Israel Mark, 21, knows what it is like to lose, but from that experience, he’s gained the lesson of giving.
He wants to make giving cool again, especially as Christmas approaches.
Mark has a media company, Markos Marketing, incorporated in 2020. He is also in the process of incorporating a holding company, Markos Global, for his other businesses.
Also under his umbrella company is an NGO and programme called Poor Nothing, through which he recently gave Candice Rojan $100,000. Rojan is receiving the money in instalments.
The programme and promotion were launched on October 24 with the giveaway. All one had to do was be a member of the programme to win. On November 29 Mark asked members to send their names, locations and why they should be “blessed” with $100,000. He asked for the locations so he could physically surprise the winner.
For him, Rojan’s message stood out. Her home, a wooden house in Freeport, had been flooded. Rojan has three children at the home, which she shares with her husband, Mahesh Hosein. She has other children who are not with her.
[caption id="attachment_991837" align="alignnone" width="768"] Israel Mark the owner of Markos Marketing and Markos Global presents Candice Rojan the winner of the promotion Poor Nothing with her cheque. The promotion ended on November 30. [/caption]
“Most of my stuff, I use my gut feeling to make decisions. I got a strong feeling to bless the family,” Mark said.
Rojan said she was scrolling through Facebook when she saw the promotion.
“I learn a lot from Markos and showing kindness to people. It opened up my heart just looking at the videos,” she said.
But she did not think she would win, as she “was never a lucky person in life.”
At the end of her message, Rojan said, “Whoever is reading this, thanks for listening to my story because I did not think I would win. I just wrote it from my heart.”
Around 700 people wrote in saying they should win, Mark said. One responder wrote, “I need that 100K because I am struggling right now and I want to open my own business and have my own thing.” Some said they wanted homes for themselves and their children, some wanted to start businesses, and others wanted to become financially secure.
It was losing everything that taught Mark why it is important to give.
As a 16-year-old at Trinity College East, he was interested in studying psychology, but discovered graphic design in form four, when he won the University of Trinidad and Tobago’s (UTT) logo competition for a conference in 2017.
Mark was told he could earn money doing logos, and began learning graphic and web design on his own, then learned about photography and videography, all in a two-year period.
“Going down that media rabbit hole, I learned about having a media agency – an agency that could do it all for a business. So instead of businesses coming to me just for graphic design, they could come to me for graphic design, social media and other things.
“I learned how to do all of those things, and it was going good for a while.”
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