The French territory of Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean region, is one that many of us know very little about generally, and even more so with respect to telecommunications and ICT. In the spirit of fostering greater awareness of our Caribbean neighbours, which could lead to opportunities for collaboration and strategic partnerships, Betty Fausta, of Guadeloupetech, provides some preliminary insight into Guadeloupe and its ICT/tech space.

 

This episode is also available in Apple iTunes and on Stitcher!

Although the Caribbean region comprises hundreds of islands and cays, and several sovereign states, people who reside outside the region tend to think of it as a uniform and cohesive space. That is not the case. Even for those of us based in the Caribbean, some of our sister/neighbouring countries can seem to be light years away. We know little about their societies, culture, or what the ICT/tech environment is like.

In this interview, we will begin the process of discovering what some of our sister countries are like – especially the non-English speaking ones. We will start with Guadeloupe.

Located between Dominica and Montserrat in the Eastern Caribbean, Guadeloupe is an overseas region of France. With a population of over 400,000, it is also the most populous of the three French overseas regions in the Caribbean – the other two being Martinique and Guyane (French Guyana).

For the business-minded among us in the English-speaking Caribbean, we tend to look outside of the region for investment, or when exploring new markets. However, there might be opportunities in our own backyard, such as Guadeloupe, that are not being considered – especially when there are only two English-speaking Caribbean countries (Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago) that have populations of over 500,000.

So, although Guadeloupe is not considered part of the Schengen region, there are likely to be a broad range of opportunities that can be leveraged. However, those efforts require some curiosity and a sense of adventure!

Betty Fausta

Our guest for this episode, who will be sharing some insight into the technology and entrepreneurial space in Guadeloupe, is Betty Fausta, the President of Guadeloupetech, an association that focuses on promoting the digital economy in Guadeloupe. Betty is also the Chief Executive Officer of IPEOS (IPEOS I-Solutions), a software development and consulting company, based in Guadeloupe, that serves in the French Caribbean, and she is an experienced Consultant, in areas such as e-governance and the management of the information systems.

In our interview with Betty, some of the areas and questions we covered included the following:

  1. A quick overview of Guadeloupe, e.g. with respect to population, size, economy, etc.
  2. How developed is telecommunications and ICT in Guadeloupe?
  3. Is telecommunications and ICT services affordable in Guadeloupe? How is the quality of broadband service?
  4. What is Betty’s entrepreneurial/tech journey?
  5. What is it like being an entrepreneur in Guadeloupe? What does Betty think about the country’s start-up environment/ start-up culture?
  6. What is GuadeloupeTech? What does it do?
  7. What is it like being a female business owner, a woman in technology, in the Guadeloupe?
  8. What does Betty believe are the strengths of the ICT/tech space in Guadeloupe?
  9. To what degree is tech innovation nurtured in the Guadeloupean education system?
  10. What does Betty hope the Guadeloupean ICT/tech space will look like in the next three years?

 

We would love to hear your thoughts!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

 

Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits:  ISS Expedition (Wikimedia Commons);  B Fausta

Music credit:  Ray Holman