The Caribbean region ranks lowest in statistical performance compared to other regions, and studies have estimated the value of Open Data alone could contribute between 1% and 2% to the national GDP of Caribbean countries. The ‘Data Queen’ herself, Raquel Seville, is back to discuss her new start-up, Dataffluent, which is offering financial and investment insights on underserved markets, including those in the Caribbean region. During our conversation, she discusses, among other things, the problem Dataffluent is trying to solve; what it is like to be a woman in tech AND a woman in finance; the challenges of training AI models for us in developing countries; and the advice she would give to other young tech start-ups.

 

This episode is also available on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music!!

There seem to be two kinds of entrepreneurs in the world. First, there are those who are born entrepreneurs: who knew from a very young age that they would start their own businesses and avidly searched (and continue to search) for opportunities to do so. A good and recent example of this Is Jarryon Paul, the Founder of Sunshine, who we spoke with in January 2025.

The second group are those who became entrepreneurs based on circumstances. Often, they have identified a need or pain point people are having or a gap in the market that they had the skills, drive, or otherwise, the wherewithal to try to address. Our guest for this episode of the Podcast falls into this category and has created a solution for a problem either we may not have known we had or did not know could be solved!

Founded in March 2024, Dataffluent offers market insights tailored for investors and traders to empower decision-makers in the Caribbean region, with scope to expand into other developing countries and regions where financial markets, the associated data and infrastructure are still fledging. The company’s platform leverages cutting-edge AI models with sophisticated machine learning algorithms to unravel the complexities of stock market data and delivers deep market insights, providing clients with a comprehensive understanding of emerging market dynamics.

 

Introducing our guest

Raquel Seville

Raquel Seville is the Founder of Dataffluent, a research and data science company that specialises in providing financial insights for publicly traded entities in emerging markets. She is a distinguished Jamaican tech entrepreneur with nearly two decades of experience in the tech industry.

Raquel has held leadership roles in multinational companies and served as CEO for the Caribbean region at BI Brainz, training over 10,000 professionals in business intelligence. She is a published author of SAP OpenUI5 for Mobile BI and Analytics.

Raquel is also an advocate for women in technology, addressing challenges related to career and personal life balance. Passionate about leveraging data to drive economic growth in underserved markets, she balances her professional endeavours with personal interests in travel, photography, and culinary exploration, all while maintaining a strong connection to her Jamaican heritage.

 

Insight into our conversation

Data-driven market intelligence is still underdeveloped in the Caribbean region. Hence, being able to provide clients with accurate, real-time data not only facilitates improved decision-making and opens up a broad range of opportunities for innovation, but it is also essential in driving the region’s economic growth and increasing its economic resilience and independence.

Raquel has been passionate about data for decades and seeing start to come into her own through Dataffluent. BI Branz, her previous venture, was a consulting business, which tends to start with the company principals leveraging their relationships with the hope of developing a track record and securing referrals. Taking on stock markets to provide more comprehensive insights and intelligence is an audacious undertaking, and a problem that we may not have realised could be solved. So, what we seem to have here is the optimal situation: solving a significant real-world problem by someone who has the expertise and the experience to provide a solution.

Below are some of the questions posed to Raquel during our conversation.

  1. Tell us about Dataffluent. Why did you set it up and what services does it offer?
  2. What is the problem Dataffluent is trying to solve? And who are your customers?
  3. What is it like to pitch your business to others?
  4. What is it like to be a woman in tech and focusing on finance?
  5. What is it like being an entrepreneur in Jamaica? What do you think about the country’s start-up environment/ start-up culture?
  6. How would you describe yourself as a manager, as the leader of your organisation? What do you consider your greatest strength?
  7. What has been the biggest lesson you have had to learn in launching your startup and running your own business?
  8. Where would you like to see Dataffluent in the next 2 to 3 years?
  9. What is the best piece of advice you would give to a young tech start-up?

 

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.

Also, if you or a member of your network is interested in joining us for an episode, do get in touch.

Let’s make it happen!

 

Select links

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

 

 

Images credit: Images credit:  R Seville; snowing (Freepik); nattanan23 (Pixabay); rawpixel.com (Freepik)

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

Podcast editing support: Mayra Bonilla Lopez