{"id":150649,"date":"2019-11-06T06:15:15","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T11:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ict-pulse.com\/?p=150649"},"modified":"2019-11-06T06:27:58","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T11:27:58","slug":"ictp-080-discovering-martinique-matthew-cowen-dgtlfutures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2019\/11\/ictp-080-discovering-martinique-matthew-cowen-dgtlfutures\/","title":{"rendered":"ICTP 080:  Discovering Martinique, with Matthew Cowen of dgtlfutures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>The French Overseas Territory of Martinique is a thriving island in the Eastern Caribbean, and is the focus of this instalment of our \u2018Know Your Neighbours\u2019 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. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/708577393&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This episode is also available on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/ict-pulse-podcast\/id1373550291\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple iTunes<\/a> <\/strong>and on\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stitcher.com\/podcast\/ict-pulse-podcast?refid=stpr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stitcher<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the Caribbean, and the wider Americas, Martinique has been known for Mount Pel\u00e9e, 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 \u2018Know Your Neighbours\u2019 series.<\/p>\n<p>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 <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2EPQD1i\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">chat with Betty Fausta<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_148005\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-148005\" data-attachment-id=\"148005\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2019\/05\/ictp-054-community-chat-ride-hailing-services-complement-public-transport-system-caribbean-social-impact\/matthew-cowan-m-cowan\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Matthew-Cowan-M-Cowan.jpeg?fit=427%2C384&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"427,384\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Matthew Cowen (M Cowen)\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Matthew Cowen&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Matthew-Cowan-M-Cowan.jpeg?fit=300%2C270&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Matthew-Cowan-M-Cowan.jpeg?fit=427%2C384&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"wp-image-148005\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fgd.dfv.mybluehost.me\/.website_c81a1e61\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Matthew-Cowan-M-Cowan.jpeg?resize=300%2C270&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Matthew-Cowan-M-Cowan.jpeg?w=427&amp;ssl=1 427w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Matthew-Cowan-M-Cowan.jpeg?resize=300%2C270&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-148005\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matthew Cowen<\/p><\/div>\n<p>To give us some insight into Martinique and its ICT and technology landscape, we welcome, once again, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/matthewcowen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matthew Cowen<\/a>, <\/strong>who was a guest on our May 2019 Community Chat. Matthew is the Founder of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thefutureisdigital.substack.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dgtlfutures.com<\/a><\/strong>, which seeks to help small businesses across the Caribbean to develop and implement their Digital Transformation strategies, and the author of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/thefutureisdigital.substack.com\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Future is Digital<\/a><\/em> newsletter, which is an excellent read.<\/p>\n<p>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:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Can we have a quick overview of Martinique?<\/li>\n<li>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?<\/li>\n<li>Is telecommunications and ICT services affordable in Martinique? How is the quality of broadband service?<\/li>\n<li>What might be some of the idiosyncrasies of Martinique, and doing business in Martinique, that a foreigner might need to grapple with?<\/li>\n<li>What is it like being an entrepreneur in Martinique? What does Matthew think about the country\u2019s start-up environment\/ start-up culture?<\/li>\n<li>As the Founder of dgtlfutures, what is Matthew\u2019s story and entrepreneurial journey?<\/li>\n<li>What are some of the tech-related or tech business related-trends Matthew is seeing in the Martinique, or wider French Caribbean business community?<\/li>\n<li>What does Matthew believe are the strengths of the ICT\/tech space in Martinique?<\/li>\n<li>What are some of the challenges Martinique might have to address to improve ICT there?<\/li>\n<li>If someone outside Martinique wants to do business in Martinique, what are key steps that Matthew would recommend?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We would love to hear your thoughts!<\/p>\n<p>Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ICTPulse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook<\/a><\/strong> or <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ict-pulse-consulting-limited\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/strong> page, or via Twitter, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ICTPulse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ICTPulse<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Select links<\/h3>\n<p>Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/matthewcowen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matthew Cowen<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thefutureisdigital.substack.com\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dgtlfutures<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/oecs.org\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)<\/a><\/li>\n<li>OECS press release, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/pressroom.oecs.org\/guadeloupe-formally-joins-the-organisation-of-eastern-caribbean-states\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Guadeloupe formally joins the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oecs.org\/en\/teeca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">TEECA<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.martinique.cci.fr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Martinique (CCIM)<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Press release of the Chamber of Commerce of Martinique, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/pressroom.oecs.org\/teeca-booster-lexport-des-entreprises-dans-la-caraibe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">TEECA \u2013 Booster l\u2019export des entreprises dans la Cara\u00efbe<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li>MartiniqueTech <a href=\"https:\/\/martiniquetech.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MartiniqueTech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.martiniquedigitale.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Martinique Digital<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Image credits:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wikimedia Commons<\/a>;\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/openclipart.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Open ClipArt<\/a>;\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wikipedia<\/a>;\u00a0 M Cowen\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Music credit:\u00a0 Ray Holman\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The French Overseas Territory of Martinique is a thriving island in the Eastern Caribbean, and is the focus of this instalment of our \u2018Know Your Neighbours\u2019 series. Matthew Cowen of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[355],"tags":[71,305,205,32,357,15],"class_list":["post-150649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","tag-businesses","tag-digital-economy","tag-entrepreneurship-2","tag-information-society","tag-interviews","tag-trends","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Martinique-Collage_2-Wikimedia-Commons-Open-ClipArt-1-e1572980519790.jpg?fit=1024%2C624&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2iE1G-DbP","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150649"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150666,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150649\/revisions\/150666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}