It is stated that Caribbean business communities are largely made up of necessity-based, non-innovative, low-skilled, low barriers to entry businesses.
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report it was noted that 30 percent of businesses in the Caribbean region are started out of financial need, and that 50 percent or more of the new businesses started are trade-based, in the wholesale or retail sectors.
How do Caribbean regions exploit this new digital age so they do not struggle to survive in this advancing era?
The digital age can be a dream come true for countries like Jamaica. Our country with lots of natural resources can now market directly to the rest of the world through the internet. India seems to have work this out perfectly and they are reaping the benefit. China is doing so well with Apps like Tik-Tok, it is now just as popular as Facebook. Think of the benefit Jamaica could gain if we put all our young minds to work creating games and Apps and everything in between they think the rest of the world might find useful. The sky would be the limit and it is not only possible, it is there for the taking. Just give our young men and women education, a computer and an Internet connection.
Whoops but it’s not that simple. Both China, Japan, Korea and India have deep government involvement. This means we would have to get our government to buy into the belief that our talent is not just in athletics, but that we are just as smart as everyone else. This means trusting our experienced professionals and not just relying on what America does. We all love America and Britain but if we always rely on them we are always going to be a step behind them. Usian Bolt and Elaine Thompson remained in Jamaica and they are our best athletes ever. We should also try to do the same with our intellectual talent.
We cannot pool our intellectual talent using American Internet companies. If we continue to do this they will continue to scan our messages and conversations and beat us to the market with our own ideas every time. Most of the small businesses in America using these cheap websites to sell their products normally go out of business when they expose their customers and clients to these larger companies each time they sell an item. These larger companies then start marketing to their customers at a lower price than them until they go out of business. Jamaica will need their own intranet for educating Jamaicans, selling to Jamaicans, and securing encrypted private sales to the rest of the world by routing them through the internet. An intranet works the same as the Internet except that it is private to a specific group of people; in our case Jamaicans or the Caribbean. Our government would need to both use the current infrastructure and encrypt our traffic, create our own fiber-optic network which would be expensive, or connect each parish using satellite dishes which would probably be the best, which could also include the rest of the Caribbean. Large companies call this a Metropolitan Network. This setup is neither hard nor complicated and would pay for itself over time by saving the high cost of Jamaicans and other Caribbean countries paying these foreign companies each year for phone and internet services; but the government would have to buy into it.
I wish the Jamaican government would invite a couple of experienced IT people to discuss this instead of using the regular American minded college professors that’s likely to hook us on another American dependent system for the next couple of generations. We also don't want China or America loaning us money to build a system that suits them. We have Jamaicans coming home every year including IT talent that help build the American network Infrastructure and know the good and the bad; they’re here, lets also use them to reach for the stars.
Instead of the lottery or some gang, wouldn’t it be great if we could create an infrastructure where we could just give our youths an education, a computer, free intranet connection and a dream? Ask a politician you know, "why not?" 😁 :)
I’m just saying…
They also need to address the Wi-Fi connectivity issues across the Caribbean so the infrastructure is in place to support the technology.
It starts with understanding the importance of digital technologies and encouraging digital business start-ups. Education in digital technology is also need and should be ramped up in schools if we want to stand a chance.
Excellent question. Adapting to changing times and exploiting digital technologies is going to become increasingly critical for Caribbean nations. I suspect that the figures are similar for both domestic and international Caribbean businesses.