“Miami is the place to be. And it’s going to shift the Caribbean Tech ecosystem in a HUGE way.” That’s what David Mullings, Ceo of BlueMahoeCapital believes. He’s Jamaican, been living in the States for over 10 years, and founded this investment firm focus on the Caribbean.
He added that “Miami is undoubtedly the finance capital of Latin America and the Caribbean. It is also a melting pot of the many cultures from the region but infused with American-style big thinking and entrepreneurship. More capital is going to flow from Miami into the Caribbean as more Venture Capital and Private Equity firms continue to relocate (from San Francisco and New York ) then get exposed to the opportunities and markets they have been overlooking. “
There has been a lot of column inches and pixels given to this Covid-inspired flight of tech talent and capital to Miami these last few weeks especially. Silicon Valley techies and Wall Street titans have bought homes and moved businesses there in the pandemic, hyped up and on by an eager mayor.
The New York Times in an article last weekend said “ America’s business leaders, freed from the office, looked around the country, taking note of its coronavirus lockdowns, taxes and rabble-rousers. And many said as if in unison: Miami! many have spread across the country to locations with sun, lower taxes and — preferably — more relaxed lockdowns. Some chose Austin, Texas. Others gravitated to Boulder, Colo. But perhaps the most vocal faction came to Miami.”
Entrepreneurs and investors behind brands like PayPal, Cameo, Shutterstock and Bustle Group, and Tesla have beaten a trail there.
But, even as the hype machine around the move to Miami roars louder, some of the long-time tech ecosystem’s builders, entrepreneurs, and investors push back with “We. Are. Not. New. ”That’s what Brian Bracken said. He is a Black Tech entrepreneur, turned venture capitalist who is Ceo of LightCapital and who founded Kairos, a face recognition software.
On Twitter, he shared that “before the current mayor” and before any new hyped declarations of Miami being “next hot ecosystem”, they were there and killing it a long time. He’s right. You can also ask and look to two other pioneering Miami Tech Ecosystem builders like ANgela Benton and Felecia Hatcher. Angela founded the 1st minority accelerator in the States, called NewME (Acquired). She is now Ceo of Streamlytics. She’s been there in Miami, left, and recently returned also.
Google Felecia Hatcher too, is co-founder of Center for Black Innovation, which is an expansion and rebrand of their pioneering Black Tech Week and Code Fever Initiatives started in 2012.
That said, as the Miami Tech Ecosystem gets attention, there are some Caribbean Tech entrepreneurs who are looking on with expectant and excited eyes. But let’s be clear…that the tech scene is heavily Latino with a strong and increasing dash of Blackness. And so VCs and PE firms love the LATAM markets because they are bigger and big markets mean big returns and that’s their priority.
Mullings agrees.
“Yes LatAm will get the lion’s share because it offers far bigger markets with cheaper travel in-between countries, over-land routes for physical product movement, and far better developed financial systems. The Caribbean can distinguish itself by focusing on it strengths, including language, cultural similarities to African markets, and political stability (LatAm has major political risk). The Caribbean has to first admit that it’s a tiny market and then focus on regional integration like the EU, not lip service as we have.”
He went on to explain “Even with the Caribbean Diaspora the “Caribbean” market is still less than half the size of Brazil’s population. That’s tiny. It shows in how many global brands have come out of the region, almost none on the scale of Nestle from Switzerland for example. Economies of scale matter to smart business people. Market size is a key factor and size is a competitive advantage for companies. Compare Safaricom and Claro to Digicel.”
That business argument is super clear, especially when you’re talking to investors who want a return on their money, and rightly so.
For me though, the next question in my head is, should we in Caribbean Tech, over here in SiliconCaribe really care about what’s going on in Miami Tech?
Some of us have attended Black Tech Week over the years. I keynoted there in 2015 to talk about the Jamaican/Caribbean Tech scene when I did a presentation and fireside chat around the theme of Sun,Sea, and Startups.A couple of startups out of Trinidad, Jamaica has been invested in by investors based there.
Added to that the Caribbean has a deep and long cultural and commercial connection to Miami- as we have a large Diaspora population in Florida and Jamaicans fondly call it Kingston 21 as we often travel there to shop, party, and visit relatives. The Trini and Bahamians do that too.
Further, there was a Twitter discussion last week and some Caribbean tech entrepreneurs were asking chatting about what the amplification of Miami Tech right now may mean terms of potentially more collaborations and capital coming to the Caribbean? Lemme play devil’s advocate. Do we need them? Are we open to doing business with them? Can we do that from a grounded in clarity and knowledge of our strengths? How should Caribbean Tech seek to connect and do business with Miami Tech? Do we focus on growing the grass in our own back yard first by say, hmmm… I don’t know have Caribbean governments invest more in Research & Development and less on training people for dead-end BPO jobs?
I’m going to leave it there. Let’s keep talking about this.
