Stewart always fizzing, awake, and full of
new ideas. -Michael Sloley photo Avia Ustanny, freelance writer
IT'S EARLY morning in the Microsoft office a compact, minimalist, multi-tasking environment located on the third floor of the Island Life building in New Kingston. At this time of day, the rooms are empty except for Country Manager Gregory Stewart.
The young man, whose activities are not curtailed by traditional business hours, is full of energy long before the sun reaches its zenith in the Jamaican sky.
Stewart appears to be always fizzing, awake, and filled with new ideas. How he found this office, is an example of his boundless initiative.
Using a camera and voice-overs to create profiles of each possible office location, he sent off a package with real-time impressions to the Microsoft real estate executives based in Florida. The Island Life property was chosen sight unseen (except by video tape). Such innovativeness has impressed Stewart's Microsoft bosses. Now 34 years old, he was only 30 when he took on the job of managing the local affairs of the international organisation in 1999.
Before then, the Jamaican played a huge part in convincing Rick Marcet, General Manager of Microsoft Caribbean & Central America, that the presence of Microsoft in Jamaica was feasible and even necessary. He met Marcet at a technology conference.
Possibilities
"Previously, an account manager would come once every six months and disappear," Stewart recalls. "I felt I needed to talk to them about the possibilities here. My vision of having them operate here fit into their regional desire to spread their operations."
At the time, Stewart had left Quantum Business to satisfy a personal quest to do business on his own. He again met Microsoft contacts while on a night out on the town in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and discussed the idea over Pina Coladas.
Six months later, the call came. Let's execute! his new partners said.
Stewart first worked as an agent, setting up the Micro-Computing Agency, operating initially out of the Fijitsu-ICL office. The "proofer concept" was at work, testing the feasibility of a permanent presence in Jamaica. Later on, it was time to fully commit and office space in New Kingston was found.
Many Microsoft dignitaries flew in for the grand opening in 2000 of Microsoft, Jamaica. Marcet delivered a signed copy of the book authored by Microsoft boss Bill Gates Business at the Speed of Thought to Prime Minister P.J. Patterson.
Now, as country manager, Stewart's functional responsibilities include developing business in all market segments (Government and private sector small, medium and enterprise accounts, and education). The young executive says that he has always been a "techie", falling in love with all the latest digital devices.
"I am passionate first about technology," he claims.
His love affair with computers started while still a teenager when he read the book Computers by Larry Long. "I said I need to get into this... imagine moving data over things as small as a strand of hair?" Stewart recalls. He was also entranced with the changes in technologies and by what was being done by the giants in the information technology industry. He admits first wanted to fly, but had to put this desire aside because of a problem with his eye. At his computer classes at CAST (now UTech) he remembers students standing at the doors and looking through the windows. This, if nothing else, convinced him he was in the right place.
Stewart, after his graduation, worked as accounting/systems officer and then as a network engineer in various companies, but he wanted to innovate on his own.
"I knew of what the giants in technology, Intel and Zif Davis were doing. Here in Jamaica, I did not get the sense that technology was really empowering people.
"I set myself to learn more about Microsoft and Intel," he recalls. The more he learnt, the more he was determined to work with Microsoft. The company's mission, he tells Outlook, is to enable people across the world to realise their potential. The mission statement of this company states, "empowering people through great software anytime, any place through any device."
Vision
Now as country manager, it is his responsibility to implement that vision here. "Software is magic," says Stewart. "At the individual level, one can use it to access information and to create a lot of other possibilities.
"At the organisational level, technology is a catalyst for change. Those companies which have the mission to sell products which can change people's lives will find out that technology enhances this process."
At the level of government, Stewart says, the administration can be assisted to manage the affairs of citizenry more efficiently and with less cost. The example of this, he said, is of the United Kingdom where Microsoft has been commissioned to get all government services online and accessible by 2005.
Stewart, along with his team, are busily trying to engage all sectors in his vision. He has started a Microsoft School Day where students come in and sit in air-conditioned comfort for a few hours while they are told about the impact of technology on their lives. They look at Encarta the online encyclopedia and also do chat sessions. All leave with gifts. The young are the future. As they understand and become empowered, Stewart believes that the entire society will be transformed.
