I fell in love with technology before I ever graduated high school. By the time I finished my BSc in Computer Science at UWI Cave Hill, my mind was already on fire with what the internet could do. In 2011, three years after Steve Jobs walked on stage and changed the world with the iOS App Store, I launched M. John I.T. Solutions. I was ready. St. Vincent was not.
Trying to sell a Vincentian business on the idea of a website back then was like pulling teeth, slow, painful, and met with resistance at every turn. I knocked on doors. I made pitches. I was told again and again that it wasn’t necessary, that people would just walk in, that the internet was for somewhere else. So, I pivoted. I moved into real estate, and I buried that passion for a decade.
But before I walked away, I proved something to myself. I built an SDA Hymnal app, a simple, good idea executed well. Being from a small island did not matter. The App Store does not ask where you are from. It only asks whether your idea is useful. That app has been downloaded over 100,000 times worldwide. One hundred thousand people found an app built by someone from St. Vincent. Geography is not destiny.
That number has sat with me for years, quietly making the argument I have never stopped believing that a good idea, built with care and put in front of the world, will find its people.
Last year, something shifted. The rise of AI-assisted coding turned what once required a full development team into something a single determined builder could execute. I dived back in, and in the past twelve months alone, I have been building web and mobile applications simultaneously. I will highlight four of the apps I am currently building. A complete rebuild of the CaribiDreams platform, where customers can get quotations on loans, insurance, book short-term rentals, a KYC platform, full CRM, mailing list, digital signature, and so much more. An inventory and accounting system that is in beta (dreamstockpro.com). This app was built with two main goals: to help small businesses manage the relationship between their raw materials and final products, and to solve the financial record-keeping problem most small businesses face. Third, an anonymous chat application. Funny story: my Apple Watch alerted me to a possible trend towards high blood pressure. I took a screenshot and sent it to my wife. After which, there were the most ads for erectile dysfunction I have ever seen. It’s time we move off these large companies’ social media networks; our data is not private. An AI-powered Bible quiz game, Divine Dueling (divinedueling.com, it’s on the iOS app store, and it’s in beta for Android). I have been working on more than 8 projects. One year. One developer. This is what today’s tools make possible.
Let that sink in. A trillion-dollar mobile app economy bloomed right in our lifetime. The cost of entry was less than a month’s utility bill — $99 US for an Apple developer account, $25 for Google Play. All it required was an idea, a laptop, and the courage to press the upload button. We did not press it. St. Vincent missed the website era. We missed the mobile era. And now, the AI revolution is upon us, and I am watching us make the same mistake in real time.
To the corporations of St. Vincent, I want to say this with all the respect I can muster: we do not need more giveaways. We need venture capitalism. We have seen our largest companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to compete on who can give away the most outlandish prizes: cars, land, and, believe it or not, houses will be next. I understand the goodwill. I appreciate the intention. But imagine if even a fraction of that capital had seeded a local tech startup, funded a young developer’s first six months of runway, or launched an accelerator for Caribbean-built software products.
The wealth is here. The will needs to follow. We need to sit in the same room, developers at home and in the diaspora, business leaders, financial institutions, government stakeholders, and have an honest conversation about what a Vincentian technology ecosystem actually requires to survive and grow. Business development support. Patient capital. Mentorship networks. A culture that celebrates the builder, not just the buyer.
“This is our time. Not tomorrow, not when conditions are perfect, now. Every day we wait, the gap widens. We have the talent. We have the hunger. What we need is the audacity to believe that the next great Caribbean tech company will be built right here, in these islands, by one of us. So, rise. Build. Ship. The world is not going to discover St. Vincent; St. Vincent must discover itself.”
To every Vincentian developer reading this, whether you are at home grinding or in the diaspora building someone else’s vision, I am calling you back. Not just to code, but to code for us. Build the tourism platform SVG needs. Build the logistics tool that every island merchant is crying for. Build the fintech layer our credit unions cannot afford to staff. Build the Agri-tech app that helps our farmers get fair prices. The problems are sitting right in front of us. The tools have never been more powerful or more accessible. The excuses have never been thinner.
One hundred thousand people downloaded an app built by a Vincentian. Imagine what we could do if we were building together, with purpose, with capital behind us, and with the full power of AI in our hands. This is not a moment to observe. This is a moment to move. The AI revolution is the last bus on this route, and it is pulling away from the curb right now. I, for one, am on it. Come find a seat.
If you are a developer, investor, business owner, or simply someone who believes SVG deserves a seat at the tech table, reach out. Let’s form the group, call the meeting, and start the long-overdue conversation.
Email: [email protected] · WhatsApp: +1 (784) 492-6128