Yekini Wallen-bryan
Managing director & founder, Preelabs Ltd
“The second I started [in the field of robotics] I fell in love with it, and I’m still in love with it,” shared Wallen-bryan, a The University Of The West Indies, Mona, alum, as he introduced himself to fellow panellists on the webinar.
Wallen-bryan formed Preelabs Ltd — an electronic and software company that focuses on developing and implementing automated solutions and remote monitoring — in 2016 and has since gained the support of several organisations.
He believes change is at the core of a brighter future for Jamaica.
“The only way you can impact change; is to give people a chance, let them try, let them fail... let them grow,” he posited.
About what he’d change in Jamaica. Wallen-bryan said, “We really have to do a lot; not to only make things happen, but to also make people realise that we [Jamaicans] are capable.”
Wallen-bryan’s playlist includes music by pop band The Marías, Kendrick Lamar, and Frank Ocean.
Entrepreneur
At 22 years old Lauren Tomlinson — whose mother operates noted Ocho Rios eatery Miss T’s Kitchen — used the webinar platform to announce her own. The vegan restaurant Lala’s Nutmeg is just one of many projects Tomlinson has on her plate. The Hillel Academy alum, who revels in sharing her Jamaican culture with the world, spent the two years following high school in a not-so-typical classroom — travelling the world with the Semester at Sea programme. She continued her studies at Les Roches, where she became the first and only recipient of a Caribbean student scholarship.
Now back home, and she declares, “Not only is the future ours... the world is also ours.”
Tomlinson implored Jamaicans to “collaborate instead of compete”, and “create rather than destroy, keep adding rather than delete, and keep making Jamaica better”.
In response to viewer Donette Chin-loy Chang’s question, “What’s the one thing you’d change in Jamaica?” Tomlinson said: “I believe we need to put more into our creative sector, because that is what has truly put us on the map... I could go on and on, but I think two things are very important: [Changing] the educational system and just access to resources to be able to spread our creativity worldwide.”
Tomlinson is currently jamming to reggae stars Damian Marley, Protoje, Chronixx, and Beres Hammond.