PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, Dec 2, 2021 – Royards Publishing Company Ltd., has announced the upcoming virtual launch of Digital Canopi, its new digital publishing platform for Caribbean publishers and writers.
Produced in collaboration with OMG Media, the event will be livestreamed on Friday December 3 at 11:00 am on Facebook @digitalcanopi or @omgtt and Youtube @omgtvtt.
The creation of Digital Canopi represents the commitment of Royards Publishing, a market leader in educational publishing, to provide a best-in-class digital platform for the long-term success of the Caribbean publishing sector. Digital Canopi was developed by Blue Guruz Co. Ltd a local fintech company which since its inception, has developed cutting edge digital products like GoFundTT.
“When the pandemic forced the closure of schools, we knew we had to rethink how best to respond to the need for online learning”, said Dwight Narinesingh, Director and Chief Executive Officer of Digital Canopi. “We decided then to make a significant investment in new digital infrastructure even though the environment had not been conducive to educational e-books, prior to Covid 19. We commissioned Blue Guruz Inc., to design a platform that we could offer to anyone, anywhere in the world. After a lot of tinkering, we’re excited to launch Digital Canopi.”
Clifford Narinesingh, Chairman and CEO of Royards Publishing said that his company’s long history of commitment to excellent service will be reflected in Digital Canopi.
“As a life-long educator, I’m especially interested in ensuring that teachers, students, parents and educators are able to access educational textbooks and resources. For over four decades, I’ve pegged my reputation on producing quality educational content so I’m very proud that our Royards educational catalogue of over 100 titles can now be accessed digitally. This is a tremendous boost for all of us in the Caribbean education sector and certainly a game-changer for the literary and publishing worlds in our neck of the woods,” says the senior Narinesingh.
As part of the launch event, Sheldon Monderoy, Chief Technology Officer at Blue Guruz, currently in Sweden, will showcase some of the digital architecture that went into the design of the platform.
“The Blue Guruz team is happy to have worked with Royards in bringing Digital Canopi to market”, he stated. “This is a game changer for publishing, and it’s built on local knowledge. This is just the beginning as we’re already in the lab working on prototypes to enhance the user experience – from the publisher’s side and also the reader’s,” he added.
Carded to appear at the virtual launch is the Honourable John King, Minister with Responsibility for Culture and Creative Economy, Barbados and Wayne Nakhid, Deputy National Director at the Ministry of Digital Transformation who will deliver remarks on behalf of the ministry. Also participating will be several Caribbean authors who have already onboarded with Digital Canopi during its design process.
“We’re excited to share this with the region, so everyone is invited to join us for the online launch on December 3,” said Narinesingh. “Digital Canopi is an expression of our commitment to developing the Caribbean publishing and literary sector for global expansion. We look forward to working with other publishers, writers, institutions, and private sector interests in promoting their books, journals and resources. Digital Canopi will definitely enhance the user experience and offer the benefits of any of its international competitors at a better price point,” he added.