A four-day targeted digital capacity-building initiative, organized jointly by Export Saint Lucia and the Caribbean Export Development Agency, has brought together local micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and export-focused businesses across Saint Lucia to upskill their teams and prepare for the demands of the modern digital economy.
Designed to address long-standing gaps in digital adoption among Caribbean private sector groups, the bootcamp set out to deliver actionable, practical digital tools that participating Saint Lucian companies can leverage to boost their competitiveness, expand into untapped domestic markets, and break into new international export channels. More than 40 business operators signed up for the program, bringing a diverse mix of industry backgrounds ranging from manufacturing and health and wellness to hospitality accommodation and professional services.
Speaking at the official opening ceremony, Kelvin Jn Baptiste, a Technical Officer at Export Saint Lucia, emphasized that digital transformation can no longer be treated as a secondary, non-urgent priority for regional economies. “For too many years, meaningful digital inclusion has not received the focused attention it requires across our business community,” Jn Baptiste explained. “While our public sectors have made notable progress rolling out e-government services, our private sector — and especially our MSMEs — have faced significant, steep barriers to adopting digital tools. This bootcamp aims to equip these 40 local MSMEs with the exact, tailored tools needed to close this persistent gap.”
Over the course of the four-day event, participating business leaders and their teams worked through a curated curriculum covering high-impact digital topics critical to modern business operations, including core digital transformation frameworks, cloud-based productivity tools, practical artificial intelligence applications for small businesses, data analytics for customer and operational insights, e-commerce strategy for cross-border sales, and cybersecurity best practices to protect business assets. Each module was selected specifically to help participating businesses streamline internal operations, cut unnecessary costs, and maintain an edge over competitors in an increasingly digital global marketplace.
One of the flagship offerings of the program is a post-bootcamp support initiative: the top 20 performing participating businesses will receive a fully customized digital transformation roadmap, tailored to their specific industry, size, and growth goals. This roadmap will lay out clear, step-by-step actionable guidance to help these companies integrate new digital tools and strategies into their daily operations, rather than leaving them to navigate the process independently.
Jonathan Seecharan, Innovation and Digital Business Officer at Caribbean Export, urged attendees to fully engage with the resources and networking opportunities made available through the bootcamp. “We are putting powerful tools directly in your hands, but it is up to each business to put those tools to work to close the digital gap,” Seecharan noted. “There is no question that right here in this room, we have all the talent, creativity, and resilience needed to compete successfully with any business on the global stage.”
Program organizers emphasized that initiatives like this digital bootcamp fill a critical need: as rapid technological advancement continues to reshape the global marketplace, targeted upskilling support for local MSMEs ensures these businesses can adapt, grow, and capture new export opportunities rather than being left behind by digital change.