{"id":164020,"date":"2022-06-08T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ict-pulse.com\/?p=164020"},"modified":"2022-06-08T05:31:54","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T10:31:54","slug":"ictp-207-tech-entrepreneurship-in-the-french-caribbean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2022\/06\/ictp-207-tech-entrepreneurship-in-the-french-caribbean\/","title":{"rendered":"ICTP 207:  Tech entrepreneurship in the French Caribbean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>With S\u00e9bastien Celestine, of GuadeloupeTech, and Emmanuel Joseph, of LAKOUDIGITAL and MartiniqueTech, we discuss tech entrepreneurship in the French Caribbean. Some of the areas we examine are the tech entrepreneurship landscape in Guadeloupe and Martinique;&nbsp; the investor landscape; and what could be done to foster greater collaboration between tech entrepreneurs in the French and the English-speaking Caribbean.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/1283324350&#038;color=%23ff5500&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;show_comments=true&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=true\"><\/iframe><div style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-673719274\" title=\"ICT Pulse Podcast\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">ICT Pulse Podcast<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-673719274\/ictp-207-tech-entrepreneurship\" title=\"ICTP 207: Tech entrepreneurship in the French Caribbean\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">ICTP 207: Tech entrepreneurship in the French Caribbean<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This episode is also available on <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-673719274\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SoundCloud<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/ict-pulse-podcast\/id1373550291\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apple iTunes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/playmusic.app.goo.gl\/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&amp;isi=691797987&amp;ius=googleplaymusic&amp;apn=com.google.android.music&amp;link=https:\/\/play.google.com\/music\/m\/Icau5acn2xiyl5yjuh7orl2mt54?t%3DICT_Pulse_Podcast%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Play Music<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/3d0U4ZYX80e5lenYLdzyX4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spotify<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/3f727ec1-de7d-416f-8bdc-31d9a911a09e\/ict-pulse-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Amazon Music<\/a> and on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stitcher.com\/podcast\/ict-pulse-podcast?refid=stpr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stitcher<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being an entrepreneur can be a lonely experience. In the beginning, you tend to be the only one with the vision that you are trying to bring to life. Invariably, the journey is difficult and is usually filled with blood, sweat, tears, and moments of self-doubt. Hopefully, you are able to find a community of like minds who are having similar experiences, and with whom you can commiserate and get (or give) advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As an English publication, ICT Pulse has been trying to do its part to foster a community across the Caribbean region. However, the region is not made up solely of English-speaking countries: there are Spanish, French, and even Dutch-speaking countries as well, but we tend not to have a clue what is going on in these countries generally, and more so in their tech space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today we are continuing our examination of the Caribbean tech start-up ecosystem. However, in this episode, we will be exploring the tech entrepreneurship space in the French Caribbean, with a specific focus on Martinique and Guadeloupe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Introducing our guests<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"164029\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2022\/06\/ictp-207-tech-entrepreneurship-in-the-french-caribbean\/s-celestine-and-e-joseph\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/S-Celestine-and-E-Joseph.jpg?fit=1024%2C507&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1024,507\" 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=\"S Celestine and E Joseph\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/S-Celestine-and-E-Joseph.jpg?fit=300%2C149&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/S-Celestine-and-E-Joseph.jpg?fit=1024%2C507&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fgd.dfv.mybluehost.me\/.website_c81a1e61\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/S-Celestine-and-E-Joseph.jpg?resize=720%2C354&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-164029\" width=\"720\" height=\"354\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/linkedin.com\/in\/sebastiencelestine\/\">S\u00e9bastien Celestine<\/a><\/strong> is a social entrepreneur who has been serving his territory, Guadeloupe, for the past 15 years. Together with his associates, he has created an economic group originally focused on innovation and culture, which today brings together around 50 employees across several companies, including ALL MOL TECHNOLOGY (FrenchTech120) and Librairie G\u00e9n\u00e9rale by Caribbean Culture House. Currently, S\u00e9bastien is the President of GuadeloupeTech, an association of 200 tech companies in Guadeloupe that are working to develop innovation and entrepreneurship on the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/emmanuel-joseph-9823a282\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Emmanuel Joseph<\/a><\/strong>, who is based in Martinique, is the Founder and General Manager of LAKOUDIGITAL, a digital innovation hub, which includes serviced offices and a co-working space that provides an ecosystem to entrepreneurs engaged in digital pursuits. He is also a Co-Founder and Associate Partner at Eye Consulting, a management consulting firm that also advocates digital strategy adoption and integration. Emmanuel is the President of MartiniqueTech and the President of the digital commission at FEDOM (F\u00e9d\u00e9ration des Entreprises des Outre-mer), a national association of French companies in France\u2019s overseas departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Insight into our conversation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In this conversation with S\u00e9bastien and Emmanuel, there is a sense that the tech start-up space in Guadeloupe and Martinique is not much different from what you would find in almost any English-speaking Caribbean country. Similar to us, they have small markets and access to financing can be a challenge \u2013 though in the French territories some interesting options are available, which may not readily exist in their English-speaking counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Without a doubt, one of the biggest challenges to greater collaboration between tech entrepreneurs in the French and the English-speaking Caribbean is the language barrier. However, our commonalities far exceed our difference, and so there is considerable potential if we can find ways to bridge that gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Below are some of the questions that were posed to S\u00e9bastien and Emmanuel during the course of our conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" type=\"1\"><li>How would you describe the tech entrepreneurship landscape?<\/li><li>What is the biggest challenge that tech entrepreneurs are experiencing?<\/li><li>How is the investor landscape and the posture of investors?<\/li><li>Are there any programmes that are specifically targeted at entrepreneurs or tech start-ups?<\/li><li>How might there be greater collaboration between tech entrepreneurs in the French- and the English-speaking Caribbean?<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>We would love to hear from you!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ICTPulse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Facebook<\/strong><\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ict-pulse-consulting-limited\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>LinkedIn<\/strong><\/a> pages, or via Twitter, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ICTPulse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>@ICTPulse<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>Also, if you or a member of your network is interested in joining us for an episode, <a href=\"https:\/\/fgd.dfv.mybluehost.me\/.website_c81a1e61\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">do get in touch<\/a>. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>Let\u2019s make it happen!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"select-links\">Select links<\/h2>\n\n\n\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\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sebastiencelestine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">S\u00e9bastien Celestine<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/emmanuel-joseph-9823a282\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Emmanuel Joseph<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tickets.allmol.com\/fr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ALL MOL TECHNOLOGY<\/a><\/li><li>LAKOUDIGITAL \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/lakoudigital.com\/en\/home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Website<\/a> &nbsp;|&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/lakoudigital\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram<\/a>&nbsp; |&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/lakoudigital\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/martiniquetech.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MartiniqueTech<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.guadeloupetech.fr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GuadeloupeTech<\/a><\/li><li>ICT Pulse Podcast episode, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/fgd.dfv.mybluehost.me\/.website_c81a1e61\/2019\/11\/ictp-080-discovering-martinique-matthew-cowen-dgtlfutures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ICTP 080: Discovering Martinique, with Matthew Cowen of dgtlfutures<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>ICT Pulse Podcast episode,<em><a href=\"https:\/\/fgd.dfv.mybluehost.me\/.website_c81a1e61\/2019\/06\/ictp-058-exploring-guadeloupes-ict-tech-space-betty-fausta-guadeloupetech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> ICTP 058: Exploring Guadeloupe\u2019s ICT\/tech space, with Betty Fausta of Guadeloupetech<\/a><\/em> <\/li><li>ICT Pulse Podcast episode, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3yiD333\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ICTP 202: Tech entrepreneurship in the Caribbean region<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Images credit:&nbsp; S Celestine;&nbsp; E Joseph;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Martinique_relief_location_map.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Wikimedia Commons<\/a>;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Guadeloupe_Places_of_interest_map-fr.svg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Wikimedia Commons<\/a>;&nbsp;Cytonn Photography (<a href=\"http:\/\/pexels.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pexels<\/a>);&nbsp; fauxels (<a href=\"http:\/\/pexels.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pexels<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Che\u0301rie), by Andy Narrell<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Podcast editing support:  Mayra Bonilla Lopez<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With S\u00e9bastien Celestine, of GuadeloupeTech, and Emmanuel Joseph, of LAKOUDIGITAL and MartiniqueTech, we discuss tech entrepreneurship in the French Caribbean. Some of the areas we examine are the tech entrepreneurship landscape in Guadeloupe and Martinique;  the investor landscape; and what could be done to foster greater collaboration between tech entrepreneurs in the French and the English-speaking Caribbean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[355],"tags":[71,205,357,15],"class_list":["post-164020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","tag-businesses","tag-entrepreneurship-2","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\/2022\/06\/Featured-Image-%E2%80%93-Tech-Entrepreneurship-in-French-Caribbean.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2iE1G-GFu","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164020","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=164020"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164047,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164020\/revisions\/164047"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}