How Access to Capital is Changing the Status Quo and Minting Fresh Millionaires

Hi there, 

Yep, I know I am 2 days late, but never 2 dollars short. 😃 This issue of Silicon Caribe Insider is another weekly conversation with your new smart and spicy Industry Insider friend. So have a read of what I have for you this week. 

IN THIS WEEK’S SCI

• The Lead: Go Get the Money!  How Access to Capital is Changing the Status Quo and Minting Fresh Millionaires

• Caribbean Tech News: Amuse-bouche, Tapas + Bytes

• Startups in the Spotlight: 1 Deal + 1 Launch 

• Flashback: Digital Colonialism?

• Caribbean Tech Events Worthy of Your Calendar

THE LEAD 

GO GET THE MONEY!

How Access to Capital is Changing the Status Quo and Minting Fresh Millionaires

Access to capital and how it’s allocated has always been highly political. Don’t debate me on this. And it’s because he/she who has the money gets to set the rules of the game and change the world. And let me call in the man who said it so well. Watch what Chamath Chamath Palihapitiya the Canadian-American venture capitalist, engineer, and CEO of Social Capital says in this video to entrepreneurs before reading on.

Good. Now that you’ve heard what Chamath has said let me share this with you this Jamaican example and with Caribbean references.

Access to Capital has been changing the face of Business and Investing in Jamaica and has shifted power from the once dominant 14/21 family-owned mini dynasties to the majority of Jamaicans at home and abroad. So much so they wrote a book about it.

The book is Understanding the Caribbean Enterprise: Insights from MSMEs and Family Owned Businesses authored by Dr. Lawrence Nicholson from the Mona School of Business and Management Jamaica and Dr. Jonathan Lashley of the Cave Hill campus, University of the West Indies Barbados.

Diversity of Access Bearing Sweet Fruit

One of the key takeaways from the book was that those once dominant 14/21 Jamaican family businesses used to have a 70% chokehold on Jamaica’s National GDP. Then, when more MSME entrepreneurs started having greater access to capital, through low-interest rate government-driven loans and programmes, private sector low-rate loans, grants, diverse Private equity options, more diverse Angel investors from inside the Region and its Caribbean US, UK Diaspora, with IPO exits on the Junior Stock exchange as the cherry on the top…that number is now about 32% and trending down. When we talk about diversifying economies and the opportunities within it, this is what we’re talking about.

This book was used in the ceremonial bell-ringing ceremony to signal the opening of the day’s trading of Jamaica’s Stock Exchange in February 2019. What we learn from it also, are insights that could assist in finding solutions to issues that many Jamaican and Caribbean micro, small, and medium-sized family-owned businesses face today. These include succession planning, business financing, and marketing.

Then came some more fundamental shifts.

Government Policy Love & Legal Changes

The Jamaican Government has made policy shifts that have signalled their intention to see even further diversification of access to capital and also access to investment opportunities.

Through the Development Bank of Jamaica and its specific Boosting Innovation, Growth, and Entrepreneurship Ecosystems (BIGEE) Programme, they have made it clear that they prefer Angel Investor Networks and Angel FUnds over traditional VC Funds by how they have set up policies and programmes and which initiatives to support that.

Additionally, in 2019 Jamaica Pension funds were allowed to invest in equity or debt of private companies, established under the laws of Jamaica, provided that in aggregate, these amounts do not exceed a maximum of five percent of the assets of the pension fund. This freed up billions of dollars looking for places to invest.

In my opinion, every single Caribbean entrepreneur should read that Book to get a sense of where we’re coming from. Every Caribbean entrepreneur should seek to more about Government signals and programmes that are there to create an environment that allows them to access, invest and thrive. And if they are not there, learn to lobby to change more things.

For me, the more and greater diverse access we have our access to capital in the Caribbean the more stunning signs of progress we will see. And our young people expect it and will demand it. The fact that across the Caribbean most of our populations are under age 40 - is something to be very aware of.

So with more diverse investors, innovative funding models, and evolving government policies, the region is poised for a new era of entrepreneurship and economic growth.

As opportunities continue to expand, and the appetite for risk and understanding of investment arbitrage grow, the Caribbean is on the path to becoming a dynamic hub for tech, business, and investment. While there is still work to be done, the future is bright, and the money is flowing in new and exciting directions.

So to Caribbean Tech Entrepreneurs - Go Get the Money!

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CARIBBEAN TECH NEWS

 [ Future of Caribbean Money ]

Fintech, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Defi, Digital Remittances, InsureTech, Crypto

One Bad Apple, Don’t Spoil the Whole Bunch

The Bahamas is officially in its post-SBF era. As the dust has settled and the charges have been laid, the Caribbean Nation looks to 2024 with fresh eyes beyond the clear bad actor who came to its shores as a pirate instead of a true champion of an important future-shifting industry. 

On the heels of this neutralised threat, the legally progressive Digital Assets Industry in the Bahamas is now seeing a fresh bump in company registration activity, coupled with a fresh round of community-led activities and events such as the Oasis Chain consumer crypto, culture, and co-creation conference set for January 2024. 

Blockchain and Crypto leaders from the Caribbean Blockchain alliance and the Female Founders of Crypto Isle with support from Regional Collaborators have decided it’s onward and upwards from here. 

“We have an Adoption Problem” - Trinidad & Tobago 

Trinidad and Tobago, the Twin Island Republic of 1.5 million people, and the Caribbean nation with the largest middle class in the English-speaking Caribbean thanks to the Oil and Natural Gas industry, has a Fintech Adoption Problem. 

While 80% of the population have credit cards, the majority of them don’t use them for their day-to-day business. Still withdrawing an estimated TT$ 1 billion of cash from ATMs. This was shared by John Outridge CEO of Trinidad and Tobago IFC(TTIFC) at TechBeach Retreat Jamaica last weekend. TTIFC is the lead Agency under the Ministry of Finance for the Government of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago's digitalisation initiatives in the Financial Services Sector.

So what they going to do about it is to create a bottom-up strategy, where they seek to educate and excite the microentrepreneurs and small businesses to accelerate the Fintech Adoption Process. 

Additionally, another TT initiative just launched with this mission in mind is One Fintech Avenue a physical gathering space, and a few strategic partners - Visa, European Union, Huawaei, Telecom TSTT, Amaranth, and UNCDF.

[ All The Green Things ]

 Clean Energy, Climate Tech…  

The USD 500 million Green Letter?

COP28 is happening in Dubai as I write this and Jamaica is also hurtling towards Climate departure- and we have the sweat stains of Summer’s super heat and the PTSD from monthly earthquakes to prove it. 

But in the spirit of focusing on the good, did you know that the Development Bank of Jamaica(DBJ) was accredited by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the world's largest climate financing body? Yep. This is a big deal. This allows DBJ to access funding of up to US$500m Fund at a concessional interest rate to implement projects or programmes of varying sizes geared towards climate change resilience. 

This tracks as Global investment in Renewable energy reached a new record US$1.3t in 2022 with estimates expected to reach US$2.8t this year with clean energy accounting for a substantial 64% of that total, compared to US$1t on fossil fuel investment over the same period. 

Should we be jumping for joy at these numbers published by The International Energy Agency? Kinda sorta. While this is great to see the annual target of US$4.5t required until 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial level. 

You can see why the fighting at COP28 is still a game of Climate Crusaders Vs Climate Raiders. 

🚀 STARTUP SPOTLIGHT

English, Spanish, French, and Dutch Caribbean tech-driven startups around the world and how they are changing the way we live, work, and play. They are closing early customers, raising their first rounds, and hard at work building products.

[ Deal Tracker ]

Black Star Fund Enters the Caribbean with its CaribShopper Deal.

Kwame Anku, Managing Partner and CEO of BlackStar Fund announced at the last TechBeachRetreat Jamaica Conference last weekend that they have officially entered the Caribbean market with a high six-figure deal in CaribShopper-which is now positioning itself as the Alibaba of the Caribbean. 

Caribshopper is co-founded by two Jamaican brothers - Kadion and Tennyson Preston. Caribshopper is playing in the Caribbean e-commerce market which is projected to generate over US$12 billion annually by 2027, up from US$8.2 billion in 2023, according to Statista. 

[ Launch Alert ]

Veekle- Digital peer-to-peer car renting without the risk.

Brief: What could be considered The Turo of the Caribbean officially launches in Q1 2024 after a fast-paced year of pitching to investors and winning Startup Competitions in Barbados and Jamaica.   

• Tech Sector: Carsharing Marketplace   

• Founded: 2022  

• Fundraising: US$350k 

• HQ: Jamaica and USA  

• Markets: Launching in Jamaica first 

• What I like: Persistence and Conviction of this Founder 

• Founder: Cherie Williams  

 CALLING ALL CARIBBEAN TECH STARTUPS 

If you're looking to connect with opportunities, programs, mentors, and angel investors, submit your project here for visibility. We're on the lookout for the Caribbean's exceptional tech entrepreneurs, change-makers, and builders. Submit here

FLASHBACK

Digital Colonialism? Yes!

While I’m a believer in Capitalism, I can also recognise digital colonialism when I see it and I have three examples to share with you. 

I check on these three digital domains at least once a year and I keep asking the same question: Why doesn’t Jamaica or a Jamaican own these digital domains…these valuable digital assets? 

Reggae.com is for sale with a price tag of USD$330,000. It was registered in August 1995. I couldn’t find out who owns it as they have a privacy lock on registration information. The only thing I could find was that the address was Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman. The question is, why is this person/entity allowed to cybersquat on a premium piece of Digital real estate that belongs to Jamaica and Jamaicans? 

ReggaeMusic.com is available for sale for US$20,000 and the registered owner is Fiorentino Holdings, a Government Relations and Business Development based in California. It was registered in November 1996. 

Jamaica.com has Col.com Corporation, a Canadian-based company as the registered owner. The Administrative and Technical contact is Sally Haxthow. It was registered in October 1994. How has this organization and this person been allowed to have this domain for 26 years, when it is supposed to be the Government of Jamaica or an assigned government-sanctioned agency that owns this?!! 

CARIBBEAN TECH EVENTS 

Kingston Beta

• Date: Thursday, December 7, 2023  

• Location: Kingston, Jamaica | AC Hotel Kingston  

• Theme: Future of Work: Digital Opportunities and the Global Labour Shortage. 

• Format: Panel. A Startup Pitch Stage. The Best Networking in Tech.  

• Newsletter: Subscribe to the monthly updates here

Oasis Onchain Summit

• What: A 3-day summit focused on consumer crypto for global markets

• Date: January 22nd-24th, 2024

• Location: Crypto Isle | Nassau Bahamas  

• Format: Panels, FIresside Chats Plus a Hackathon  

• LIST YOUR CARIBBEAN TECH JOBS AND TECH EVENTS

  ^{List your job openings and tech events here. Email: [email protected]}

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