Barbara Ellington, Lifestyle Editor
Audrey Marks, Paymaster mogul and the first female president of the American Chamber of Commerce, has blazed a trail to become one of Jamaica's most powerful business leaders. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
THE PAYMASTER story began with an idea in the mind of its conceptualiser-turned-managing director and chairman, Audrey Marks.
Back then, she was employed to Telecommunications of Jamaica as the person in charge of finance planning. She saw that company projections were showing a significant increase in telephone access in Jamaica, but no correspondent planning was being made for access to payment points. It stuck with her that collecting even one per cent would be a great source of revenue.
Years later, she became a realtor, commuting between Jamaica and the United States. Having to make a bill payment on one occasion, the thought again struck that there had be a simplier way to pay bills. That was in 1994, and there was no system available to do mass collection of bills; online was relatively unknown.
Then, many persons considered Marks crazy, but through the support of Maurice McNaughton, who started Jamaica On-Line, she procured the hardware, software and network support for the architecture of the system designed. It was then that she began to knock on clients' doors, but had to wait for three years when, in 1997, Jamaica Public Service Company Limited opened theirs, allowing Paymaster Jamaica Limited to test the system.
Marks is quick to stress the importance of self-belief because she pursued a system that was nowhere else in the world and offered it first here, and then to the world. And, she had no technology training. The experience taught her it's OK to dream.
Out of that idea an industry was born. Third-party payments that now take place as a matter of course was not part of our lifestyle eight years ago. Banks made batch payments and relayed them seven days later; Paymaster is capable of same-day payments. And as testament to the strength of their system, all tenders are accepted, including cheques. Most locations are open on Saturdays and on weekdays up to 7:00 p.m.
She looks forward to the day when the Planning Institute of Jamaica or the Statistical Institute of Jamaica will calculate the saving in manhours and energy cost for the difference that Paymaster has made. This is not yet recognised.
The married mother of two is staunchly supportive of Jamaica and plans to remain in her homeland. But there were challenges along the way, and Marks revealed them in this interview.
BE: What were some of the challenges that you have faced along the road to building Paymaster Jamaica?
AM: Paymaster was in the midst of the '90s financial sector meltdown so it was almost impossible to find investors. Fortunately, I had always been involved in business from trading to real estate and had acquired some assets. I was able to sell them in order to start.
But even with that it is hard to get assistance, and we need to get serious about driving growth through facilitating development at the small and medium level.
We cannot borrow our way into prosperity. If we get serious about growth as a policy, with all the agencies we have, it would not be difficult to encourage a young person to go from idea to business-plan, to funding to reality. We have the Jamaica Business Development Centre and JAMPRO, but Government still needs to prioritise and encourage it through full facilitation.
Then we had the challenge of managing growth; that was not taught in my MBA course as a process we need to learn. We begin with an idea, but we become a finance, HR, IT, marketing and operations manager and have to learn all aspects of the business until we can afford to put the expertise in place. That is in the growth phase, because sometimes volume grows before profit, which allows the expansion of cost base.
The third challenge for many entrepreneurs is that when you acquire the expertise, it's knowing when to delegate and let people use their creativity to add value to the business. At this time at Paymaster, I am in a second phase of organising to have the best people in place to take the company public so there will be no limit to where we can go.
BE: Is there a timeline on going public?
AM: I am looking at the next 12-15 months.
BE: What has been your biggest surprise in running Paymaster?
AM: The most surprising thing has been the public acceptance. We have over 140 locations, even with closures, and over 1,242,000 (persons) have used the Paymaster service either for bill payments, remittances, phone cards, visa fees or toll charges. The most amazing thing is how people accepted us, trusted us and gave us referrals so we could have grown mostly by word of mouth. In the early days we could not afford any marketing campaigns.
BE: Speak to staffing, how many do you now employ and what is the attrition rate like?
AM: In our network we now have over 300. At the branch level we have been blessed; most of the staff have remained in place. We always lose staff for two reasons: dishonesty and lack of courtesy to customers. We have a zero tolerance in that respect.
But they are good to work with. What grieves me is that so many of our young people are not getting the fundamental education.
A couple of decades ago they would leave high school with most of the basic education in place but young people are graduating at a disadvantage. Most employers now have to be prepared to invest in training at all levels. That's another challenge. However, once trained, we have some of the best and most efficient people who can compete anywhere in the world.
Jamaicans inherently have a great work ethic but we have a culture where people are not held accountable for anything; but we have the unquestionable ability to work well and that encourages me to continue doing business in Jamaica.
BE: To what extent have you been affected by theft and fraud?
AM: That continues to be one of our biggest challenges and we constantly have to upgrade processes and systems. I believe that for most companies security features are now about 20 per cent. There is such a propensity for persons to find ways to try to beat the system and feel that they can
get away with it. But if we changed our culture to mitigate against this, what we save could go towards more investment and education and it would not take long to get from Third to First-World standards.
BE: Why did you take on the additional responsibility as head of the Tourism Product Development Company?
AM: Jamaica, unlike some of our regional neighbours, has always had choices in sugar, bananas, bauxite, rum and tourism. It took us long to realise that we will not be able to compete globally on products as well as we can on service.
Recognising that, it is clear that Jamaica's beauty and attributes make us a premium destination. With our assets, tourism must be the driving industry for sustainable economic growth and I want to be in a position to influence that.
I believe that if we contribute to the country at all levels, including working with the Government, we would be working not just for ourselves, but for our children.
We are projecting two or three million visitors annually, but if we do things right, we should have at least three visitors to each Jamaican over the next five years. That is the reality I would like to see.
BE: You recently became president of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM). How do you feel about that?
AM: AMCHAM is now celebrating 20 years in Jamaica and I feel privileged and honoured to be the first female president. The organisation has laid some solid foundations, just last week there was the opening of the first Model Community Policing and Health Centre in Grants Pen. Over 75 per cent of homicides can be traced back too 11 communities in Jamaica.
The least of the battle against crime is suppression. The more important actions against it are prevention and intervention. For many years we have spent most of our resources on suppression and this initiative by AMCHAM is helping to fight the battle at the prevention at the community level.
BE: In spite of yours and the success of a few others, women don't have the success in corporate arena in the same way men do. Speak to women and the corporate world in the future.
AM: We don't have a lot of role models for women to see. Those already in business have to look at how we can mentor and make it easier for others to follow.
On the other hand, I see us as the nurturers of society and many more women would be further ahead but they choose to give up opportunities and promotions because a priority is on family. I understand it being the mother of two children.
My priority is still family above all else. If you don't have a strong support system, you may have to make the choice.
I don't think women's slow movement up the corporate ladder has to do with ability; it is just the choice we often have to make and I understand not taking responsibilities that will take away from family time. After a while you realise it's about the children, not you.
BE: Are you comfortable with the prospect of raising your children in a country that is so riddled with crime?
AM: There are two reasons that I don't believe Jamaica is worse than anywhere else. Things will change and we have a role in making it change to where we can be a First-World country. We have the assets to do that. I am optimistic about it.
Second, I am focused on a spiritual journey and I think I can make a difference and I cannot do it by running away; I have a strong drive to be here. When you look at the crimes, you realise that all of us who can use our lives to break its stranglehold will have to do our part.
BE: Did you have any mentors along the way? If so, what advice did they give you then that you could pass on to aspiring business women today?
AM: I have been blessed with great mentors, including Maria Williams, Ambassador J. Gary Cooper, Rita Humphries-Lewin, Noel Hylton and Barry Wharman. They have been a great source of support and I have followed their advice. The most important lessons I have learnt from them are: Follow your dreams; plan; implement; and network.
Marks' tourism goals
1. Creating planned sustainable resort towns.
2. Increasing the number of attractions to engender more visitor spending.
3. Establishing world-class standards in our tourism facilities.
Send feedback to barbara.ellington@gleanerjm.com.
