"Unfortunately, the first people who really understood what I was trying to do through 'edutainment' products were the ex-pats who were living here, taking it back as gifts. I am hoping to get Trinidadians playing with my products. Wearing my stuff, reading my books, because we really should be playing with our own material. I actually do not understand why we only know A is for Apple."
This is Jeunanne Alkins' response to a question posed at the Social Entrepreneurship Hive 2014 event, hosted by the Growing Leaders Foundation on October 13 and 14. The question dealt with her advocacy of "buy local," even as she appeared to cater to the export market.
Her products: a line of children's clothing, educational books and soon, an animated series featuring Caribbean children and themes, are part of a social enterprise called ESPjr.
"I am telling you that where I ended up is because of where the market put me. It is not that I don't try. We constantly try to get government support for cottage industries. If you are not doing pepper sauce or that kind of thing, there isn't that support. There is nowhere for people to stand. Trying to get stores to take local products, do you know how hard that is ? I can't even get a children's store to take my products because Dora is a sure sell, Pixar is a sure sell. But products have traction. Take a chance on my stuff."
Alkins' decision to take a chance on T&T's culture and its potential value to the world had roots in her childhood.
"My mother is very much into local and sustainable living. We never had foreign Christmas trees, we never had pine trees, we never had fake trees. We would use whatever it was from our environment. And that is how we grew up."
She also said her working in her family's small business, Snikla, (Alkins spelled backward), probably opened her mind to the possibility of being an entrepreneur.
It was not her automatic choice, however.
After leaving St Joseph's Convent in 1999, Alkins attended UWI Mona, where she majored in communications, but chose to specialise in multimedia as opposed to journalism. On returning home, she went to work with MACO magazine. Alkins was there for five years, starting as a graphic artist and working her way up to design manager, after which she left to form her other company, a design collective, Everything Slight Pepper.
She said the collective's work is every bit as creative as its name, which was chosen because its ability to evoke a sense of everything T&T.
"Everything Slight Pepper started with me trying to find a quirky name, something a little different. Something that had a personal story to it. I believe in starting a conversation. It opens up and it makes people smile.
"I liked the name because people are so passionate about doubles in this country that everybody has a favourite or an opinion on who is the best or their vendor of choice. It's three Standard English words. It's almost raceless and classless and it is enjoyed by everybody."
Considering its brief existence, Everything Slight Pepper, has picked up several awards, including five ADDYs for its work on the 3 Zero rum campaign.
"Three Zero is one of the projects I am most proud. We were basically commissioned to develop the identity, the packaging, the full marketing plan."
She was also recognised by the Council for Competitiveness and Innovation at the recent i2i event and was nominated for another award from the T&T Chamber of Commerce at their Champions of Business event two Fridays ago as the Best Emerging Entrepreneur.
Alkins said what she enjoyed most about working on the 3 Zero brand was the complete freedom she had from the owners to develop it.
This, she said, is a problem small firms face when dealing with clients; this lack of trust. She also said that local companies do not consider branding a priority.
"We are in a patchwork culture, where rent is important, equipment is important, but not branding, which can set a company apart."
Returning to another aspect of culture, the hardship she has faced in placing her ESPjr children's line of products in local stores, Alkins said a large part of why she embarked upon the creation of it was to get Trinbagonians to realise the value of their own. She has found that fighting ingrained consumption patters are hard. The stores that have picked up the clothing line are mainly souvenir sellers.
"All the other brands are in the same place as me. They are in the gift and tourist category because it seems that you buy these things when you are taking them to somebody who wants to buy something Trini."
To ensure the success of the children's line, Alkins said she has decided to provide backstories to the characters featured on the clothing to give them wider exposure.
They are Tyson the crab, Hatch the leatherback turtle, Sippy the sno cone and two coconuts, Oil and Water. Hatch's storybook is being launched in December. He is a baby turtle competing against his brothers and sisters to dig his way out of their nest. The story has a moral.
"They learn that unless they work together, they are not going to be able to get out," said Alkins.
She also explained the logic behind another of her business decisions, that of forming a design collective as opposed to a formal advertising agency. The collective is a loose, informal group of people skilled in various areas of design and communications. Working in this manner, gives them the opportunity to work outside of their regular jobs or their own business interests.
"We are very creative people. I have never passed through the advertising agency structure, so I don't know what it is like to have the division forced on me between clients and creatives. My creatives have come either floating in and out of agencies."
In addition to all that she is doing, Alkins is hoping to be finished soon with the concept side of her animated children's feature, centred around characters Bim and Bam.
Alkins said she will be going to France to pitch the idea in October of 2015.
"My dream is to get it on international airwaves. Not just the diaspora. I want the world to know about the Caribbean, the authentic Caribbean."