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Last week, I made the case that the next wave of global startups can – and should – have Caribbean roots. Not in spite of our geography, our informal networks, and our cultural nuances, but because of them. These aren’t liabilities to overcome. They’re our edge. They shape how we build relationships, how we move information, how we spot opportunities early, and how we create products that resonate far beyond our borders.
But before we pop the champagne on Caribbean-built global startups, we need to have an honest conversation. Because there’s a dangerous fantasy running through our ecosystem that’s quietly doing more damage than any geographic disadvantage ever could.
This week, let’s talk about our collective obsession with unicorns.
Not the cute, glittery kind. The venture-backed, billion-dollar valuation kind that has founders popping champagne on TechCrunch while their balance sheets quietly scream for help.
Recently, Chude Jideonwo dropped a truth bomb on Instagram that Africa might be copying the wrong playbook- and honestly, the Caribbean should feel very seen.
Because if we’re being real, we’ve been flirting with the same fantasy, and thankfully, some of that hype is dying, but not fast enough if you ask me.
The Unicorn Delusion (Imported, Not Indigenous)
The model is familiar:
Grow fast.
Burn cash.
Dominate market share.
Worry about profit… eventually.
It’s the gospel of Silicon Valley, a place with:
- Deep capital markets
- Pension funds that feed venture capital
- Massive, relatively unified consumer bases
- Infrastructure that (mostly) works
In other words, conditions we simply do not have.
Yet here we are in Kingston, Lagos, Port of Spain- we’re still talking about “the need” to develop VC Funds; we’re celebrating celebrating $10M, $50M, $300M raises we read on blogs or media sites like they’re Olympic gold medals….as if valuation is revenue and funding is profit.”
Meanwhile:
- The company isn’t profitable
- The customers are price-sensitive
- The infrastructure is shaky
- And the exit… is likely foreign
Translation? We clap when capital comes in, even if all the value is eventually shipped right back out. That’s not ecosystem building. That’s rent collection.
Unicorns Aren’t Heroes. They’re Signals.
Here’s the uncomfortable part.
Unicorns are not inherently bad. But they are often a symptom of a system designed to concentrate wealth, not distribute it.
A handful of founders and investors get very rich.
Meanwhile, the broader economy? Still struggling with basics.
In regions where people are still figuring out:
- healthcare infrastructure that’s consistent, digitized, data-driven, and serving people consistently
- education that maps to national ambitions and global economic developments
- logistics that actually work to connect our Region that facilitates deeper trade.
…a billion-dollar valuation starts to feel less like progress and more like performance.
So What Do We Actually Need?
We need tens of thousands of profitable mid-sized companies.
Not sexy. Not headline-grabbing. But deeply transformative:
- – Clinics that serve communities and turn a profit
- – Logistics companies that actually move goods across islands
- – Media platforms that own their audiences (and their revenue)
- -Creator studios that export Caribbean culture and keep the IP
Businesses that:
- -Employ 10, 20, 50, 200 people
- -Pay taxes
- -Stay rooted
- =Circulate money locally, regionally.
No billion-dollar valuation required.
Just discipline. Longevity. Ownership. Transformative wealth.
The Caribbean Context: Small Markets, Big Ego
Let’s bring it home.
The Caribbean has:
- -Different currencies.
-Different regulations.
-Different cultures across islands just miles apart.
And we’ve established in my previous article that this perceived fragmentation is underpinned by cultural nuances, informal yet powerful networks.
So when we copy-paste the Silicon Valley model, we end up with:
- Overfunded trendy ideas.
- Founders optimising for pitch decks instead of profit
- Ecosystems celebrating more reports and announcements instead of sustainable businesses
And worst of all?
We start to believe that if it’s not venture-backed, it’s not valuable.
That’s the real damage. The mindset shift.
Make Boring Sexy Again
Here’s the reframe, and it might be the most important one.
What if the new aspiration isn’t:
“Raise a big round.”
…but instead:
“Build a business that prints cash, employs people, and lasts 20 years.”
What if:
- Profitability is prestige
- Stability is status
- Ownership is the flex
Because let’s be honest – a logistics company quietly making US$2M/year in profit across Jamaica, Trinidad, and Barbados is doing more for regional development than a flashy startup chasing traditional VC money and burning US$5M/year chasing scale.
But we don’t celebrate those stories enough.
Maybe we should.
The Real Builders
The future of the Caribbean (and Africa) won’t be built by unicorn chasers.
It will be built by:
- stubborn founders
- disciplined operators
- people who understand their markets and industries deeply
- and refuse to outsource their future to foreign capital cycles
People building:
- “small” and medium-sized businesses that are actually big in impact
- “boring” companies that are actually engines of wealth.
But these “Boring” Companies…Are Also the Disruptors
Here’s where it gets interesting and where we’ve been getting it wrong.
These so-called “boring” businesses?
They are actually the most primed for disruption-and to do the disrupting.
Because across the Caribbean, many industries are sitting on:
- -outdated systems
- -siloed data
- -manual processes
- -under-leveraged customer bases
In other words: low-hanging innovation fruit.
So maybe the next wave of Caribbean winners won’t necessarily be brand-new startups chasing unicorn status.
They’ll be:
- -the logistics company that layers AI on top of fragmented regional shipping
- -the clinic that turns patient data into predictive, preventative care
- -the media company that owns its audience, data, and monetises across platforms
- -the agriculture business that uses data, not guesswork, to drive yield and exports
Not billion-dollar ideas.
Better-run businesses using smarter tools.
Maybe that’s the disruption.
Final Thought: Who Are We Building For?
This is the question underneath everything.
Are we building companies:
- -to impress investors?
- -or to serve our economies?
Because those are not always the same thing.
The unicorn dream isn’t wrong.
It’s just…incomplete and can’t be the single policy position or single Caribbean success story.
And maybe-just maybe-the Caribbean’s real opportunity isn’t to produce the next billion-dollar startup…
…but to build thousands of million-dollar businesses that:
- -leverage AI and automation intelligently
- -unlock and connect fragmented data
- -modernise legacy industries
- and quietly, consistently outcompete everyone still chasing hype.
Because the real disruption in this region?
Won’t come from who raises the most money.
It will come from those who run the smartest, most profitable, most deeply embedded businesses in the market that drive the modern Caribbean economy.
So yeah, unicorns may make headlines.
But disciplined, tech-enabled, AI-forward mid-sized companies?
They have the power to remake economies.
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