"click title to go to watever.com page"
You see him at all the hype events around town. This tall, fun-loving guy is either taking photos or being the life of the party. He is the guy who all the fine looking ladies have in an embrace at any given moment. You would be walking the malls in Half Way Tree and hear someone shout "Chicken!". Welcome to the life of Ian Gregory Bourne, affectionately called "Chicken", a man's brethren and ladies' man, this is what life was like for one third owner of the entertainment website Watever.com
Ian lived in Tavern, St. Andrew in a humble home, raised by his father and grandmother (of whom he speaks of constantly with endearment). Born February 25, 1981, he and his siblings were abandoned by their mother at an early age; he recalls "My father was both mother and father to us, he washed, ironed and cooked for us. Him neva have it but him try." This circumstance was what lead young Ian to become an entrepreneur.
Blessed with leadership skills, Ian would scold the children at his basic school for being disobedient. He recalled how he loved playing dolly house as he would always play the role of the father which was a plus for Ian, don't ask why. He grew up hardly watching television spending his childhood playing at the river with siblings and friends, a definite force to be reckoned with and like any other child he would disobey his grandmother's orders of not going on the streets.
Around age seven or eight years of age Chicken would sell fruits in the Papine Market while his siblings would ignore him when they see him at "work", determined to make money for himself, he carried on, "they would sometimes ask me for money", he remembers, being the good brother that he is he obliged and shared his profits. Sovereign Center would be his next gig, as window cleaner and sweeping out clothing stores. And thanks to that he became an employee at Popeye's Chicken. Ian made his television debut being interviewed by Fae Ellington of then Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (now TVJ) for being the youngest member on staff. "Yuh see school bag and shoes, mi get dem tings deh. I would watch any show in the cinema and get snacks I want while working at the plaza. The people loved me. I was very bright. I knew what I had to do to survive. My friends would just send me to a store and I choose what school shoes I want, the next day it was delivered to me. I gave them my school book list and it was taken care of. Those people treated me so good."
As a teenager Bourne worked as a waiter at Golden Dragon, also at Air Jamaica and National Commercial Bank. He told me about his first day at Air Jamaica, "when I walked into the room the men directed me to the area where the flight attendants worked." Ian was not employed as a flight attendant but at over six feet with features that Jamaicans would call a "face boy" (pretty boy or handsome), Ian could easily be mistaken for a model. At 20 he owned a chicken farm in Papine and no this is not the origin of his alias. Alone he did the tedious task of supplying restaurants in Jamaica's corporate area, likewise domestic households, with home grown poultry. He is presently working at the Ministry of National Security while managing a website with his two friends Andrew Bellamy and David Ellis. Watever.com received 18 million hits since its one year launch. Thanks to the charismatic and sociable input of Ian the guys gained a lot of support from fans and advertisers worldwide.
Written 2003
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