Get more with Grapes Technology

From his office at Invaders Bay in Port of Spain, Keron Les Pierre, CEO of Grapes Technology talks about the journey that brought him among the finalists of the entrepreneurship category in the recently concluded Champions of Business Awards 2022.

“I’ve always had a passion for creating value and impacting lives,” he says. “It hasn’t been an easy road. There’s been hits and misses, but I think I’m answering my calling now. This is a perfect avenue to realise that desire.”

He started as a marketing consultant for other businesses, helping them to realise their growth goals. Around 2011, he created an education programme for a client called Six Easy Steps to University. Seeing its success started him on his present journey.

He subsequently built his own programme – Engaging Parents in Education System Transformation. While this was successful in that it gained recognition by the Ministry of Education and the Catholic Board of Education, it was not comparably successful in the market. “Perhaps it was too much of a mouthful,” he says cheekily.

The experience caused him to take stock of the need for better branding. He pivoted and thus the $1 Laptop for Better Schools was born in early 2018. The service is available by subscription with added value according to the tiered levels. The subscription includes a laptop for a mere $1 more. This is marketed under the Grapes Technology Group – Grapes being the acronym for: good remedies all parents should exercise socially. The service is an online programme for mathematics and English; it offers psychological support, consultation to determine the student’s challenges, career assessment and assistance with choosing universities. This is formally executed through a six-step model consisting of evaluation, remediation, monitoring, career guidance, subscription shares and integration into higher education. The new model was highly successful, and sales increased dramatically.

Grapes can be described by its tagline “Get more.” When covid19 hit, they noticed that subscriptions slowed as schools moved to online teaching. Devices were also unavailable, and Grapes decided to manufacture their own branded devices. They sought to boost sales by offering two or more devices based on the tier of membership. The add-ons can be a matching colour-branded smartphone, tablet, laptop or data and calls (which is offered in partnership with a local telecoms provider). Although adding on these benefits meant sacrificing some of their profit margin, they were able to recover it in volume as subscriptions picked up.

To date there are over 8,000 subscribers in TT, and the company is making some inroads in other Caribbean islands. Clients include parents, private and public schools, as well as corporate clients like manufacturers, credit unions and NGOs. The latter two, along with other non-profits have benefitted over the last five years with access to devices at manufacturers’ prices for children in need.

Les Pierre appreciates the input from his partners, Elder Associates, Nigel Bradshaw, Andrew Howard, Vashti Ramnarine, Beverly Paris, the Digicel Group, EducationUSA and Microsoft TT. He particularly mentions Marion Jones-Scott, who has played a pivotal role at corporate meetings due to her experience and ability to fill in when necessary during high-profile negotiations.

The device’s hardware is manufactured in Asia, with software being provided by Microsoft’s affiliate PC Clinic. Now that they have their own brand of devices and a partnership with a telecoms provider, they will soon be graduating a digital network branded Star-The Blue Network along with newly branded devices called Star. TT can look forward to this launch in mere weeks.

Although A&J Homemade Ice Cream copped the entrepreneurship award, Keron Les Pierre continues his journey, and within the next few weeks, TT will surely be hearing more about the value he wants to create for millions of people globally.