“If someone offers you an amazing opportunity and you’re not sure you can do it, say yeah – then learn how to do it later.” Richard Branson
The twenty-seven (27) year old enthusiastic futurist, Martin Massiah, one of Guyana’s young innovative entrepreneurs, continues to break barriers and boundaries with his mind-blowing ideas.
Martin was born on the twenty-sixth day of April 1994 to Murtland Raphael Massiah and Hermonica Angela Massiah and was nurtured in a loving and spiritually grounded home. He lived in Lodge and Tucville during his childhood years. Being twelve years and ten years younger than his sisters, Marissa Massiah and Melinda Duncan respectively, Martin revealed that they took on the role of the protectors.
“I was never the smartest in class, but I was always near that circle.” – Martin Massiah.
During Martin’s school years at The New Guyana Nursery and Primary, then at the prestigious Queen College (QC), Martin expressed that he was never the smartest person in the class. However, he quite often found himself in the smarter groups. Martin’s unique attitude towards learning was often manifested in his habit of foregoing reading his textbooks and writing notes in favour of asking his peers probing questions to learn what was needed. His interactive approach to learning was often misconstrued as disruptive, talkative behaviour by his class teachers, but this did not impede his performance.
When Martin wrote the National Grade Six Assessment Examination, he placed second at his primary school. While at QC, his God-given competitive nature continued to fuel his performance. At its peak, it resulted in him securing a regional place as a top 10 performer in the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) Social Studies assessments. With this completed, he began to pursue a degree in Business Management at the University of Guyana (UG). Upon entry into UG, he was offered and accepted a place in the Economics programme because the Business Management Programme was filled. This setback drove him to apply to St. George’s University (SGU) in Grenada, where he was accepted to read for his Bachelor of Science Degree in International Business.
During Martin’s early years at the university, he secured a Caribbean Visionary Scholarship, which covered the costs of his later years of study. While at SGU, he participated in the Washington Semester Global Economics and Business Rotation Programme at the American University in Washington DC, which enabled him to study in the US and China for a semester. When he completed his undergraduate degree, he continued his academic journey at Hult International Business School in Boston, where he read for his Master of Science in International Business. He participated in the Global Rotation Programme, where he was able to study in Dubai and London. Concurrently, Martin completed a graduate course in marketing at Harvard University’s Harvard Extension School.
One of the highlights of his programme at Hult was being able to develop and pitch a startup concept called “Tourcal – Tour Like A Local” – a concept developed for entrepreneurial competition, which afforded the students an opportunity to meet with investors.
The Influential Entrepreneur
Martin’s first introduction to entrepreneurship was raising money to purchase his first laptop. He recalled asking his father to buy him a laptop. His father challenged him to raise the funds to cover the cost of half of the computer with a promise that he would match it. With this challenge, Martin decided to ask his mother to show him how to make ‘tamarind balls’, and in no time, he was selling tamarind balls, tamarind syrup, nuts, raisins, matai, and guava cheese after Sunday Service. Within weeks he had to hire helpers to meet the public’s demand. Three (3) months later, the challenge was met.
Martin’s entrepreneurial life is not without challenges. The tasks of creating value, developing markets and building high-performance teams are an everpresent weight. To meet these challenges, he relies on God, counsel from his mentors and his competitive nature.
Martin posited that as an entrepreneur, you should first ascertain a problem plaguing a viable market population and then develop commercially viable solutions to meet this need.
Martin became a Caribbean Creative Online Awardee under Catapult, Fresh Milk Barbados, Kingston Creative and American Friends of Jamaica. In 2021, he participated in the Digitisation of Music Accelerator Programme and won a grant funded by Caribbean Development Bank, Caribbean Explore, Compete Caribbean, and Export Barbados.
In 2016, one of Martin’s very own businesses, Edussential Inc, was the only Caribbean Innovation Competition finalist from Guyana in the Talent and Innovation Competition (TIC) of the Americas, a regional programme funded by the Organisation of American States (OAS) and several other international agencies and conglomerates.
The Musical Artiste
Outside of entrepreneurship, Martin has other interests, such as singing and playing steel pan. While he began dabbling in music at the tender age of about five, Martin revealed that he was never a lead singer. “I would say that my approach to music has been untraditional. I focused on digital content and the international market.” To date, he has created just over thirty (30) singles. His debut release was entitled ‘Loving You’ and featured Jonty Layne and Joshua David under Vijay’s Paradigm Record label. In 2020, the song “David Dance”, produced by Adrian Johnson at AJ Records, hit the airwaves with over 100,000 listeners and viewers. Two other hit songs are ‘Over and Over’ and “Be Okay.” His music can be accessed on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music.
Creator of Table Talk Think Tank
Another big win for Martin occurred just before the COVID-19 pandemic enveloped the world when he created the ‘Black Table Talk’, which was birthed to provide a new source of entertainment with a focus on productivity and innovation. After a few episodes, the name was changed to ‘Table Talk Think Tank’ (TTTT). This initiative has grown tremendously and now has guests from around the world, including some working on projects with Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.
Relationship with Christ
Underpinning all of his endeavours, Martin’s relationship with Christ has taken a natural progression. He was never forced to do anything by his parents; his walk with Christ is one that he sought after. “As I grew, I realised that it was an authentic progression,” said Martin during our sit-down. Martin has seen God literally answering his prayers in his professional as well as in his personal life. God kept him safe and prevented him from making errors that would have affected him in the long run.
Martin is also tremendously grateful for the support of his committed parents Bishop Dr. Massiah and Elder Massiah. Martin concluded the interview by saying, “I have a number of leaders locally and internationally that I admire, some of whom include my father and mother.”
The Futurist with a Passion for Digital Content
Over the years, FAOGW Editorial Unit Team has been observing Martin’s passion for digital content and the strides he has since made in the production of digital content in the areas of music, animation and educational interventions, just to mention a few.
Clearly, Martin has a vision that is second to none. As a matter of fact, we are encouraging investors to invest in Martin’s ventures to assist in making Guyana a safer and more productive economy. According to Martin, a one hundred million Guyana dollars investment will make his ideas a reality.
“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating.” – Elon Musk
