BUILDING A 21ST CENTURY SAINT LUCIA BY TURNING PROBLEMS INTO OPPORTUNITIES

[dropcap]L[/dropcap]ast week an American television show host claimed our lives currently resembled the technologically advanced, animated world of The Jetsons. At the time he was lauding the afro-futuristic Wakanda—the fictitious setting of Marvel’s latest blockbuster “Black Panther”—fiddling with the idea that soon our living spaces could mimic those of Wakandans. Although his initial Jetsons analogy seemed a bit of a stretch, other inventions like self-driving cars and interactive gadgets do render us pretty close.

In the movie, Wakanda features a spellbinding fusion of old African traditions and futuristic technology to protect its borders, amongst a long list of other benefits. The movie has since revived conversations on the importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programmes in marginalized communities in the United States. On Monday February 26 the Walt Disney Company even donated US$1 million from the film’s proceeds to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America STEM programmes. Disney Executive Robert A. Iger was quoted as saying, “It’s fitting that we show our appreciation by helping advance STEM programmes for youth, especially in underserved areas of the country, to give them the knowledge and tools to build the future they want.”

A generous gesture but not one exceeding the borders of the United States. So what then must other, underdeveloped countries do if they too want to secure a desirable future?

In a place like Saint Lucia, for instance, where young people may have ground-breaking ideas and immense potential for technological prowess, we must think of our own ways to make tools and knowledge accessible.

TeleCarib Labs Inc. is a growing company which encourages innovation and entrepreneurialism amongst younger demographics in Saint Lucia through the provision of training and business acceleration services. This week, the company launched its first initiative: a one-week Tech-Entrepreneurship Bootcamp at the National ICT centre in Castries. The programme’s aim was to equip potential, young entrepreneurs from the Castries South East constituency, with tech tools and business tips to help bring start-up ideas to fruition—an act that organisers are planning to extend to other communities.

During an interview with the STAR, event organiser and TeleCarib Labs Inc Director Christian Wayne explained, “What our workshop is designed to do is really expose youth segments of Saint Lucia to the first principles of entrepreneurship, specifically about tech entrepreneurship in areas like web services and applications. They’re receiving an introduction into that field and hopefully, after this week, they’ll have the first principles and skillsets to be able to start their own businesses.”

The bootcamp, which came to be through a collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce and the Castries Constituency Development Programme, attracted a number of youngsters between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two, a number of them recent secondary school and Sir Arthur Lewis Community College graduates and unemployed. Wayne revealed: “There is the element of unemployment, of course, that the students are experiencing and really, what this workshop is designed to do, is equip them with the first principles around starting their own businesses and being changemakers and potential employers within their constituencies.”

During Tuesday’s morning session of the bootcamp, Minister of Economic Development, Housing, Urban Renewal, Transport and Civil Aviation, Hon. Guy Joseph– whose support, according to Wayne was instrumental for the actualization of the bootcamp– stopped by to offer words of encouragement to the participants. Joseph recalled his experience as a young boy growing up in Saint Lucia when, according to him, persons were lucky to have a collection of encyclopedias within their community as a source of information—a stark contrast to today, when most information can be accessed with an internet connection. Joseph declared, “You, as young people, you have great potential. Use your energies in the right direction and I am sure that the reward would be much better than you expect.”

Although the programme lasted one week—operating as a pilot project—its benefits are sure to be far-reaching. The camp featured a balance of theory and practical exercises designed to enable connections between individuals from the same community—an opportunity for participants to foster enduring partnerships. Efforts will be made to link suitable participants who have tech-business ideas to the resources they need throughout the wider Caribbean. Graduates who excel in the programme will also be considered for future projects like the upcoming Summer 2018 Hacker Hostel Saint Lucia programme.

One participant by the name of Solomon, who attended the workshops during the day, leaving afterward to clock in to his job as a security guard at nights, told the group at the start of the programme that it is his goal to open his own business in order to employ others like himself. When asked about his experience at the camp Solomon replied, “It has been very useful. Now I feel better equipped to start my own technology business. I’m also happy with the connections I made with others in my community.”

Having completed their first bootcamp on Friday, TeleCarib forges on to bridge longstanding gaps through community, entrepreneurial and innovation-based programmes such as these. While many may turn their backs to Saint Lucia, discouraged by its supposed lack of resources, others aim to contribute via resourcefulness. To live up to its motto and promise of “Building a 21st Century Saint Lucia”, TeleCarib is committed to being of the latter kind; this was made clear when the company’s director declared during his interview, “We need to stop thinking of problems as just mere problems but also opportunities.”