Independence Message to T&T Diaspora

T&T Diaspora members,

I am sure Trinibagonians are no doubt looking forward to August 31 in anticipation of T&T Independence anniversary. And if my guess is right, the celebrations are probably already underway, not only on the twin island nation, but within its Diaspora as well.

Having had the opportunity to meet and get to know members of the T&T Diaspora personally in the past few months, I know that there will be an air of pride and patriotism. There is much to be thankful for and much accomplishments to be celebrated. Additionally the mobilization of the Diaspora of Trinidad and Tobago (DOTT) here in South Florida no doubt will continue to ensure that the T&T pride is preserved. I celebrate with you and encourage you to continue making your fellow Trinis, Caribbean and Caribbean-American brothers and sisters proud.

So, on behalf of the Caribbean Business Digest and fellow Caribbean Americans here in South Florida, I would like to acknowledge and congratulate Trinibagonians the world over on the milestone.

In closing, I echo the sentiments of your PM Patrick Manning and urge you to maximize your potential at home and abroad. (View the full article here).

Have a happy and safe Independence celebrations T&T.

Mushtaq Maxwell
Caribbean Business Digest
http://www.caribbeanbusinessdigest.com/

JA USA Chamber Business Expo

It has been a while since I made a blog post but that was due to a weekend getaway in Jamaica where I stayed at the Grand Bahia Principe hotel in Runaway Bay in St. Ann. I had a wonderful time and it was a beautiful hotel. I encourage everyone to consider it as an option when staying in Jamaica. And even though it rained, there was enough to do.

My last post I said I would talk about the Jamaica USA Chamber business expo. It seemed to be well organized and supported. I had a quick chat with a couple of exhibitors there and they were pleased with the turnout. And so was chamber president Marie Gill. I hope to have her comments as a part of an upcoming article in the next magazine issue. But she was pleased with the turnout and I am happy for her. I can remember talking with a few folks who mentioned that past events resulted in a low turnout. But that did not appear to be the case here.

I ran into Rovan Locke of the Caribbean Commentary newspaper. He gave me some feedback on the magazine and one thing he said was not to give it way free. He seems to favor establishing a cost for subscription or otherwise selling the publication. And I suppose he is right. That will let you add value to the publication. Rovan also offered to talk with me a little about the magazine so let's see what I can learn from this long time servant of the Caribbean community here in South Florida.

I also ran into Irvine Headley of Bilmor Advertising. Headley is also past president of the T&T USA chamber of commerce. I mentioned to him that the various Diasporas here need to do things more together and he agreed. We are trying to accomplish a lot of the same things after all. So it was nice to see him there at the Jamaican business expo.

David Muir of the law firm Wright Muir PA as always took the time to chat for a little bit. As it turns out, he produces a newsletter for the law firm which is quite well put together. So his connections with printers and designers may be useful. And he also took the time to introduce me to a couple folks he thought might be interested in my magazine and for that I was grateful.

Jamaican Diaspora Mini Conference

Well this past weekend I went to the mini conference of the Jamaican Diaspora. Though I could not stay for the entire meeting I enjoyed the event and it left me feeling very positive for the future. My interest level was along the business aspect of things so I sat with the group that addressed business issues. A couple points that came up was the creation of a database of businesses and associated skills, a forum where the Jamaican government can list projects for which it is accepting bids for jobs, and a network of sorts where the issue of funding can be addressed.

A few thoughts sprung to my mind. First, a database already exists. There is a website (http://www.caribbeanbusinesscommunity.com/) that lists Caribbean businesses all over the world. The portal allows for the user to search for businesses by country of origin. Now, if the Jamaican diaspora chooses to use this website, it would be in essence promoting this business. Personally, I don't see a problem with this. The owners of this website already has a framework in place that the diaspora can take advantage of. It is worth noting that the Trinidad diaspora wants to do the same thing i.e creating a database as well. Should these members of the Caribbean diaspora choose to go with the above website, it would be taking advantage of existing infrastructure and opening up the businesses being listed to a wider audience.

The issue of funding comes up in all discussions regarding small businesses. But, I think that instead of relying on government or bank loans there is enough wealth to go around among private individuals to solve the issue of funding. The term angel investors come to mind. The question is are we sophisticated enough to do this and are we willing to trust each other enough to do this. I think we have enough knowledge and sophistication to do this but the jury is still out on the latter part of my question.

Venture capitalists may not be the answer for the smaller businesses or start ups but angel investing or a network that matches up investors with entrepreneurs may be the way to go. I submitted these thoughts as part of my input in the meeting before I left. Let's see if anything comes out of it. Marlon Hill Esq, who is the Jamaican diaspora representative for southeast Florida usually sends out minutes of the meetings. I look forward to receiving it.