In our February 2022 Community Chat, and with members of the Caribbean tech community, Bianca Welds and Naphtale Nunes, the panel discusses, Is Jamaica ready to be the innovation hub of the Caribbean, or are we missing some steps? And thereafter, the potential impact of Microsoft cloud retail product to the Caribbean region.

 

This episode is also available on SoundCloud, Apple iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, Amazon Music (NEW!) and on Stitcher!

Without a doubt and over the years, we have borne witness to the continued development of the Caribbean region’s tech space in a variety of ways. For example, we have been seeing the maturing of entrepreneurs and start-ups, along with more avenues to access capital; innovative products and services are being developed here in the region for a global market; and even in the fintech space, the region is leading the development of central bank digital currencies.

However, we must also highlight that to a considerable degree, the strides that the region is making in tech is in pockets. The critical mass or groundswell needed across our business community, or even our governments – to usher in digital economies and information societies – is still years away. There is still a reticence about levering technology, and about updating current systems to make our citizens, and our countries at large, more future-ready.

For our February 2022 Community Chat, the above sentiments are echoed in the conversation with this month’s guests.

 

Introducing our guests and the topics for discussion

Bianca Welds

Bianca Welds is a technology professional with a passion for innovation and entrepreneurial thinking and the heart of a creative. She has worked in the public and private sector in technology, business and the arts.

Bianca has brought a background working with entrepreneurs and start-ups in technology and the creative industries to her current focus on corporate innovation and digital transformation as Digital Innovation Manager for the VM Group. A creative thinker and passionate technology community leader, she has presented to local and international audiences on business model innovation, community building, and the intersections of the arts and technology.

The impetus for Bianca’s topic were recent remarks by the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, in which he stated that coding will be taught in all public schools, with the objective of making “Jamaica the Silicon Valley of the region”. Similar sentiments have been expressed by other Caribbean policymakers over the years, and your guess is as good as ours how actively that goal is being pursued, However, and for someone whose professional focus these days is innovation, Bianca wanted us to tackle it head-on via the question, Is Jamaica ready to be the innovation hub of the Caribbean, or are we missing some steps?

 

Naphtale Nunes

Naphtale Nunes is based in the Cayman Islands, and is a Senior Application Support Specialist, at Dart Enterprises, where he provides IT project management, implementation and support for Enterprise Resource Planning applications.  In addition to working full-time, he is pursuing a Master’s degree in Information Technology.

In his day job, Naphtale works with software applications to ensure that they not only satisfy the needs of his employer, but also integrate seamlessly into existing systems, and essentially, are transparent to the user. He thus is continually trying to keep abreast with new developments to ensure that the software applications that are supporting various systems and processes are work optimally and are upgraded as needed.

Cognisant that most organisations use Microsoft products, from small businesses to enterprise-sized operations, he was particularly excited when it was announced that Microsoft Cloud for Retail will soon be made available to the Caribbean region. Microsoft Cloud for Retail is a solution geared towards retailers, which should help them to digitally integrate key aspects of their business, from supply chain and logistics to the customer experience, thus helping them to be more efficient, effective, whilst also elevating the their entire performance. With that in mind, Naphtale’s wanted us to discuss, The potential impact of Microsoft Cloud Retail product to the Caribbean region.

 

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Let’s make it happen!

 

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

 

 

Image credits:  B Welds;  N Nunes; jarmoluk (Pixabay); stevepb (Pixabay)

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell

Podcast editing support: Mayra Bonilla Lopez