed, he decided to forge ahead. “The important thing for me was to always ensure that I don’t bite off more than I can chew. You can’t start big and then realise that you can’t sustain that and expect to see success, the business will definitely flop,” he shared.
Last September, Nigel launched the Food Monkey venture by way of Social Media and its uptake has been phenomenal. Although he is yet to turn a profit, this young entrepreneur is pleased that he was able to introduce a product that is not only needed, but has been proving to be everything he conceptualised.
“I was able to get a few food businesses to buy into it,” related Nigel, who currently has about six delivery agents who are highly praised, not only for their efficiency, but for their tidiness and professionalism too, in the reviews left for the app in the Play Store.

VIRTUAL OPTION
Although he currently has close to a dozen food outlets on board, Nigel anticipates even more will join the Food Monkey movement. He noted that while expansion is definitely on the horizon, moving forward will be guided by caution. This therefore means, Nigel shared, that for now the service will be confined to the capital city until he is able to test the app to satisfaction. “Sometimes I myself go and do a few deliveries just so I can see what the difficulties are. I want to see what the delivery guys go through, so if there are shortcomings they can be dealt with,” Nigel revealed.
The service that currently obtains is one that allows a customer, who has downloaded the Food Monkey App to their device or logged on to the related website [foodmonkey.online] and completed the registration process, to access the menus of the several fast food outlets.

Much like virtual online shopping, customers are able to fill their plate with food of their choice and from the restaurant[s] of their choosing, before sending through their order. Once an order is placed, the Food Monkey app administrator acknowledges receipt and depending on the availability of delivery personnel, the order is accepted and routed to the available delivery person and simultaneously to the restaurant of choice.
With the order in hand, the delivery person heads to the fast food outlet, pays for the ordered items and transports same to the customer, who pays only upon receipt of the order.
“Once you are registered, all you have to do is click ‘Find Food’ and the app will find the restaurants closest to you and calculate the estimated delivery time, based on location,” Nigel shared.
Earning for the business is through the payment for the delivery service, but according to Nigel, “the key is patience…you have to give, in order to receive. I see this business like a baby — when it’s a newborn you have to cradle it and take care of it, and in time when it is mature enough you will see its full potential.”
But the business is not merely an order and delivery process, since it takes into consideration all of the factors that can fall in-between, such as delays because of traffic or long queues in restaurants. To ensure that customers are only given the good service they deserve, Nigel spoke of a chatroom and email interface of the app which allows Food Monkey personnel to keep customers up to date with the progress of their delivery. In fact, customers even have the ability to independently track their delivery by way of GPS – usually through the mobile devices of the delivery personnel.

HIS VISION
Although Guyanese have been increasingly embracing technology in practically all aspects of life, Nigel noted that there is still a far way to go. He is optimistic that a few years down the road, the country will be moving towards all things technology.
“Everybody has a cell phone or some smart device now and internet is all over, even the youngest child can take advantage of technology,” Nigel said.
By fully embracing technology, he pointed out that people will not only be seeking to transact their food delivery business virtually, but just about any financial transaction too.
Nigel is, moreover, prepared to invest the time and energy needed for things to evolve naturally, since he had long developed what it takes to remain grounded and optimistic to realise whatever goals he envisaged for himself. He was able to achieve this by embracing the notion that “nothing good comes easy and anything good takes time. The easy way out is always the short way out, and to me, giving up is the easy way out, and that is not an option for me.” Moreover, his advice to young people like himself is, “don’t give up! If you have a dream, see it through. It will take time, but you will get there as long as you stay focused and do what you have to do. Your dream may not be somebody else’s dream, so if you share it with them, they may not see it your way because it’s your dream.”
For remaining unyielding to an ambitious goal that has been serving the public well, today we at Kaieteur News bestow Nigel with the title of our ‘Special Person’.

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