By Anthony George<\/p>\n
In March, Maurice John wrote a piece in this publication titled \u201cVincentian developers, it\u2019s time to wake up.\u201d He was right. He called out a pattern we have all lived through \u2014 SVG sleeping through the website era, sleeping through the mobile era \u2014 and he issued a challenge: sit in the same room, have the honest conversation, and start building together.<\/p>\n
I read that article and recognised myself in it. And from what I understand, others did too \u2014 small groups have already begun forming in response to his call. That is exactly the kind of energy SVG needs, and I don\u2019t want to undermine a single one of those efforts. I want to build on all of them.<\/p>\n
Because here is the risk: if those groups stay separate, we end up with the same problem wearing a different name. Small pockets of motivated people, working in parallel, solving pieces of the puzzle without ever seeing the whole picture. What we need is not more groups \u2014 it is one room, physical and virtual, where developers, business owners, aspiring founders, and institutions can hear each other directly. So I want to pick up where Maurice left off \u2014 and invite everyone already moving to move together.<\/p>\n
Quick Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n If you read nothing else, read this:<\/p>\n SVG has produced real tech talent for years. Most of our ventures stall at the same point \u2014 not because the ideas are bad, but because we build in isolation, misread early excitement for real success, and have no structured support once competitions and grants end.<\/p>\n Developers and businesses are not talking to each other. Developers guess at problems. Businesses sit on real ones nobody has asked them about. That gap is fixable.<\/p>\n AI has changed the rules. Building a world-class product no longer requires a large team or significant capital. But speed without the right foundation still leads to failure \u2014 just faster. My Part of This Story<\/strong><\/p>\n I want to start with something most founders in SVG never say out loud.<\/p>\n I built an app. It got traction. People used it. Businesses joined it. We even won regional recognition. And then it quietly stopped growing \u2014 and I let it go.<\/p>\n Between 2017 and 2019, I co-founded Linkup \u2014 a local business discovery platform for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. At our peak, we had over 5,000 users and more than 300 business listings across 72 categories. We competed in the TEECA Caribbean Entrepreneurship Challenge and held our own against teams from across the region.<\/p>\n And then it stalled.<\/p>\n Not because the idea was wrong. Not because Vincentians didn\u2019t want it. But because I \u2014 like most founders here \u2014 made a mistake I didn\u2019t understand until years later.<\/p>\n I mistook early excitement for product-market fit.<\/strong><\/p>\n The first users were enthusiastic. The first businesses to list were supportive. The numbers looked promising. I believed those numbers told the whole story. They didn\u2019t. What I was seeing was the energy of novelty, not the signal of real, sustainable demand. By the time that distinction became clear, the momentum had faded and the path forward felt uncertain.<\/p>\n Since then, I left SVG for the UK. But I want to be clear: my heart and every entrepreneurial idea I\u2019ve ever had never left these shores. I am genuinely invested in building this nation. The professional experience I\u2019ve gained in the UK, the perspectives I\u2019ve picked up travelling across Europe and Southeast Asia \u2014 the different ways people solve problems, build communities, and grow businesses in constrained environments \u2014 it has all been quietly accumulating, waiting for the moment I could bring it back and put it to use. That moment is now.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not alone in this pattern. Look at SVG\u2019s tech ventures over the past decade. Genuinely creative ideas, real effort, real talent \u2014 and a pattern of ventures that reach a certain point and go quiet. The NTRC\u2019s I-Squared and iCode784 competitions have surfaced some outstanding concepts. Where are most of those ventures today?<\/p>\n I\u2019m not asking that to be harsh. I\u2019m asking because the honest answer tells us something important about what we need to change.<\/p>\n Why I Think We Keep Failing \u2014 My Honest Hypothesis<\/strong><\/p>\n These are my assumptions, not established facts. I\u2019m putting them forward because I think they\u2019re worth an honest conversation, and I\u2019m genuinely open to being challenged.<\/p>\n We misread early hype for success<\/strong>. Downloads, sign-ups, and media coverage feel like validation. Often they\u2019re not. Real product-market fit is more demanding: a clearly defined group returning unprompted, recommending without being asked, and eventually willing to pay. It shows up in retention and word-of-mouth \u2014 not in launch-week numbers. It is evidence, not a feeling. Most of us never reached that bar before treating early excitement as proof we were on the right track.<\/p>\n We build in isolation<\/strong> \u2014 from each other and from the businesses we\u2019re trying to serve. There is no structured space in SVG where founders share what\u2019s working and what isn\u2019t. Every founder starts from scratch and makes the same painful mistakes alone. Worse, developers and businesses aren\u2019t talking to each other either.<\/p>\n Developers spend months building solutions to problems they\u2019ve guessed at, while businesses sit on real, specific, unsolved challenges nobody has thought to ask them about. A single honest conversation between the two groups would short-circuit months of wasted effort.<\/p>\n We compete where we should collaborate<\/strong>. During the Linkup years, I was aware of at least two other local platforms tackling adjacent problems \u2014 Konservi and Go Getta. None of us were talking to each other. In a market this size, when founders build similar things in parallel, nobody splits a large opportunity \u2014 everyone fails to reach the critical mass they each needed to survive.<\/p>\n We have no structured bridge from idea to scale<\/strong>. Competitions end. Grants get spent. The excitement fades. There is no consistent framework that walks a Vincentian founder from idea validation through to a sustainable business. Without it, even our best ideas are left to figure it out alone \u2014 and most don\u2019t.<\/p>\n What Our Institutions Have Built \u2014 And What\u2019s Still Missing<\/strong><\/p>\n SVG is not starting from zero. Far from it.<\/p>\n The National Centre for Technological Innovation (NCTI)<\/strong> has done significant work to build this ecosystem. Under the CARCIP Business Incubation and Training Grants programme, the NCTI supported 21 local businesses and tech innovators as incubatees, distributing over EC$2.5 million in grants for equipment, software, marketing, and skills development. More recently, through the Canadian-funded LEAF Project (Local Engagement and Action Fund), the NCTI is helping small businesses enter the digital economy \u2014 connecting them to accounting software, financial institutions, and the basic digital tools they need to survive and grow.<\/p>\n The NTRC<\/strong> has consistently created platforms for Vincentian innovators to present their ideas to the world. Invest SVG has ICT listed as a priority investment sector and has recently signalled a renewed focus on mobilising diaspora knowledge and skills \u2014 not just financial capital. The Chamber of Commerce represents the business community that every tech venture ultimately needs to serve.<\/p>\n These institutions have invested real resources in SVG\u2019s tech future. That deserves to be honoured \u2014 and built upon.<\/p>\n But here is where I believe the gap remains: funding and competitions are interventions at the beginning of the journey. What happens after?<\/p>\n A founder who completes an incubator programme and launches their product still has to find product-market fit, figure out monetisation, and grow in a market with limited margin for error \u2014 often entirely alone. That is the stage<\/p>\n where most SVG ventures, including mine, have gone quiet. A peer community, structured accountability, and access to proven methodology could change that. What I\u2019ve Been Doing Since Linkup<\/strong><\/p>\n After stepping back from Linkup, I didn\u2019t step back from the field. I\u2019ve spent the years since building a professional technology career \u2014 gaining hands-on experience across technical and strategic roles, deepening my knowledge through industry certifications, and currently completing an MSc in Information Capability Management. That degree is sharpening how I think about technology strategy and what\u2019s worth building before you commit to building it.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve also been watching the global shift toward AI-native business models closely. We are living through a moment where the barriers that once stopped a small-island founder from competing globally \u2014 engineering talent, infrastructure, capital \u2014 are being dismantled. A founder in Kingstown with the right tools and methodology can now build a world-class product. That wasn\u2019t fully true when I built Linkup. It is true now. I came back to this because SVG\u2019s window of opportunity is real \u2014 and it won\u2019t stay open indefinitely. The countries that learn to build AI-native businesses in this decade will have a structural advantage that compounds over time. I don\u2019t want SVG to watch that window close.<\/p>\n What I\u2019m Proposing<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m not here to announce a new app. I\u2019ve learned that announcing before validating is one of the most costly mistakes a founder can make. What I\u2019m proposing is something that needs to exist before more apps get built; a form of public and community validation.<\/p>\n 1. Build SVG \u2014 A Community Built for This Moment<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m launching Build SVG: a structured community for current and former tech entrepreneurs across SVG and the wider Caribbean, aspiring founders with ideas they haven\u2019t acted on yet, and anyone who wants to understand what it actually takes to build a technology business in this region. Build SVG is explicitly open to Vincentians in the diaspora. You don\u2019t need to be on the island to contribute to what gets built here.<\/p>\n 2. Technology Consulting<\/strong><\/p>\n Alongside Build SVG, I\u2019m open to offering technology consulting to SVG businesses and entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n My focus is on helping organisations apply AI and modern technology as genuine operational infrastructure \u2014 the kind that lets a small team do work that previously required a much larger one. For SVG businesses operating with limited staff and tighter margins, that is rapidly becoming a competitive necessity.<\/p>\n For established businesses<\/strong>, this means identifying where technology can reduce costs, improve customer experience, or open new revenue streams \u2014 and having someone help you navigate that clearly.<\/p>\n For aspiring founders<\/strong>, this means structured guidance through the startup lifecycle \u2014 from sharpening a rough idea into a testable hypothesis, to building a first product, to finding paying customers and designing a business model that works for SVG\u2019s market size.<\/p>\n For Build SVG, this means being the technical product manager that connects these two camps together: businesses with real problems to local developers who can build local and affordable solutions; translating high-level business requirements into technical product requirement documents, and facilitating a professional and transparent procurement process.<\/p>\n A word on two things I hear often.<\/p>\n First \u2014 AI has made it faster than ever to go from idea to product. That is exciting, but it cuts both ways. The same speed that gets you to market faster also gets you to failure faster if you haven\u2019t validated that a real problem exists and that real people will pay to have it solved. Moving fast without that foundation doesn\u2019t compress the startup journey. It just accelerates the wrong part of it.<\/p>\n Second \u2014 I know some founders are reluctant to share ideas openly for fear others will steal them and get to market first. That concern is understandable, but misplaced. The idea is rarely the competitive advantage. Execution is.<\/p>\n Market knowledge is. The trust you build with your customer base is. A founder who validates deeply and builds deliberately will outlast anyone who copied their idea and rushed it to launch without doing the same work. In SVG\u2019s relationship-driven market, that is especially true.<\/p>\n What I help founders and businesses do is move past the hype, past the vanity metrics, and past the MVP milestone I take on a small number of consulting clients at a time to ensure the work is done properly. If you\u2019re interested, send me an email at consult@anthonygeorge.uk<\/p>\n A Message to Our Institutional Partners<\/strong><\/p>\n To the NTRC, Invest SVG, NCTI, the Chamber of Commerce, and the teams working on SVG\u2019s digital transformation agenda:<\/p>\n What you have built matters. The investments you\u2019ve made in identifying talent, providing funding, and creating platforms for Vincentian innovators have been foundational. I benefited from that ecosystem. Many of us did.<\/p>\n What I\u2019m building is not in competition with that work. It\u2019s designed to extend its reach.<\/p>\n A competition identifies talent. An incubator provides early-stage structure and resources. But the journey from promising startup to sustainable business is long, non-linear, and deeply isolating \u2014 especially in a small market where few people have walked the same road. Build SVG is designed to be the peer infrastructure that outlasts formal programmes, keeping founders connected and learning long after a competition or cohort has ended.<\/p>\n I want to say something specific to the Chamber of Commerce, because I think there is an immediate and practical opportunity here that goes beyond community-building.<\/p>\n SVG\u2019s developer community is growing. The response to Maurice John\u2019s article has made that clear. But developers building in isolation from the business community will keep making the same expensive mistake: guessing at problems instead of solving confirmed ones. The Chamber sits on exactly what developers need most \u2014 direct access to real businesses with real operational challenges they would genuinely pay to have solved.<\/p>\n I am proposing a structured dialogue: a regular, facilitated conversation between the Chamber\u2019s business members and SVG\u2019s emerging developer community. Businesses share their actual problems. Developers hear those problems directly. Where a business-need maps to a technical solution, that becomes a real brief \u2014 not a guessed hypothesis. Where multiple developers are interested in building for the same need, they know that from the start. That transparency makes for healthier competition and a more professional, accountable procurement process for everyone involved.<\/p>\n This is not a complicated intervention. It is a facilitated conversation that currently isn\u2019t happening. And it is one of the highest-leverage things we could do to change SVG\u2019s startup success rate.<\/p>\n If you work with founders who need that kind of ongoing support, or with businesses who are ready to have that conversation, I want to talk. I believe our efforts become more effective together.<\/p>\n I am easy to reach. The conversation costs nothing. Send me an email at Office@anthonygeorge.uk<\/p>\n Who I\u2019m Looking For \u2014 And Why You Should Join Today<\/strong><\/p>\n Let me speak directly to each of you, because you each have a different reason to be part of this.<\/p>\n If you built something in SVG that didn\u2019t make it:<\/strong><\/p>\n Your experience is the most valuable thing this community has. Not your success story \u2014 your honest account of what you tried, what you learned, and what you\u2019d do differently. The next generation of founders needs access to that, and right now there is no structured place where it gets shared. Don\u2019t let what you went through go to waste. If you have an idea you haven\u2019t acted on:<\/p>\n Maybe you don\u2019t know where to start. Maybe you tried before and it didn\u2019t work. Maybe you\u2019re not technical, or you think SVG is too small, or you\u2019re waiting for the right moment. Come to the first virtual meet-up. Bring your idea exactly as rough as it is. You\u2019ll leave with a clearer sense of whether it\u2019s worth pursuing \u2014 and what the first real step actually is.<\/p>\n Join the Ideas Stage group within the Build SVG community on WhatsApp: https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/F2HEtUHsB8CDILCwGhk7pt?mode=gi_t<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a business owner watching technology change your industry:<\/strong><\/p>\n You don\u2019t need to understand AI to benefit from it. But you do need someone who understands both the technology and the realities of the Vincentian market to help you think it through clearly. I work with a small number of clients at a time to make sure the work is done properly. If you\u2019re a Vincentian in the diaspora:<\/strong><\/p>\n You left SVG. So did I. But you didn\u2019t stop caring about what happens there, and your skills, perspective, and network are exactly what SVG\u2019s tech ecosystem needs more of. Build SVG is built for founders and contributors who are working remotely. You don\u2019t need to be on the island to help shape what gets built here. If you represent an institution or government agency:<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m not asking for funding or formal endorsement. I\u2019m asking for a conversation about how we make each other\u2019s work more effective. If you run programmes that support local tech entrepreneurs, Build SVG can extend the life and impact of that work. One Last Thing<\/strong><\/p>\n Maurice John ended his article with a call: \u201creach out, let\u2019s form the group, call the meeting.\u201d This is me doing exactly that.<\/p>\n I want to be honest about what this isn\u2019t. It isn\u2019t a grand plan I\u2019m certain will work. It\u2019s a considered bet \u2014 informed by experience, shaped by hard lessons, and grounded in a genuine belief that what SVG\u2019s tech ecosystem has been missing is a community of founders who are honest with each other.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been wrong before. I\u2019ll be wrong again. But the cost of not trying \u2014 in a moment when the tools to try have never been more accessible \u2014 is higher than the cost of trying and adjusting. Let\u2019s build it. Together, this time.<\/p>\n The opinions presented in this content belong to the author and may not necessarily reflect the perspectives or editorial stance of ANN. Opinion pieces can be submitted to news@annsvg.com.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Anthony George In March, Maurice John wrote a piece in this publication titled \u201cVincentian developers, it\u2019s time to wake up.\u201d He was right. He called out a pattern we have all lived through \u2014 SVG sleeping through the website era, sleeping through the mobile era \u2014 and he issued a challenge: sit in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":46336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nI\u2019m launching Build SVG \u2014 a structured founder community to change this. One room. Everyone in it. Developers, businesses, institutions, diaspora.
\nI\u2019m also available for technology consulting \u2014 helping businesses translate their real operational problems into technical solutions, and helping founders validate ideas before they build the wrong thing.
\nIf any of this speaks to you, the calls to action at the end of this article are for you.<\/p>\n
\nThat\u2019s the gap I want to help close.<\/p>\n
\nYou can find the full picture of my background on LinkedIn: https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/anthony-george\/.<\/p>\n
\nThis is not a WhatsApp group where people share links and go quiet. It\u2019s a founder community with a clear purpose: shared learning, honest accountability, and coordination so we stop wasting scarce resources competing against each other in a market too small for that.
\nHere is what Build SVG will do:<\/p>\n\n
\n\u2014 toward products that solve real problems and businesses built to last.<\/p>\n
\nJoin the Founders Room group within the Build SVG community on WhatsApp: https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/IW27LlYX3KK4Yk9i9sm8LR?mode=gi_t \u2014 Be part of the founding circle. Help shape what this becomes.<\/p>\n
\nJoin the SVG Businesses group within the Build SVG community on WhatsApp: https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/DxtH3qUEKD33JMIOQ4RvqD?mode=gi_t \u2014 Share a few details about your business and what you\u2019re trying to solve. I\u2019ll be in touch directly.<\/p>\n
\nJoin the Diaspora Builders group within the Build SVG community on WhatsApp: https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/CfLiIP3Enkz1kbCUmD3SIt?mode=gi_t \u2014 Remote participation is not second-class. It\u2019s the model.<\/p>\n
\nEmail: Office@anthonygeorge.uk | Subject line: Build SVG \u2014 Partnership Conversation<\/p>\n
\nSVG has always had the talent. What we\u2019ve lacked is the infrastructure around it: the peer support, the shared knowledge, the honest accountability that turns good ideas into lasting businesses.<\/p>\n