Local entrepreneur Glen Jackson partners with Canadian multinational e-commerce company Shopify

Local artist Glen Jackson has partnered with Canadian multinational e-commerce company Shopify to establish a digital platform for Niue products.

Glen Jackson established his presence online through his Rocksteady page on social media which caught the eyes of Shopify officials based in Auckland.

He was contacted by Shopify and asked if he was interested in their platforms which helps set up websites for businesses and entrepreneurs and has since assisted Glen in setting up the Niuean platform.  

Jackson who is a renowned Niuean singer and entertainer was affected by the closure of borders – losing income from lack of business in performing at the Matavai resort and Vaiolama café, this led to the setting up of his online page Rocksteady where he does live shows on Facebook which has garnered thousands of followers.

The local entrepreneur says he had to think outside the box in terms of new sources of income.

“ For me, it’s a great achievement because it will be the first in the Pacific and a first for Niue but the best thing about it, is it’s a tool and a platform that everyone can learn and that everyone can benefit from and that takes into an advantage of us as Tagata Pasifika and people from the Pacific as we are navigators and voyagers from our ancestors and so COVID-19 should not be a reason to stop from our ancestors, it should be just another obstacle, another big wave to get over and to conquer so we may be a small nation in the Pacific but the fact that we’re about to launch into a digital platform which is basically a digital ocean landscape that we are from and so we should be able to utilize and take advantage and to learn all these new tools that are available for us to take advantage of, so the milestone is good for me but greater for Niue,” said Jackson

The niuemarket.com is expected to be launched in August.