Kirk–Anthony Hamilton has gone beyond the dream of creating a Silicon Valley in the Caribbean. Hamilton is an architectural designer turned entrepreneur, investor, community curator and co-founder of Infiniti Partnership Inc, TechBeach Retreat, The Destination Experience and the Visionaries’ Summit. He is on a mission to build a new global business ecosystem for the Caribbean with platforms designed to drive investment, technology, influence and big media to the region to catalyse innovation, new enterprise and wealth creation opportunities.

But he is not alone in this mission. He is joined by Kyle Maloney, a self-described entrepreneur, motivated by new challenges and inspiring people to go beyond any boundaries they may have set for themselves. “I’m passionate about building tech start-ups and catalysing their growth through digital sales and marketing,” says Maloney.

Their firm which could put up a shingle bearing the words Hamilton, Maloney and Associates, brought together a family of like minds who are determined to show that the Caribbean can be transformed and regarded as world leaders in the technology sphere. The originators of TechBeach Retreat (TBR) have provided a nexus for the global tech ecosystem to connect the best companies and minds in the world with undiscovered talent and opportunities, for a more inclusive future.

International partners include Google, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Microsoft and IDB Lab who forged a technical cooperation agreement with TechBeach Retreat to accelerate 200 tech-driven businesses with mentorship, technology services, networks and connections to enterprise opportunities and investors. To further support the technology ecosystem the initiative will connect 1,000 regional technology entrepreneurs to a global community of tech experts and train more than 80 individuals from the Caribbean’s business community to undertake a corporate innovation programme. The three-year programme will support tech businesses in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and The Bahamas.

Reacting to this development, Hamilton expressed great optimism. “TechBeach was designed to uncover the undiscovered and add capacity to the tech ecosystem of the Caribbean, so this is an underlying feature of our DNA and a major part of our pitch to our global participants and collaborators. We always focus our partnerships and programmes on inclusion and creating a level playing field, strengthening our connections with the rest of the world while ensuring our region is able to compete equitably at global scale,” he says. “This new programme with the IDB Lab represents the unfolding of our long-standing vision. We think it’s important to highlight that we started this journey well before the pandemic hit, but as many agree it is now a very timely solution. There has been no time in history that better highlights the value of technology and innovation and the need to upskill our workforce to adapt to an ever-changing global environment.”

He adds, “The pandemic has accelerated the inevitable and our ultimate aim is to arm various stakeholders in our ecosystem with the resources necessary to thrive. We’re working to drive through impact and we have very exciting news to share in the coming weeks.”

As their website boasts, “We are built on an inclusive framework which has made our community one of the most diverse of any platform you will find anywhere. Our home base in the Caribbean forced us to reach well beyond our existing ecosystem to connect people of varying backgrounds through purpose and passion. The end results: Some of the most brilliant minds in the world consider the TechBeach Community as their family.”

The multimedia platform bridges people and organisations positioning to evolve through technology with the roadmap, resources and skills to help them excel. “We’re focused on building bridges that yield increased investment, partnership and mentorship spurring an entrepreneurship and innovation revolution. We’re merging the assets of some of the world’s foremost people and organisations with the unrealised full potential of people and organisations poised for success,” comments Maloney.

Another of their products is Beyond the Surface, which is designed to unearth inspiring people and stories, connecting their audience with the possibility by digging deeper than the mainstream. “We engage with the undiscovered through intimate in-person events, our newsletter segment, our podcast and video series,” says Maloney.

In a world of constant evolution requiring building new skills, talents and capabilities to thrive, TBR Lab provides upskilling programmes in the form of Youth Development, a StartUp Accelerator, and Workforce Development to help organisations drive reinvention and transformation.

Venture Island is a platform to drive deeper outcomes powered by the ecosystem. “Venture Island leverages our curated relationships to deliver new business and enterprise opportunities in the technology space,” Maloney adds.