Got Diaspora Management ?

Jamaica/Amsterdamn – If IMMI-MERCE shows the business potential of millions of immigrants traveling back and forth between new and old worlds physically and by the Internet, then DIASPORA MANAGEMENT is all about governments putting their former citizens to good use.

And we’re not talking manipulative religious or political plots to use immigrants as evangelizing outposts to raise money, but establishing strong business and cultural communities that promote the best and brightest from the ‘motherland’ in their new countries of residence.

One nation exploring DIASPORA MANAGEMENT is India, whose government and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry recently invited 2000 extremely successful ‘non-resident’ Indians from 63 countries to New Delhi, to determine how the resources and achievements of Indians abroad might be used to uplift India. One juicy detail which hadn’t escaped the Indian government, is that Chinese non-residents have invested about $60 billion in China, while that number for India is only $1 billion from non-resident Indians. (Source: NYT).

In the Caribbean, The Jamaican government staged a Jamaican Diaspora conference June 2004 and launched a website, www.jamaicandiaspora.org soon after. Jamaica also hosted a Caribbean. Additionally, Caribbean governments has sent missions to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom to sell immigrants and their families on the benefits of investing back home.
A study was done and found that Caribbean Americans have an annual of US$40b dollars and send home on average US$1b in remittances.

The opportunities that DIASPORA MANAGEMENT has to offer are endless. Very few nations have an active, creative business strategy for getting the most from their non-resident citizens. Country-specific promotions abroad still tend to focus on setting up semi-diplomatic representations, not involving local communities of fellow country-men. Think foreign investment agencies or the Thai initiative to set up a government-sponsored chain of Thai restaurants in countries around the world to stimulate tourism to Thailand.

Whether it’s a celebration of national culture, foreign investments, encouraging HOME TROTTING or improving ties in trade and manufacturing: nations from Hungary to Jamaica, Trinidad and Haiti have a world to gain.