A group of talented executives are returninghome with the goal of turning their beloved Haiti into a regional tech hub by2030.
Key to their efforts is the Haiti Tech Summit, an annual event described as the “Davos of the Caribbean” that attracts entrepreneurs, investors, celebrities and creatives to discuss how technology and entrepreneurship can help solve humanity’s greatest challenges.
Founder Christine Souffrant Ntim said theconference grows each year, with 5,000 people now attending, including representativesof all levels of government and global executives such as Ben Horowitz and JackDorsey. The goal is to have a 60-40 ratio of international to local attendees.
A graduate of Dartmouth College, Ms. Ntim has devoted much of her career to fostering entrepreneurship in emerging areas of the globe. She has served as a mentor for the Clinton Global Initiative, where she advised female entrepreneurs, and Start-Up Chile, an incubator started by the Chilean government. Ms. Ntim is the chair of Vendedy, an initiative centralizing the world’s 200,000 street markets, a $10 trillion industry, in one place. In addition to the Haiti Tech Summit she organizes conferences focusing on Middle Eastern and African entrepreneurship, space technology and blockchain technology.
“We focus on the area’s challenges and how technology can solve them,” Ms. Ntim said.
“They don’t just need money, they need mentorsand investment, plus the government needs to make it easy to start a business,”he said. “Universities, management resources, media, culture building, there iswhole spectrum of things needing to work together.”
Key is to building leaders up from the earliestpossible stages, Mr. Boucicault added. He is one of many people who have beenactive in the country for the past decade connecting youth at schools,community clubs and associations with business resources and top Haitianbusinesspeople living abroad.
His efforts now include Banj, which hosts dozensof events every month. Its second annual accelerator recently accepted sixstartups whose executives gain access to mentors from companies includingGoogle and Facebook and training in cloud technology. Those companies work inareas including healthcare and music streaming.
Stable infrastructure would be an absolute giftfor Haiti, Mr. Boucicault said. While parts of the world are preparing for 5Gnetworks, parts of Haiti await the advent of 4G. Internet penetration,especially outside of the main cities, is wanting. Regular electricity in manyareas is but a hopeful dream.
In addition to solidifying basic infrastructure,the Haitian government can develop an innovation fund which would allow entrepreneursto test new solutions. That produces data which recruits investors and helpsdevelop prototypes.
And that can hopefully spawn local solutions to Haiti’s most pressing problems, Mr. Boucicault said. Fintech companies can create digital options so Haitians don’t put themselves at risk by carrying cash. Others can create solutions which confirm the identities of the many people who are undocumented. Transportation, agriculture and healthcare woes could also be addressed.
Add these efforts together and Haiti’s businessleaders will have plenty of progress to update their contacts on at 2020’sHaiti Tech Summit, Ms. Ntim concluded.
“We’re struggling every year to make thishappen, but we know we believe in this,” she said.
