Our technology must be rooted in Caribbean identity.
That’s the advice from one of the region’s leading telecommunications and entertainment providers, the CEO of Liberty Caribbean, Inge Smidts, as she spoke to tech entrepreneurs gathered for CANTO Connect’s 42nd Annual General Meeting on Monday.
“Connectivity without culture is an exportable commodity. It can be bought, moved, and replicated anywhere. But what I’ve learned over the last eight years being part of Liberty Caribbean and this region is that connectivity, when you marry it with identity, it creates something different. It creates IDs, services, and stories that the world wants to buy and consume because they are unmistakably Caribbean.”
She highlighted several examples of FinTech platforms and how they can be applied.
“Think of FinTech platforms that understand the remittance corridors and informal commerce of our islands. Think of creative tech that helps soca artistes license, assemble, and produce in London. We witnessed it last night. Think of agri-tech that respects small farms and microclimates rather than forcing them into a one-size-fits-all model of all the big countries.”