Xavier Murphy, the founder of the leading Jamaican community Jamaicans.com, is featured on the SiliconCaribe Podcast in discussion with host Ingrid Riley. Murphy and Riley have a conversation about building Brand Jamaica online and to success and have a real impact in the digital media business sector. Murphy’s story is also one of vision and longevity as he has been working in this space for more than two decades.
Murphy is a pioneer in providing web-based news and information to the Jamaican and Caribbean Diaspora. He founded the website Jamaicans.com in 1995 with the goal of connecting Jamaicans throughout the world. It was the first and only comprehensive site covering Jamaica on the internet at the time and has continued to be a prime source for news, travel, culture, and politics in Jamaica and the Caribbean since its launch. In celebration of the website’s 20th anniversary in 2015, the City of Miramar in Florida, where Murphy and his family make their home, declared a Jamaicans.com Month. Murphy views his mission as providing opportunities for Jamaicans to tell their own stories.
Over its 20 years in operation, Jamaicans.com has attracted an enormous following throughout the Jamaican Diaspora, attaining more than 1 million page views and some over 250,000 followers on social media. In 2012, it became the first Jamaican firm to introduce a mobile app on the iPhone
According to Murphy, “Jamaicans.com has always been a hub for those who want to learn about Jamaica and people who want to stay in touch with their Jamaican roots. If you live outside of Jamaica and have any Jamaican ancestry you are a part of the diaspora,” he said.
In 2020, Murphy received an official Letter of Recognition from the City of Lauderhill, Florida, home to one of the largest Caribbean Diaspora populations in the United States, for the “courage and fortitude” he displayed during the exceptional situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the letter, City Commissioner Denise D. Grant noted that Murphy’s journalism “journalism advances the vision of helping residents engage in their communities. Your contribution to society in the midst of an uncertain and lamented time is worthy of recognition.” The city presented Jamaicans.com with an Official City of Lauderhill Proclamation to mark Murphy’s work and contributions to the Caribbean-American Diaspora.
SiliconCaribe was founded by Ingrid Riley, a “Caribbean Tech Maven” and digital media entrepreneur, to help Caribbean people build exceptional businesses and careers in the technology/digital industry. SiliconCaribe offers stories about Caribbean people using technology and the internet to launch all types of digital businesses. In particular, the SiliconCaribe Podcast focuses on interviews with Caribbean entrepreneurs. SiliconCaribe also offers a Trend Insights Newsletter, Trend Reports, and Consultancy Services. SiliconCaribe Events has been the top producer of technology events for Caribbean entrepreneurs, women in technology, Caribbean businesses, and the Caribbean Tech Industry and Diaspora since 2007. The events are designed to gather tech/digital innovators, thought leaders, industry professionals, investors, and others to provide inspiration, education, and the sharing of ideas that will impact the Caribbean technology industry and digital economy as it evolves
