Imagine Caribbean

I will be launching an "Imagine Caribbean" feature soon. It will showcase people who are not only thinking outside of the box but people who refuse to even consider that there is a box.  People who are using their imagination and their creativity to create their own employment or to venture into  non-traditional careers. People who have been forward thinking and who have thought of innovative products, services and ideas to fill  the needs of Caribbean people.

Given our colonial history, we in the Caribbean have been conditioned to look externally and to mimic foreign tastes and value judgements. It's worrying that for people who celebrate independence and claim to be liberated, we seldom recognize talent or innovation unless it is foreign marketed and internationally sanctioned.It is time for us to start creating things of value, things suitable to our own cultural and societal contexts, things for our own consumption. The people of our region are equally talented and as brilliant as those abroad. The fact that many of our native sons and daughters distinguish themselves in their fields and receive critical acclaim is proof of this. More recently, the success of Anya Ayoung Chee on Project Runway, Tessanne Chin on The Voice and Nina Compton on Top Chef illustrate this. These were home grown talents that were to a large extent under appreciated or ignored until they made it on the world stage. It is doubtful that any one of these persons would have received the level of success or the appreciation they have received if they had stayed at home here in the Caribbean.

It is also worrying that we don't often take the time to relish in the talent we have or to exploit the unique opportunities for development that we have right in our own backyards. I admit that comparatively, we are deficient in resources and lack many of the catalysts which would have contributed to those persons' success. However, we need not adopt fatalistic attitudes nor place limitations on our capabilities. Their success on the world stage shows that being from the Caribbean does not have to be a handicap, the Caribbean was their incubator after all.  Also, apart from sheer talent and hard work, it was their "Caribbean-ness" that set them apart; lilting accents, affable personalities and the aspects of their unique Caribbean heritage which they reproduced in their art.

For every Anya, Tessanne and Nina there are hundreds more in every single field undiscovered or under appreciated.  I am creating this series because it's important for youth to see that there are alternative pathways to fulfilling careers and also to see that our region is ripe with potential and lucrative opportunities. It is also time that we expand our focus away from traditional careers such as  accounting, law, banking and medicine.These jobs are important but what we need are more historians, activists, poets, authors, dancers, film makers, chefs, culinary artists, fashion designers, musicians, artists, computer programmers, software developers, artisans, farmers, agronomists & entrepreneurs. That list is not exhaustive, our region desperately needs people determined to make a difference , people who are passionate about what they do. People whose purpose and vision of creating the societies they want to live in have made them come alive.People who have a strong appreciation for the societies they live in and who are driven to customise solutions which match our specific realities.  

Given the tough economic times the true test of our survival will be our ability to innovate. Not solely in terms of technology or products but in terms of our ideology, our vision and our philosophies. Our education systems should be conditioning students to think of ways we can use our scarce resources to add value and meaning to our lives. It should be incubating new talent & new ideas before they are snapped up abroad  and we are forced to accept what we have rejected when it comes back to us shiny with the polish of success and alienated from our reality.