Every Trinidadian, young or old, knows how serious the "pump" is. For those who are confused about what "pump" means to Trinidadians, your confusion ends here. To "pump" means to party hard, which Trinidadians are notoriously known for. Most parties, usually referred to as "fetes," are found out about by word of mouth, radio ads or Facebook event pages. Usually, it can be a hassle trying to gather all the necessary details of parties on one forum. Things like price, venue, etc. can be somewhat annoying to find out. I, myself, have always said that I wish there was one forum where every fete was listed and detailed to my liking. Thankfully, Andel Husbands and Jonathan Agarrat, both 21 years of age, came to not only my, but thousands of Trinidadians' rescue when they developed the app, "WhereDPump."
WhereDPump, which was launched on the App Store on June 23 2016, was something of an overnight idea. Andel Husbands, who attends the University of South Florida in Tampa, developed a website for the same purpose and of the same name in September 2014. Around the same time, he had contacted his long-time friend, Jonathan Agarrat, about the website. It had turned out that Jonathan was working on a similar website with the name "On D Avenue". The two decided to create a partnership and build on their skills together. They then launched the "WhereDPump" website in December 2014. The duo set to work on the iOS app in December of 2015 and balanced university, internships and coding to produce "WhereDPump" which has over 600+ users as of July 2016.
On the app, which is free to download on the App Store, users can see a list of "pumps" and are able to click on them to get the details, such as venue, where or who tickets can be collected, times, etc. Users can click "pumpin" or "not pumpin" to indicate if they would be in attendance. For club events, there are options to be able to get listed on a committee member list which is highly beneficial. Users can also "like" events to see a list of their favorite past events. Additionally, there is also a point system for users to accumulate points in certain ways which occasionally can be redeemed for free passes to events and such.
I sat down with the duo to discuss the future plans for the app, as well as future plans for themselves as young developers trying to establish their names in the industry.
Jonathan, who attends the New York Institute of Technology, said that they have "barely scratched the surface" in app building and there is still a lot to be done. He stated that they add new ideas to the drawing board on a daily basis using user feedback to aid in such. Andel shared Jonathan's sentiments and added that their main goal is to have it take off in Trinidad and Tobago to where it becomes a very widely known app, and then from there they may be able to expand to other islands with a heavy "pumpin" culture such as Jamaica and Barbados.
As for their personal future plans and goals, they are both on different pages. Jonathan wants to build and educational software focused on the system in the Caribbean, and essentially make learning accessible to everyone. Additionally, he has a dream of working on medical devices. For Andel, on the other hand, he plans to build his skills in various areas of computer science such as web design, app development and graphic work. He also wants to start a company in Trinidad and Tobago focused on these areas. However, though both have seemingly contrasting personal goals, providing a high standard of technology in not only Trinidad and Tobago, but throughout the entire Caribbean is on both of these young men's personal agendas.
Overall, for two individuals this young to be starting their own app is incredibly commendable, especially coming from a small island nation like Trinidad and Tobago. Both Jonathan and Andel believe that there is an opportunity app andweb developing to gain a wider market in Trinidad and Tobago, so if you are a young individual into technology reading this, let these two be your inspiration!
Don't forget to download WhereDPump in the App Store today! It is only available for Apple Users, but an Android app is currently in the works.
