ICTP 080: Discovering Martinique, with Matthew Cowen of dgtlfutures

The French Overseas Territory of Martinique is a thriving island in the Eastern Caribbean, and is the focus of this instalment of our ‘Know Your Neighbours’ series. Matthew Cowen of dgtalfutures has been based in Martinique for several years, and so discusses the ICT and tech landscape, tech trends, along with matters related to doing business there and the opportunities available to entrepreneurs.

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

In the Caribbean, and the wider Americas, Martinique has been known for Mount Pelée, the currently dormant volcano, which had been quite active in the first half of the 20th century. However, to many, and as a French-speaking country in the Caribbean region, Martinique seems to be an enigma; and so it will be the focus of this instalment of our ‘Know Your Neighbours’ series.

Located between Dominica and Saint Lucia in the Eastern Caribbean, Martinique is an Overseas Territory of France. It covers approximately 1,128 square kilometres (436 square miles) and has an estimated population of 380,000 people. In addition to French, Creole is also spoken (which is somewhat similar to that spoken in Saint Lucia and Dominica), but English tends to be limited. As a result, and with its strong links to France, historically, Martinique tended to be more European-focussed. However, similar to Guadeloupe, and consistent with our chat with Betty Fausta earlier this year, that focus appears to be changing, thanks to the relationship that is being forged between Martinique and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), of which it is an Associate Member.

Matthew Cowen

To give us some insight into Martinique and its ICT and technology landscape, we welcome, once again, Matthew Cowen, who was a guest on our May 2019 Community Chat. Matthew is the Founder of dgtlfutures.com, which seeks to help small businesses across the Caribbean to develop and implement their Digital Transformation strategies, and the author of The Future is Digital newsletter, which is an excellent read.

Originally from the United Kingdom, Matthew has been living in Martinique for about 15 years. He is thus excellently placed to appreciate the lens through which foreigners might view the country, whilst also having first-hand experience of living, working and starting a tech business there. Hence some of the questions we posed to Matthew included the following:

Can we have a quick overview of Martinique?
With regard to telecommunications and ICT, how developed is it in Martinique? How robust is its infrastructure? How accessible are its telecommunications and ICT services?
Is telecommunications and ICT services affordable in Martinique? How is the quality of broadband service?
What might be some of the idiosyncrasies of Martinique, and doing business in Martinique, that a foreigner might need to grapple with?
What is it like being an entrepreneur in Martinique? What does Matthew think about the country’s start-up environment/ start-up culture?
As the Founder of dgtlfutures, what is Matthew’s story and entrepreneurial journey?
What are some of the tech-related or tech business related-trends Matthew is seeing in the Martinique, or wider French Caribbean business community?
What does Matthew believe are the strengths of the ICT/tech space in Martinique?
What are some of the challenges Martinique might have to address to improve ICT there?
If someone outside Martinique wants to do business in Martinique, what are key steps that Matthew would recommend?