Recalling his first time using his cellphone to make a payment while pursuing his master’s degree in Canada, in 2016, Damian McIntyre shares with the audience at Tech Beach Retreat (TBR), held recently at the Iberostar Resort in Rose Hall, St James, how the Caribbean has been a beneficiary of technological advancements particularly from North America, but is in the early stages of developing its own.

The TBR Labs head of research has no interest in braggadocio, but he instead points out that countries in the Caribbean like St Lucia, where he was born, has had to play catch up with more advanced economies in terms of adaptation to new technology.

His presentation — Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Study and Mapping of the Caribbean, 2021 — is but a microcosm of the research he undertook for his master’s degree in innovation and entrepreneurship at Queen’s University in Toronto, Ontario. Much of it focuses on how Tech Beach Retreat has contributed to the development of the region’s tech ecosystem.

Commenting on his tap and go phone experience, McIntrye concedes that such technology may not yet be compatible with financial institutions in the region.

In this regard, he noted, “We have really amazing first experiences with technology. Unfortunately, we have to wait longer in the Caribbean, and sometimes Latin America as well. This is more obvious in the English-speaking Caribbean countries because we are generally independent nations and don’t have ‘big brother’ nations to pull these technologies to us.”

Still, while digital technology has changed how people access services in the Caribbean and the efficiency with which they access them, there have been pockets of innovation throughout the region. No doubt, these indigenous innovations have also had global impact.

However, according to McIntyre, if the Caribbean and Latin America are to become producers of technology at the scale of its North American neighbours, they would need to create an ecosystem within which tech start-ups thrive.

“This is what Tech Beach [Retreat] is all about: Finding these founders and working with all of you, the stakeholders of the ecosystem — Government, strategic partners, investors, and other founders,” he shared.

“The ecosystem is very young; it’s nascent and raw. But when you start to peel back the layers and sift through the noise, you’ll realise there’s a lot going on in the space, as you already know,” he added.

In addition to hosting tech- and founder-focused conferences, Tech Beach Retreat has also introduced an accelerator programme for tech start-ups in the region to attract investment. Since its launch in 2021, TBR Labs has impacted 80 companies across 14 countries, including the US and UK, over three cohorts.

The capacity development initiative has also pulled US$52 million in foreign direct investments. From the three cohorts, TBR Labs has reported 95 per cent business continuity with select start-ups doubling their revenue streams and customer base in the first half of 2021. Up to 40 per cent of participating start-ups have begun hiring digital staff.

“We believe there’s a lot more investments taking place in the Caribbean, but unfortunately the data is not public like the pitch books of the world,” McIntyre remarked

Coming out of its programme, 30 per cent of businesses are in the e-commerce space, with fintechs and education technology outfits following. The organisation has also a 35 per cent rate of female founder rate.

Beyond TBR’s involvement, McIntyre says there is also growth in the wider Latin American and Caribbean region, and that companies from both subregions to collaborate with each other. However, with the region “generally seen as collective intersect on the global stage”, Caribbean is sometimes left out of the conversation, the head of research points out.

According to the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America, foreign direct investment amounted to $15.7 billion in 2021, more than the combined total in the 10 years. Alternative financing such as peer-to-peer lending and crowd-funding has also grown.

Turning his attention to Jamaica, McIntyre says Jamaica recorded over US$3 billion in remittances with 78 per cent coming from the US.

“If we were to take one per cent of that and divert it towards our founders, that would be US$30 million going towards our ecosystem. That would revolutionise our ecosystem here in Jamaica,” he outlined.

“So why isn’t it happening there is just no vehicle for a platform to this yet; a chance for a really great solution,” McIntyre added.