Robert Alphanso Lawrence is a business executive, entrepreneur and IT specialist who has provided fintech solutions to the banking sector for over 23 years. He is the founder and Managing Director of EDISOL (Electronic Data Interface Solutions Limited) which represents six of the world’s largest providers of banking solutions for the Acquiring and Issuing components of the (banking) cards industry
Mr. Lawrence, a Justice of the Peace of St. Andrew, has been heavily involved in national development for over a decade through the giving of service to several Jamaican public and private sector entities; he currently serves on the boards of the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ), the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and the Maverley Primary and Junior High School where he is currently chairman. He previously served as Chairman of Spectrum Management Authority; Chairman of the Universal Service Fund; Member of Jamaica Telecommunications Advisory Council; Chairman of Half Way Tree Primary School; Past President of the Lions Club of Kingston; Board Member at Derrimon Trading; among other positions at other entities.
Mr. Lawrence is a former banker with over 16 years banking experience, holding managerial positions with NCB and CIBC throughout the 1980s-1990s. He left the banking sector in 1994 when he acquired a major stake in an IT company, CompuWorks Multimedia Limited. At CompuWorks he led many innovations in the ICT sector under the brand, COLIS (CompuWorks Online Information System) which pioneered the first commercial Bulletin Board System in Jamaica; the first Commercial Internet Service Provider in Jamaica; the first Wireless Internet Provider; the first VISAT licence which allowed for the wholesaling of broad band to listed companies.
Robert holds a LLM in law from Cumbria University and is the Leader of the Prayer Cabinet of Jamaica and a Minister in his church. He is an avid reader, who has been married for over 27 years and is the father of five children.