Kingston, Jamaica: March 1 2017 – RealDecoy Inc. announces its $5000 (US) sponsorship of the Palisadoes Foundation’s second annual Calico Challenge.
Geoff Waddington, Executive Vice President at RealDecoy, stated “We are pleased to announce RealDecoy’s sponsorship of the 2017 Calico Challenge. It is our hope that RealDecoy’s support will serve as an example for other companies interested in growing Jamaican talent to compete in the global technology industry. The Calico Challenge concept provides great real-world experience for these students and we are happy to contribute as both a mentor and sponsorship organization.”
“Organizations are taking a new approach to develop the competitiveness of homegrown Jamaican IT. Our cross-border collaboration unites private sector and industry groups to augment an already strong talent base by exposing it to rapid development cycles and large scale collaboration,” said Peter Harrison, President of the Palisadoes Foundation, “We are proud that RealDecoy and the Jamaica Computer Society have expressed their faith in our vision and encourage others to sponsor this worthy cause. ”
The Calico Challenge is a summer work study program for computer science students in Jamaica. Each selected student works on enhancing open source software used internationally under the guidance of a Jamaican mentor. Calico was conceived by the Palisadoes Foundation in conjunction with the Jamaica Diaspora Technology Task Force. There has been close technical collaboration between the Foundation; the University of the West Indies (UWI) Department of Computing, Mona; the UWI Computing Society; and the University of Technology IEEE Students Branch to identify open source projects, student sub-projects and mentors.
The Palisadoes Foundation is confident that the Calico Challenge will make a lasting difference in the lives of these Jamaican students and the Jamaican economy. Further, the nature of open source programming and the IT industry ensures that their successes will be felt globally. The foundation is excited to be able to work with RealDecoy to provide this unique opportunity to homegrown Jamaican talent.
More information can be found on the Palisadoes Foundation website: http://www.palisadoes.org.
About RealDecoy Inc.
RealDecoy (www.realdecoy.com) is a business technology specialist that helps B2B and B2C organizations maximize their investments in e-commerce, site search and data insight. It’s also become a global authority on site search. RealDecoy applies proven best practices to help customers get their ducks in a row with Oracle Commerce On-Premise or Oracle Commerce Cloud, as well as Oracle Commerce Guided Search and Experience Manager (once known as Endeca). The company established its Jamaican office in 2007.
About the Palisadoes Foundation
The Palisadoes Foundation, LLC (www.palisadoes.org), is a non-profit organization established in 2016 and registered in California. It was conceived by a group of Jamaican technology professionals interested in assisting in the continued development of new and existing technologies in Jamaica. The Palisadoes Foundation’s mission is to improve lives by educating the Jamaican workforce in high growth Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields using sustainable programs that will in turn expand and diversify the Jamaican economy by making the IT service sector a major contributor to the country’s exports.
About the Jamaica Diaspora Technology Task Force
The Jamaica Diaspora Technology Task Force is a group of expatriate Jamaicans interested in assisting in the continued development of new and existing technologies in Jamaica. It is a member of the Jamaica Diaspora Movement.