Leon Hughes, founder and CEO of NEARIX, said that people that people are always asking what the company does.
“We’re people involved in software development and quality assurance, application development, data architecture and database design, project management and integration, strategic product consultation and implementation," he explained.
In other words his company tries, through computer applications, to make people’s work easier.
“We are a software development and knowledge-based company that strategically aligns itself with other companies to deliver faster, better and more cost-effective solutions for businesses,” he said.
The team experience spans almost two decades – providing full design, development, and technology services from the initial conceptual design through development and administrative phases.
The company management and leadership team has designed and directed a wide range of projects involving a variety of industries, including automotive, financial, legal, public-sector, municipalities, hospitality, marketing and social media. Hughes said each client project and solution is unique. and the company’s design and development solutions are specially tailored to each particular need and competitive challenges.
Hughes said NEARIX applications are affordable, scalable, and targeted to customers’ needs. His team specializes in Microsoft, open source and mobile technologies.
In March NEARIX was awarded the business of the year award by the St. Croix Chamber of Commerce, and it has been selected by the U.S. Small Business Association to be in the Emerging Leaders Class 2016.
“We’ve gone beyond what we projected for this time,” Hughes said. “There’s a lot of demand for our services and the pipeline is good.”
The only challenge he runs into is finding enough local talent.
To remedy that Hughes has formulated the UVI/NEARIX Fellowship Program with the University of the Virgin Islands to offer students an opportunity to work for him, to compliment their educational experience as well as learn and participate on software development projects for its clientele. NEARIX sponsors the annual “UVI Hackathon,” a technology-driven event where students are given a very specific time period to come up with related ideas.
“It feels good to give back in the way of jobs in theses tough times,” Hughes said. “It really excites me to be able to offer jobs to locals. There are no boundaries here.”
He has around 10 consultants and office staff on St. Croix and a dozen more in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
“The greatest reward is seeing what the Caribbean has to offer,” Hughes said. “It rivals Silicon Valley. We can compete at the same level.”
Hughes, 43 years old and married with three children, was born on st. Croix. He is a 1990 graduate of St. Croix Central High School and has degrees and certifications in: electronics, engineering, project management, advanced web intelligence, enterprise data warehousing, and Microsoft Solutions. He served in the U.S. Navy in the advanced electronics field during his tour of duty.
The St. Croix office of NEARIX is in the William D. Roebuck Industrial Park and there is a second location in Fort Lauderdale. Information is available by calling 954-804-7220 or online at www.nearix.com.
