Portal for Entrepreneurs in the Caribbean Launches Today

For the past seven months Entrepreneurial Advisors, Inc. (EAI) has been working with Entrepreneurs Portal of the Caribbean to develop what I like to call a "virtual entrepreneurial center." A major problem with providing entrepreneurial services to Caribbean entrepreneurs is that they are scattered over hundreds of islands in dozens of countries. The area generally known as the Caribbean is well over 1,000 miles in all directions and none of the Caribbean island nations have large populations. The solution is a portal that will provide a wide variety of entrepreneurial services remotely.


For over a year now, a handful of Jamaicans have been developing The Entrepreneurs Portal of the Caribbean (EPOC), but two people Neil Rhule and Corine LaFont have done the lion's share of the work. Funding for the development of the portal was provided by the Caribbean Export Development Agency and the European Union, but operation of the portal must come from sources generated by the portal itself.

About seven months ago Corine LaFont contacted me (Jude Conway) to ask if I would be one of the six resident experts on the portal. The expert's job is to write blog articles, conduct webinars and answer questions from entrepreneurs writing in. As I have found, it also includes other duties as assigned.

It is a great honor to have been selected as the only “resident expert” that resides outside of the Caribbean. What is really exciting about EPOC is that is continues to expand its services even before today’s launch. There is a on-site workshop scheduled for May in Kingston, Jamaica; an international business plan competition scheduled for late this year and a weekly radio show on Jamaican radio in the development stages. There are forums, new articles and even a page to place your classified ad.

For those of you living in the Caribbean, Guyana or Suriname, I urge you to register as a member as soon as possible at http://epoconline.com/. The rest of you can become members, as well. I am sure you will find value in joining and the great thing about the internet is it provides access to everyone whether in the Caribbean or elsewhere.

I have only touched the surface of what is available at EPOC. There are things that can be done at the site that I have certainly not discovered. I could go on for pages about what a great resource the portal will be for those Caribbean entrepreneurs who felt isolated in the past. This will act as their hang out where not only they can get expert advice but can communicate with each other, barter for services and tap each others knowledge and creativity.

I will end here but this is only the beginning, I am sure of blog posts you will see here about my experiences in the Caribbean.