TURNING Caribbean identity into a business has become entrepreneur Victoria Gordon’s niche. From Tek-a-Tups card games built around the region’s humour and shared experiences to Frangipani Palms’ handbags inspired by Caribbean flags and tropical fruits, Gordon has created products designed to help Caribbean people at home and across the Diaspora feel connected to their roots.

“People just wanted to see themselves represented in fun and unique ways,” Gordon said in an interview with the
Jamaica Observer.

While Frangipani Palms celebrates Caribbean identity through handbags, Gordon first entered the market in 2020 with Tek-a-Tups, a line of card games inspired by the region’s humour and everyday experiences. Originally developed as a drinking card game, Tek-a-Tups has since expanded into a collection of games for different age groups, with country-specific expansion packs highlighting the traditions, dialects, and cultural quirks unique to individual Caribbean islands.

“The cards are unique, based off lived experiences, saying ‘Take two sips if your parents ever made you sit on a barrel’ or ever asked, ‘How yuh ask so many questions?’ “ she explained.

The business gained significant momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic, when demand for at-home games increased. However, feedback from customers also encouraged her to diversify beyond the original drinking game, leading to the introduction of non-drinking games such as charades and a Go Fish game built heavily around the Jamaican dialect.

“Everybody kind of knows the Jamaican dialect, and other parts of the Caribbean pick from it, so it’s easier to start with that and then go on to more Guyanese or Trinidad-focused.”

Today, Jamaica is the largest market for Tek-a-Tups’s expansion packs, making it the strongest-selling segment across Gordon’s businesses.

“At one point it almost took me out of my full-time job,” Gordon told the Sunday Finance.

Although the games are available online, including through Amazon, Gordon said getting them into physical stores across the Caribbean remains one of her biggest challenges. At present, Guyana is the only Caribbean country with retail outlets carrying the games, while many retailers elsewhere still prefer to establish relationships with entrepreneurs in person before stocking their products.

While Tek-a-Tups captures Caribbean culture through humour and storytelling, Gordon found another way to celebrate the region, this time through fashion. Frangipani Palms was born two years ago, following a vacation to Guyana where the entrepreneur, who is of both Guyanese and Dominican heritage, admired handcrafted leather bags. As a carnival enthusiast she wanted something she could comfortably wear while revelling, rather than a traditional leather handbag. Back in the United States, Gordon commissioned four handbags featuring Caribbean flags as birthday gifts and shared them online. The response was immediate.

“Everybody started asking for their countries, different sizes and different ideas,” Gordon recalled.

The demand prompted her to officially launch Frangipani Palms, initially offering handbags featuring the flags of Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago before expanding into Jamaica, Barbados and Dominica. Bootstrapped with funding from herself and a loan from her mother, Gordon said both businesses started simply as a way to pay her bills. From Caribbean flag-shaped bags, Frangipani moved into fruit-shaped bags inspired by a mango festival in which she was asked to showcase her products. Those fruit bags have garnered much attention on social media.

“Everybody started asking for ackee and coconuts, and again I was lovingly bullied into making more bags,” she said with a laugh.

Launched in May 2026, the fruit collection is designed by Gordon before outsourcing manufacturing. Orders are shipped worldwide from her home-based business in the United States.

Among the newer additions is a handbag shaped like the island of Jamaica. Despite growing demand, Gordon admits operating as a one-woman business and scaling production has proven difficult. Manufacturers require minimum production quantities before handbags can be made, making it uneconomical to produce small wholesale orders for retailers across the Caribbean. The economics become even more challenging once customs duties and freight charges are added.

“After customs and shipping, the bags cost more than what even I sell them for from my shop,” she explained.

Retailing between US$90 and US$100, many of the speciality handbags are now produced primarily through pre-orders, with manufacturing only beginning once minimum order quantities, typically around 50 bags, have been reached.

“I might only bring them out on a pre-order-only basis because it’s just me. I don’t have outside funding,” Gordon said.

While Frangipani Palms continues to grow, Gordon said Tek-a-Tups has largely become a business that runs itself. Still, distribution remains one of her biggest hurdles. Even so, she remains optimistic about the future. Two additional games are in the plans, and she is also exploring a Caribbean-inspired toy line as she continues expanding her portfolio of businesses celebrating the region’s culture. For Gordon, the success of both ventures reflects a demand she believes has long existed among Caribbean people at home and abroad — a desire to see their culture represented in products that feel uniquely their own.

GORDON…people just wanted to see themselves represented in fun and unique ways.

A coconut-inspired tote reflects Frangipani Palms’ focus on translating familiar Caribbean produce into wearable accessories.

A selection of Frangipani Palms’ Caribbean-inspired bag charms featuring ackee, plantain, coconut and mango designs.

Designed with carnival revellers in mind, Frangipani Palms’ Jamaica-themed thigh bag offers a hands-free option for carrying essentials. (Photo: Victoria Gordon)

Frangipani Palms’ crossbody handbag shaped like the island of Jamaica combines the country’s silhouette with the national flag.

A customer wears Frangipani Palms’ Jamaica-shaped crossbody handbag during a public event, one of the brand’s Caribbean flaginspired designs.