It is important to invest in startup businesses to help them compete in a tech-driven economy.
That’s according to iQor vice president Dr William Huggins who was speaking at one of the panels at (THIS) last week.
Huggins said it would greatly assist if startup businesses can get mentorship on how to run their businesses and also learn about investing.
He indicated that Amcham T&T has the ability and the resources of linking academia with the private sector, which can help grow start-ups.
Huggins suggested that just like the Tech Hub, which is held annually, a tech challenge with startups, should be considered.
“The tech challenge would be pitching for angel investors and maybe from the same diaspora or maybe from local investors. But you create that forum to give them that highlight. How do we expose persons? I think we may have an opportunity to do that here. If we can get one win from that, that’s one more startup that can create an industry and let’s start doing something like that,” he said.
Co-founder & CEO of Orbtronics, Shergaun Rosarie, speaking on the panel, said while it is good to think about the academic aspect, another angle to look at is how liquidity can increase in the market to make it easier for the venture landscape and increase activity a bit more.
“I think there is a possibility, by engaging the diaspora and even negotiating a commitment from them and finding out the firms that they might invest in for some of these earlier stage companies.
“For example, when you do have these early-stage companies when you’re investing at, like, a pre-seed or seed stage and you’re trying to think of, how can I get my multiple at my series A or series B or whatever, the challenge is that there is no liquidity in the market. Is there a possibility that through the diaspora you can get that liquidity that you might need for those investments at the series A, or series B round that may make it more attractive for an investor pre-seed or seed round and that then builds your flywheel to kind of spool that investment ecosystem and that continues to drive innovation in the region,” Rosarie explained.
He said in his hometown St Lucia there are a lot of businesses that collaborate and believes that is a critical component for entrepreneurs to win.
“It’s a case where you need a champion that is able to show people that together we can go further. Oftentimes people might feel like, if two of us are doing the same service, this person is automatically my competitor. But showing them that, maybe we’re doing the same service, now we can compete on larger contracts. Sometimes you really need to sell that vision, and I think St Lucia is moving in that direction for sure,” he mentioned.
Outlining the environment in Jamaica, Dmitri Dawkins, managing director of Graft Ventures and commercial director of MC Systems at Graft Ventures, noted that the collaboration is increasing as people now realise that, there’s a much bigger pie than they can go for by themselves. And that also applies regionally with regards to collaborating across the region to make use of the very small demographics.
“We can use an example like Seprod Jamaica, which has been doing major regional expansion, and I think it’s something that’s going to continue to happen, especially given the opportunities available economically right now.
“What was the second part of the question? Past the collaboration? How do we build more trust to collaborate? Transparency. That’s the main thing in Jamaica, what boosted a lot of transparency on the small and medium level was because of the Junior Stock Exchange, and so people started putting in better governance practices and compliance and things like that. I think the same thing will apply as we scale internationally,” Dawkins disclosed.
He pointed out that his customers within the Caribbean ask about data compliance documents to trust the company.
“I think transparency and compliance is ultimately what’s going to lead to that,” said Dawkins.
Huggins chimed in, saying the same thing about transparency and compliance is happening in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry even though the company is the largest BPO operator in the country.
However, Huggins said what the company has realised is that as it pitches for bigger business out in the world, the first thing they are asked is, Who is Trinidad? Where is Trinidad? They do not know about Trinidad.
“Is that part of Jamaica? That’s the kind of thing you hear. For us to grow, our market needs to grow. Our competitors, big competitors, have to come here as well because you have some huge competitors. If those clients know that those huge competitors are here, they say, ‘Oh, if they are here, well, yeah, we’re coming too’.
“We have to find a way in terms of how do you cooperate and consolidate and work and the transparency things come in because myself and Sekou are talking eventually we’ll have to have a BPO association in Trinidad, where we share knowledge. Because at the end of the day, its our concept,” he detailed.
Amcham T&T’s chief executive officer Nirad Tewarie during the two-day conference, said the technology sector is a powerful tool for economic diversification.
“Let’s take inspiration from places like India, where the tech sector is booming. We believe T&T can also be positioned as a centre of excellence in niche areas of technology, attracting both foreign and domestic investment. We’re already seeing growth in call centres, fintech, health tech, and more advanced back-office services like accounting and finance. But we must push further–and higher–into the tech value chain,” he highlighted.
Tewarie outlined that as a skilled diaspora, Trinbagonians are in leading roles in major tech firms abroad and many of them want to give back.
“But we need policies, like a digital nomad visa, to allow them to live and contribute here in meaningful ways,” he added.