Name: Latoya Williams
Name of business: The Generation Tap
Your job title: Founder
Age at which you started your business: 32
What do you think is the most important character trait in a successful entrepreneur?
Vision. You have to be able to see things from a unique enough perspective, that often many others are unable to. One has to leverage their gifts, talents and experiences to put a particular product out there that you think could change the marketplace.
Identify one hardship that you experienced while building your business and how you overcame that.
For me, one of the biggest obstacles was just getting the word out there that ‘genealogists’ existed and that they can help all of us. Family history is very personal and everyone should be in the pursuit of theirs. This is an ongoing thing, we have been able to slowly get the word out there. Forums like this truly help the cause!
Describe one moment in which you felt immense pride in your accomplishment as entrepreneur.
I have experienced this a few times actually. It’s like every new high that you experience fills you with this pride. I felt it earlier this year when I was admitted as an Official Entrepreneur with the Branson Centre Caribbean! I felt it in this last quarter when I was able to hire my first employees.
How important were family/connections/relationshi
My business is built on family connections. My own journey of discovering my family history is what brought me here. I know it is possible to do the same for others because of this. Aside from that, the genealogical community worldwide is such an anchor. You have to be deeply steeped in it and also be constantly seeking association with those that can help your cause.
What advice would you give to youth considering starting entrepreneurial ventures in Jamaica?
I think most of us are meant to be entrepreneurs. This doesn’t mean you can’t be anything else. You should utilise the opportunity to venture into entrepreneurship when you are employed and to pursue it vigorously. There is space here for you. You were born to achieve several great things in this life!
For the picture: Why did you choose this pic and what does it say about you?
For so long, I have been known as the girl in the pink dress. It’s really an iconic photo of us as a newly minted Branson Centre Cohort 10, and I can clearly be seen. I was quite surprised that it’s how people referred to me in the initial stages. Even now, if its seen online or anywhere, they say: “Are you the one in the pink dress?”
This photo is with the three of us, my partner Sheryl and our assistant Saaeda. We truly felt great just being able to say that we are a unit and open for business as The Generation Tap. Its three different generations of women who all love the same thing! That is being able to connect all the families of the world! To this day, it is still one of our cover photos on our website www.thegenerationtap.com and on social media.
I was helping out at a conference recently, and at the end of it, we were taking photos. This one got snapped and I immediately fell in love with it because the tagline #DoBusinessJamaica was just so like my experience. I was and still am navigating doing just that in Jamaica. It can be hard. This picture fills me with hope. I look forward to a progressive and prosperous Jamaica!
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