Real Jamaica- Johannes Maier

Jamaica is a small island however it is know right across the world for different things. Johannes Maier  a German native visited Jamaica some years ago and fell in love with the island and decided to launch on online website and feature different sections of Jamaica that are not known by tourist.

He started his company Real Jamaica roughly 1 and half years ago in 2013. The reasons behind this company was because of his love for the island which was developed from his first visit when he stayed for 2 weeks and travelled around the island. On his trip to Jamaica he travelled by bus to the different parishes and visited guest houses. He realized most of them were empty because they could not afford to advertise and the tourist board only focused on major hotels and resort areas. That’s how he came up with the idea to find away to make people know about these different guest houses.

Johannes always had a passion for doing something that would help people and would be of a benefit to others. So after returning to his homeland he decided that he wanted to start Real Jamaica so that people would know about the different sides of Jamaica. Starting any business has its challenges for Johannes his problem stemmed from the fact that he was working alone. Hence he had to dedicate a lot of time and energy in ensuring that everything went well. Eventually Valentina came across the website and wrote him telling him she wanted to join and they started to work together over Skype. They finally met each other in March 2014 after working together for 1 year.

The role of the website is to connect local with travels. It tells visitors about where to go and what to see. It also provides helpful travel advice and gives tips on what to know. They currently list most guest houses on the island. The motto of Real Jamaica is travel local spend local because they want the tourist to spend with people who actually live on the island. Currently it’s a non profit organization. However they are planning to make an App and an online store to help support the organization.

For individuals looking to start their own business whether it is non profit or otherwise, Joannes felt they should be very serious about it. Do the research to see if it works and if it makes sense. Get as much critique as possible so you can fix everything before you start. If you are sure about your idea then just keep working on it because after all the ups and downs you will peak. Joannes lives by the bible verse, Treat others as you will have them treat you.