Stephen Wiliamson - Pandosoft

Game is something that average human being plays on a daily basis. Some games can be very addicting; others can just be for fun, whilst some are for learning. Guess what else you can use games for? Well Pandosoft is using games for marketing and campaigning for different companies across Jamaica. They don’t just do Games but also other animations.

We had the opportunity of meeting with Mr Stephen Williamson the C.E.O of the company, for on interview to learn more about him and their fast growing online company.  Mr Williamson is a 25 year old past student of Ardenne High School and graduate of the University of Technology where he studied Electrical Engineering.

He always had a dream of inspiring people and went into the music industry after college, after which he did productions and animation before launching his first company Island Interactive which he started with his girlfriend in 2011. In January 2014 he partnered with Stefan Keane, JoWayne McFarlene and Carlton Gordon and came up with the idea to start a gamification company by rebranding Island Interactive into Pandosoft. The name Pandosoft came about from their love of nature; the name is derived from the Panda tree.

“Pandosoft is specialized in the gamification of marketing. We provide companies with the opportunity to market their product or brand through the utilization of games,” stated Stephen Williamson.  Pandosoft sees this form of marketing as building a relationship where the company natures the consumer whilst the consumer natures the brand. Thus far Pandosoft has been getting a lot of positive feedback from the marketers they work with. The main challenge they fast now is the cash flow as it takes a while to finish a project so it takes a while to get paid. Nonetheless Pandosoft has been working with major brands which have been helping to build and establish the company.

The four member company has been working well with each other to ensure the success of the company. Each individual has their area that they focus on; Carlton, a graphic artist, Joewane a 2D operator, Stefan a Programmer and Stephen an animator and programmer.  They each balance and support each other in the company. They choose to start an online company because of its scalability and ability to penetrate other markets. They now have the opportunity to top into many other developing countries and grow into other developed nations. On the other hand they felt that a brick and mortar services company would be limited to Jamaica and the Caribbean.

For other upcoming entrepreneurs Stephen felt that if they have enough passion, the right team and engineering then anything is possible. “A path like entrepreneurship it is a slightly more rebellious path or rough road because it is not the paved way of lawyer, doctor or teacher. Once you are making that journey you have to be very passionate and determined. You have to understand that it doesn’t happen overnight, it never happens overnight, and if you are not willing to persist through out all of it and stick with it until you make it then you are going to give up. So start with a problem that affects a large amount of people and build a business model around it,” was the advice Stephen gave to young entrepreneurs. Like everyone else I asked Stephen what was his favourite quote was. His response, “if you think it can be done you are probably right and if you think it can’t be done you are probably right.”