1. 2 years ago 

   eTeck impressed me with their symposium on Developing Financing Solutions for the ICT Clusters this past Wednesday. Honestly, I have so far stayed away from the bureaucracy of government enterprises because they just cannot seem to get things done.  Thanks to great people such as Angela Hordatt of eTeck, not only did such an enterprise manage to organise and get together in one event (for the first time) multiple key stakeholders in both the finance and ICT sectors, including newer entrepreneurs such as myself, and leading capital management experts from the USA such as Layne Ainsworth of Whalen Ainsworth Capital Management, but many hiccups in the scheduling and coordination were often managed gracefully, with these complications being oblivious to the eyes of many of us, myself included.

   Despite what most prominent media houses alluded to in what they reported of the event, the feedback I got in networking with many of those present, including several of the speakers who presented, was very positive about the event. Presenters such as Ronald Hinds of Teleios who led the conversations with a very simple, but applicable Google analogy to Layne Ainsworth of Whalen Ainsworth Capital Management, whose insights into an emerging form of financing for early stage startups provided those present with a unique insight into how the US economic system works to profitably fund their “innovation society” structure.

   Ian Chinapoo’s presentation gave me tremendous insight into the thinking of a banker, as well as what to expect in terms of changes in bank lending systems to make it more favourable for entrepreneurs such as myself to gain capital through these traditional lending mediums. As a director of First Caribbean International Bank, his recommendation website for a Small Business Administration (SBA) Business Plan Outline is going to be a heavy favourite of mine over the coming weeks as I learn more about structuring proposals for acceptance by banks for financing. I would love to get a copy of his presentation to post publicly, or at least use for reference in explaining banking systems to fellow budding entrepreneurs in the ICT sector.

   Below I’ve included my key takeaways (and several anecdotes) from the various speakers at this very informative, and well put together event. I would have tweeted them live, but the Trinidad Hilton charges exorbitantly for wireless Internet access and I am still a very underfunded entrepreneur myself. Despite this, my kudos to the organisers at eTeck, job well done!

   Nigel Chinapoo

   - “Technology has a time and a place” - this is in response to his use of a Blackberry instead of paper to read his prepared text, but failure to do so because of feedback generated by his mobile phone into the microphone system.

   My potential tweets: Very good breaking of the ice with what seemed before to be a very poised audience Nigel, intentional or not!!

   Angela Hordatt

   - “ICT already contributes 3% of GDP.”

   My potential tweets: The fact that it is percentage, and not part of a percent says alot to me. We’re not starting from zero in Trinidad, which means we can gain momentum more easily to build this ICT sector in Trinidad into a greater percentage contributor to economic growth locally

   Ronald Hinds

   My potential tweets:

   - I liked that he stood away from the podium, he connected with me personally because of this not-so-formal speaking position.

   - He was also gracious enough to shorten his presentation to facilitate the minister, but at the same time expert enough at presenting to not have his words lose value to the audience.

   - I wish I could get a copy of his ‘Some Observations’ slide, which I think was the 80% value of this presentation for me.

   - The way he made a jab at the banks and I could instantly identify the bankers in the community by their nervous responsive laughter was just priceless in my books.

   Minister Browne

   - ICT penetration of Trinidad globally is still low (we’re below 60th)

   - Tamana is in phase one of a multi-phase growth plan.

   My key takeaways

   - The plan is still moving

   - The government wants to encourage private sector financing solutions for the ICT cluster, which may have led to the comment he made which was so misquoted publicly it gets upset to even think about given how much value was actually there that day that was *not* reported

   Eleanor Brown

   - A very loud, and energetic speaker. I can’t help but like the amount of sense that comes out this lady’s lips during the presentation, despite being a little scared that she didn’t need a microphone to ensure everyone heard her

   - She touched briefly on different behaviours of West Indian communities outside of the Caribbean when it comes to levels of per-capita income. She asked the right question, Why does this happen?

   - She talks about the “creation of an enabling climate” in Caribbean economies which would allow others to create Venture Capital with focus on IT operation risk factors. An example of one of these risk factors is given as ‘not the right people running the company’

   - She also talks about the need for financiers to connect with ICT initiators. My friend Chike Farrell of CaribbeanIdeas.com asks the excellent question, ‘What are the short term solutions?’

   - The term ‘Exit Probability’ and raising this is mentioned. I later Googled this and found much information on business exit strategies, something I hadn’t seriously considered to this point, but which I realise now I must for any serious endeavour to get funded.

   Various folks from NorthCore Technologies and SouthCore Technologies

   -GEAsset.com looked very interesting

   - The ideas of ‘Working Capital Engine’ and working with the “right” vendor strike some very real truth bells with me

   - SouthCore Technologies is looking for business partners in the Caribbean!

   Ian Chinapoo

   -A talk too packed with info to be part of another post. I really hope I can get a copy of his presentation from Angela so I can go over its many gems and jewels (and most definitely blog appropriately about them afterwards)

   -A major takeaway is his attempts to spearhead change in the banking systems away from collateral based lending, which isn’t condusive to funding early stage startups needed to make a vibrant ICT cluster. The move will be towards Viability Based Lending.

   -Another major takeaway was his slide on obstacles to getting funded in the current system from the business’s side, including lack of things such as a business plan, accounting info etc.

   Layne Ainsworth

   -Introduced traditional models of startup capital acquisition, but focused much on a very new form which his company, Whalen Ainsworth, is attempting to build a fund around.

   -The fact that this fund by its nature requires those seeking capitalisation from it to maintain a level of accountability on outstanding projects during delivery is very, very interesting. It reduces risk to the investor, plus makes the business itself a more delivery focused organisation, with real metrics on delivery (since they’re a direct requirement for continuing to receive funding). I’d love to learn more about this.

   Dr. Neil Parsan

   - Healthnett is looking to lead initiatives to unify the costing structures of all private medical institutions in Trinidad.

2. 2 years ago 
   

   My neices are such angels. You can just thank technology for this sibling bonding event, it reminds me of myself and my older brother when we had our first computer, a Commodore 64, and we sat together huddled around that monster for hours on end.

    
3. 2 years ago 
   

   Mike talks as Claire draws using Paint on our interactive new whiteboard in #ttcs #trinidad event for software freedom day. The wiimote is placed on the chair to the left, allowing the infra red signals from the lightpen being used to be picked up. Using Bluetooth and some free software the wiimote communicates these signals to the pc and thus allows the projected image to become an interactive whiteboard.

    
4. 2 years ago 
   

   Anil and Dev Anand prepare for the Wii hack presentation. Part of software freedom day activities in #trinidad and organised by the #ttcs

    
5. Notes: 1 / 2 years ago 
   

   Richard Jobity talks about free software in education and for kids at #ttcs event in #trinidad

    
6. 2 years ago 
   

   Dev Teelucksingh of #ttcs demos some of the cool, free software on the TTCS OSSWin cd. Get your free copy today at CIC on Pembroke Street, Port of Spain and come here the folks talk about free software that might make your computer experience more enjoyable!

    
7. 2 years ago 
   

   At the #ttcs software freedom day activity in my old school of St. Mary’s College

    
8. 2 years ago 
   Pomodoro Technique - A Tortoise and the Hare analogy

   The analogy is quite fitting, and may be true for many cases, however the analogy breaks down when one thinks of a development as a sprint, not a marathon, which a hare definitely has the advantage over the tortoise since there is no mid-way mark of time to ‘pause and become idle’ as may often be the case with short-term fixed time/fixed price projects.

   Extending this analogy’s logic, if one knew how to turn this sprint perspective into a marathon…that I think would be the challenge worth solving if I were to use the pomodoro technique more in my daily life. :)

9. 2 years ago 
   

   My temporary workspace. My original office space at home was relegated to storage space after I left home last year, will take some time before it is cleared and I can reclaim it

    
10. 2 years ago 
    

    Live scratch dj session at movietowne, sounding very cool!

     

My blog on technology, business, Trinidad and other topics I find interesting

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