She’s the boss - Ronice Harrison’s business smarts keep her ahead of the curve

There’s no place like home for serial entrepreneur Ronice Harrison.

Even as she maintained a thriving career in the United States and Canada across multiple ventures in real estate, logistics, and tech, gentle whispers of Jamaica would inevitably usher a return to The Rock.

“I decided to come back once I had a baby and wanted to slow down and soften life a little bit,” admitted Harrison of her island homecoming, with her then-infant daughter Milan. Tempering the exponential growth of her business interests – which at one time spanned a portfolio of hundreds of single-family residences, a years-long venture with NASCAR, and managing a fleet of nine trucks holding contracts with blue-chip companies such as Amazon, Walmart, and Kroger – the new mom wanted to ease off the gas pedal.

“It’s a delicate balance being a mother and entrepreneur,” Harrison explained of what prompted the relocation to a more relaxed pace of life here. Canadian born, to Jamaican parents, Ronice moved to the Caribbean as a 12-year-old to live with her grandmother in May Pen, Clarendon. Those adolescent years made an indelible impression on her. Commuting between parishes to attend Belair High in Mandeville, the teenager snagged a scholarship to Wilmington University in the United States. There, she pursued a degree in business management and economics. Three years in, though, the college junior made a choice to drop out as the entrepreneurial bug bit. After the stock market crash of 2009, she made a wise gamble.

“There were a lot of opportunities in real estate then. I chose to use funds I had gotten to pay my tuition and purchased my first property, which was in The Country Club of the South,” she recalled. Harrison’s fateful decision snowballed. “From there, I gained a love of real estate and started flipping homes in the southeast, specifically in Georgia, on a small scale. I would purchase tax-foreclosed homes, fix, and then sell them,” the investor explained.

With maturity in the business, she acquired larger-scale real estate. To revolutionise the space, she also developed digital tokens designed to support the ease and transparency of real estate transactions. “My portfolio at its highest had just under 300 single-family properties. However, during COVID, that number decreased significantly as I divested to get into other opportunities.”

Trucking then entered the picture. But her approach was smartly nuanced. Standing agreements with American retailers for the heavy-duty motor vehicles being contracted saw her utilising innovative tech to diversify service offerings. “We were actually contracted to create an automated system where drivers and shippers were able to connect without a dispatcher. It allowed the process to move a lot smoother, instead of the antiquated way of going on a load board and reaching out to a dispatcher and signing a rate sheet,” she told Sunday Lifestyle.

The technological system she masterminded allowed shippers to pre-select drivers while rates were negotiated through artificial intelligence tools. She was way ahead of the curve. “The internal systems now used by several large companies, such as Coca-Cola, is one we were able to sell the intellectual property of. We were able to successfully bring that to market and execute a highly rewarding corporate acquisition,” she shared, remaining focused on the disruptive nature of the software rather than the metrics of the exit. Always brimming with business ideas, the restless Harrison was ready to chart new terrain. “I decided trucking wasn’t necessarily my passion,” she explained. “I’m somebody who sees a gap and wants to find a way to fill it. At that point, I chose to sell the company and the assets and move on to my next venture. That’s why I call myself a serial entrepreneur. I want to find a solution, implement it, and move on.”

With the arrival of her little one, and transplanted to the tropics four years ago, she envisioned a less hectic workload. Those best-laid plans were not to be. “I saw there were a lot of inefficiencies in the delivery space, especially in more rural and coastal areas of Jamaica,” she reflected on becoming a resident in Montego Bay at the time. “I wanted to fill that gap, and that is how I brought Island Run to the market,” she said. “It now significantly serves the thriving tourist space across the north coast.” Her success in logistics quickly caught the attention of major entities looking for elite technical infrastructure. “Unintentionally, I got into the business of building out systems and software for third-party companies within Jamaica,” Harrison said with a chuckle. “That’s when I started Digitize Jamaica. Some of our most notable digital builds include major structural and brand rollouts like Modular Jamaica, HedoWeedo, and the Jamaica Union of Travellers Association (JUTA). We now build websites, backend solutions, point-of-sale systems, and inventory systems for enterprise clients both here and abroad.”

While her latest tech undertaking has skyrocketed, Harrison wanted to create long-term alignment with local ecosystems. To this end, she recently launched Digitize Venture Studios. “It allows us to put technology into businesses and capital where needed in exchange for equity. Essentially, we help digitise and bring Jamaican startups into the 21st century, so they can maximise their exposure online, which is massive in this day and age. If people can’t find you on the Internet, you are limiting your revenue potential,” she rationalised.

Sterling is committed to the region and finds the work she does “very fulfilling”. For the first time in my life, I have found my true home and niche,” she intimates. “Every day is exciting and something new, so I haven’t felt the need to say ‘What’s next?’ recently. I really believe this is my final stop. We wanted to be able to use our expertise to build lasting foundations. I genuinely love assisting businesses get on the map and providing them with a world-class digital infrastructure.”

lifestyle@gleanerjm.com