ByBlacks.com had an opportunity to discuss Collin’s early exposure to technology, and how he got into the technology manufacturing business.

What was your first reaction when you heard you won the HJA award?

I was excited, of course when you do something you are passionate about, it feels good to be recognized for it.

How old were you when you first got interested in technology?

I have been playing with technology since middle school. I remember playing with the Commodore 64, I believe I was in grade 6, and I remember Using DOS and backing up my data on floppy drives. After class, we would play video game similar to Atari, and I remember touching the screen and expecting a response. As early as then I thought it would be nice to have touchscreen technology. And look at us now how far we came.

I was exposed to computer assembly and repairs when I was about 16/17. A good friend of mine had a computer assembly and remarketing company. Through his supervision, I learned how to pulled computers apart and rebuilding as per the client specifications, every month I would have the opportunity to take home a new computer to play. I would write my own HTML code and build my first website to sell various computer parts when I was 20.

What was the first piece of technology that you pulled apart?

Now that I have thought about it, all the toys I received when I was a child, I would pull them apart trying to discover how they operate. The first one I can remember is a Radio Console (RC) car. After taking the toy cars apart, I would attempt to put them back together.

However, sometimes there would be screws left over, (laughs) but it still worked.

Where did you study?

I attended Centennial College and studied Micro Computer Programming, HTML language, and networking. I also attended the Toronto School of Business, where I studied to become an aircraft mechanic. I had this dream to become an air force pilot so I figured that would be my way in. However things change, people and passion changes.

What made you decide to start a technology company?

My early childhood exposure. My father, now deceased, was a politician in Jamaica. Being raised by my father, he was very much an entrepreneurial, business-minded person. In the political arena, my dad was the adviser and speechwriter to the Prime Minister of Jamaica and was heavily involved in the economy and business at the time.

When I migrated to Canada, I had the same outlook of wanting to establish something for myself, and be a leader. I was basically simulating the environment I was raised in.

My first real business was in transportation, a tier one service provider and ISO 9000 certified company. Handling Air charter and Expedite service for the big three automotive manufacturers, working with organizations like Magna, Ford, GM, Martin Rea International, Stackpole, etc.

But it was when I was an employee of a Stackpole Limited a manufacturing company, I observed the major problems they were having with logistics. I knew I could solve the issues they were having, thereafter I started the long process of obtaining the correct licenses and permits to start my own logistics company.

My business grew so much that I diversified into the commodities, which exposed and provided the opportunity to do business in North Korea, India, Africa, Venezuela, Colombia, Russia and China. The growth of Noca Inc (Commodity Trading Company) provided the financial stability to reinvest in a technology manufacturing facility. For the last 6 years, we have been prototyping, testing, designing our brand of tablets and smartphones.

I have looked at the devices on your website, tell me about the products you manufacture?

We are slated to release 4 brand new smartphones shortly. Our android tablets have more features than anything on the market right now we offer standard features such as Quad Core Processor, 3G/Phone, Radio, GPS, HMDI. Bluetooth, HD Display, Retina Display, USB and SD Memory Card, operating on the latest Android OS. With our Devices, you can browse the web and talk at the same time on all our tablets. We built them to last, and be scalable.

Using Bluetooth they can stream to pretty much all computer devices, and you can increase the memory, which is a challenge with most devices on the market right now.

What is the value proposition for Noca Instruments? How does the product compare to a company like Samsung?

We are not as large as Samsung or Apple, and our target market has been ignored for many years by the larger manufacturers, so our focus is on redefining mobility giving our consumer a true mobile device, not a device that becomes an expensive doorstop after a few months of running out of memory.
We are associating quality with value. If you want a high-quality device you have to pay upward of $600. What we are providing is quality with good value. Our most expensive tablet is in the high $450’s, our more affordable tablets has more features than our competitors’ top-level devices on the market right currently.

We also build retina display tablets, Military grade tablets that can endure being submerged under water and drop from 4ft at an angle. NOCA-Ridgenote, rugged tablet pc is with the current 7-inch tablet three anti-industrial-grade IP66 rated in the highest standard of protection, the use of the aluminum alloy internal frame with 1.2mm tempered glass touchscreen, you can spot the wild through a rigorous three anti-testing, dust-proof, drop, scratch, it meets the MIL-STD-810G military standards. In addition, to facilitate the expansion of enterprise customers, products, internal circuitry also set aside a standard data interface, you can easily Beidou navigation, RFID, bar-code scanning, fingerprint recognition, second-generation ID card identification, NFC, identification card and other related enterprise application module expansion and giving you more productivity with our devices built in.

Can Canadians buy the devices here?

Not as yet. We have focused our market penetration on Africa, South & Central America, America, Asia, we are entering the Middle East, UK and Europe. We have not established a distribution channel for the Canadian.

How can people get info on Noca Instruments?

Our website www.nocatab.com and we are also on Facebook www.facebook.com/nocatab and Twitter @nocatab.