Ever sit there and wonder how the graphic design, social media and event marketing world operate in Haiti? Karl Jean-Jeune—the CEO and Founder of Ayilo, one of the fledging social media marketing firms based in Port-au-Prince—gave Kreyolicious an overview of these two industries.

At the top of his game, Jean-Jeune not only runs Ayilo but heads Partying in Haiti. Partying in Haiti is self-explanatory. It’s an event marketing and promoting firm that reaches out to twenty and thirty-somethings to assure that local events are packed with them. Using his strong network and social media pull, Jean-Jeune is able to bring them in droves to events either promoted by him or his clients. Looking at the photos posted on the site’s galleries, it would seem that Partying in Haiti even has a local tourism aspect to it. Flamboyantly dressed boys and girls look to be having a grand ‘ole time at everything from casual parties to musical concerts and carnival masquerade balls. Oh, my. Partying in Haiti is certainly doing its share in Haiti’s international makeover. Young professional partygoers looking very content and self-satisfied. No burning tires in sight—or trash piles.

Ayilo and Partying in Haiti are both less than five years old, but their CEO clearly wants to build them into something big. With his right hand, Jean-Jeune is pulling the strings to make sure clients are adequately represented on social media, and with his left, he’s using his marketing-know-how to think of the best strategies to bring warm bodies and diversion-searching minds to events all over Port-au-Prince and its surrounding suburbs.

Kreyolicious: How did you initially become interested in marketing?

I was only a graphic design student when I landed an internship at the West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority’s office. I was working with community events, promoting and coordinating. From there, my love for marketing grew and I found myself getting involved in all marketing or communication related aspect of the projects I work in.

Kreyolicious: I think the name of your company is cute. Ayilo…Does it have a story behind it?

Actually, I had a previous project which involved blogging and I wanted to call it Alo Ayiti. Someone told me about another company or organization with the same name. Therefore, I decided to combined Alo and Ayiti. I got Ayilo. The project never took off. Loving the name, I decided to use it for my company.

Above: Karl Jean-Jeune, the CEO of Port-au-Prince-based marketing and event company Ayilo.

Kreyolicious: As the CEO of Ayilo, how do your days start and end?

My day usually starts with meetings and putting final touches on projects. I work best at night—therefore you will find me late at night starting on a new project or working on an old one. However, being in that line of work, my days are unpredictable from start to end.

Kreyolicious: What’s the world of social media and marketing like in Haiti from an agency point of view?

It is relatively new. Businesses are starting to seriously pick up on it because of how easy it is to reach their target market. It is also cost-effective. But it is hard to convince “old management” that social medias are great for business.

Kreyolicious: In terms of challenges…what are some that you have faced?

My biggest challenge human resources. In Haiti, freelancers are either too expensive or cheap freelancers are not able to meet standards. I believe in paying for quality work, but I also believe in not tolerating overly-exaggerated prices. I find that proper training to up-and-coming designers are the best way to cope with this situation, and that is what I am starting to do.

Kreyolicious: What advice would you give to a company outside of Haiti who wants to reach out to the masses in Haiti?

Be bold, be innovative and creative in your campaign.

Kreyolicious: Do you think that the fact that Haiti is a small country gives marketers an advantage in terms of reaching out to influencers?

No. I don’t believe so. I think it makes it a little bit harder to keep the hype up for the product you are trying to market. You have to always go the extra mile. Haiti has a very complexed population. What works for one-sixth, the following one-sixth, so on and so forth. And don’t be surprised if what worked this morning for one category doesn’t work in the afternoon. I don’t think it is a small country issue though. It’s a Haiti issue.

Kreyolicious: Reading your bio, you also have an event marketing firm, and other companies. How do all them come together?

I am also the co-founder of Partying In Haiti and HaitiUnder40. I am a party lover and I am fascinated by great events. I believe that they all come together in helping the nightlife in Haiti to grow and showcase itself to the world. HaitiUnder40 is not launched yet and should be soon. It is a networking event for professionals under 40. PartyingInHaiti is an event listing company. It also organizes events at certain periods of the year.

Above: Partygoers in Haiti pose at an event organized by Ayilo’s sister company Partying In Haiti. Photo Credit: Partying in Haiti.

Kreyolicious: And how do you keep yourself sane, while balancing all the responsibilities that come with running multiple companies?

Someone once told that you have to do everything you need to do. I guess I just create a little time for everything. I have also great partners in several of these projects. Responsibilities are shared—and because we have the same visions—I don’t worry about the results.

Photo Credit: Partying in Haiti

Kreyolicious: As for Ayilo, how do you plan on pushing it forward as a firm?

So far we are relying on social media and word of mouth, but most importantly, our work is the biggest client magnet. We keep our prices lower then the competition while providing great services with innovative thinking. We are now exploring other aspect of the industry such as advertising and publishing. We shall see what the future holds. We are very hopeful.

FOLLOW AYILO ON TWITTER | AYILO ON FACEBOOK | FOLLOW AYILO ON INSTAGRAM | CLICK HERE TO VISIT PARTYING IN HAITI

Miami event and festival promoting enterprise Noel and Cecibon Productions announced this week that the 2017 edition of the Haitian Compas Festival will now be a two-day event. This is no doubt slamming music to the ears of Haitian konpa music fans and festival-goers. The Haitian Compas Festival has been ranked as one of the biggest Haitian music festivals in the USA, and one of the highest grossing festivals in the nation—period.

According to the festival’s website, the festival will be in its nineteenth year next year, and this is the first time that it’s structured as a two-day event. What is behind this rebranding? Could it be that the organizers realize that having the event over the course of two days will bring more fans? Or perhaps serve the dual purpose of promoting more up-and-coming talent besides the established headliners? Or is there new blood within the Haitian Compas Festival team, and they were brainstorming more innovative ideas and this was one of the ones they wanted to experiment with? Whatever the reason why the change was administered, it’s certainly commendable when a business entity tries new things.

According to the flyer released by the Haitian Compas Festival organizers on Day One of the festival, the following groups, bands, and artists will be performing: T-Vice, Tabou Combo, Djakout, Nu-Look, Rutshelle, Revelation Mizik, Kreyol La, Baky, Big Fa, and TPO.

Ada, who was a performer at the Afrikinfest will also hit the Compas Festival stage. Steph Lecor, who co-hosted the event last year, is on the performer roster as well. There seems to be a lot more feminine acts on the second day compared to the first day.

As far as the second day of the festival is concerned, the following bands and acts are scheduled to rock the stage: 509, Tropicana, Klass, Izolan, Darline Desca, DJ Queen, Harmonik, DJ Fwa, Tony Mixx, Nadia Faubert, Untouchable DJs, and Nicki Mix.

The festival will take place at Miami’s Bayfront Park on May 20th and 21st.

So, will you be making plans to attend?

CLICK HERE to visit the festival’s official website!

The capital city of Port-au-Prince will be a techies haven on June 6-7! The Haiti Tech Summit, founded by Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree Christine Souffrant-Ntim, will include more than one-hundred speakers, including actress Vicky Jeudy, venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, Google Accelerator founder Roy Glassberg, uber-developer Matt Terrell of Facebook. The two-day event is being billed as Haiti’s largest techie event ever, and it’s not hype!

Haiti’s techies will not be left out of the event, thank you very much! Christian Roy Frombrun, a tech and marketing strategist is among the keynote participants, as are Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Ralph Dupoux, photographer and techie Samuel Dameus, Davidson Toussaint of Haiti Tourism Inc, Cleve Mesidor, Michael Verch, and radio host and multimedia personality Carel Pedre. Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis, a former official as well as Haiti’s current president Jovenel Moise are among the keynote speakers.

Many Haitian-Americans are also on board for the event, including Regine Vital, Guelma Emile Allen, Nancy Douyon, Guerlince Semerzier, Caroline Racine, Marc-Alain Boucicault, L’Union Suite founder Wanda Tima-Gilles, Gilles Sassine, Dori Alexandre, Sandra Florvella-Pierre of Haitian Businesses, LLC; Daphnee Charles of COCREAD, and many many more.

You need more names? Your wish is my command…Naisha Silva of Google, Angie Carrillo, Kairos CEO Ryan Brackeen, Elisa Page, founder of BlogHer, Adi Abili, entrepreneur/inventor Ryan Foland, Laura Pincus Hartman, the founder of Ecole de Choix, the multi-lingual school in Mirebalais, Haiti. And ooh, Black Enterprise’s tech editor Sequoia Blodgett is also be among the speakers, as will be Kyra Kyles of Ebony. And how nice to see that Rhonesha Byng of Her Agenda among those present. Actually am a fan of Her Agenda..

Look, my fingers are getting tired…very tired…so many great minds…so many awesome thinkers…like wow…

So many solid participants, so many speakers from every field imaginable. This isn’t a tech summit…it’s more like a two-day masterclass.

Lawd is all I can say! What a tech show!

And how wonderful that it’s Haiti Tech Summit! This event has so much potential…it gives me vertigo just thinking of what it can grow into.

This is the event’s first year, so can you imagine what organizer Souffrant-Ntim will endure to top herself for the sophomore event!

Haiti Tech Summit! In Port-au-Prince!

To get a more thorough picture of all the participants, go on the Haiti Tech Summit website by CLICKING here.

Hooray!

Chef Thia and Chef Irie of Taste the Islands | Photo by David I Muir

For the second year, the celebrity chef hosts of national culinary and travel series “Taste the Islands” will cater, and grace the demo stage of, food and spirits event The Taste the Islands Experience. Hugh “Chef Irie” Sinclair of Jamaica, has taken the lead of the series since season one, sharing gourmet Caribbean recipes and cooking techniques with audiences in over 40 states on the show distributed by American Public Television and produced by Blondie Ras Productions. Cynthia “Chef Thia” Verna of Haiti, joined him on screen in the second season of the show, sharing a more home style approach to the region’s cooking with their PBS and Create TV viewers around the country.

This year, along with other Caribbean chefs and mixologists, plus local restaurants and caterers, they’ll be serving up their unique brand of Caribbean culinary entertainment on plates and on stage. Both chefs will be featured in the ‘Taste the Islands Pavilion’, serving buffets representing their home islands. And both will take the demo stage, where they’ll show the live audience why they’re so very beloved by fans around the country. Stay tuned to sample bites and sips like Chef Thia’s famous Poulet Creole (Creole Chicken), and Chef Irie’s one of a kind Mango Gazpacho. More to come! #ttix2018

Learn more and get your tickets at http://ttiexperience.com.

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