Allman Town residents earn a living from making fans
Published:Saturday | June 13, 2020 | 12:21 AMJason Cross/Gleaner Writer
Instead of discarding hundreds of fans consumers had returned, plus those that had been in storage for lengthy periods and could not be sold, Conway Wang of Reggae Breeze, forged a partnership with Xavier Johnston of SmartEco Blockchain Solutions to turn them into cash for the residents of Allman Town in Kingston.
The project ,which was birthed from the partnership, is one that sees residents, mostly males, assembling parts from different fans to make one that looks practically new, according to Wang.
This, he boasted, opens doors of economic opportunities for the residents as well as provides opportunities for them to purchase affordable fans to stay cool during the summer.
Fans can be bought for less than $2,000 or more. Fan blades and other parts are also inexpensive.
“We try to donate all the fans to the community so that we could have people refurbish it themselves and learn a little trade here and there. They have taken one or two parts from different fans, repaired it, and made a fan that looks almost ready to sell on the market.
“We as a company cannot sell a fan that was made from three or four fans. Consumers want to spend money on something brand new, which we don’t have a problem with. Instead of wasting it, we donated them to the community so they can make a little living out of it,” he told The Gleaner.
Reggae Breeze is a small Jamaican company owned by Wang and his parents. COVID-19 has slowed the company’s operations, so in the meantime, their goal is to play a role in building inclusive communities, and he sees this as a catalyst to greater things.
Another project to be launched soon in Allman Town, according to Xavier Johnston, is the use of some of the fan blades in wind-powered technology to recharge car and other batteries.
“Some of the fan blades that may not have any use, we are looking at doing a wind-powered project just to teach people about wind electricity, and eventually solar electricity, as a learning tool. We have spoken with some professionals in the renewable energy industry. When these fan blades spin, they won’t generate a lot of electricity, but it will generate some, using that as a learning tool and as a catalyst to go into other things,” he told T he Gleaner.