About that CCVC '23 Advanced Convoy in the Caribbean

Do you know what an "advanced convoy" is? Neither did I. Despite nearly two decades of over 100 investors' "dog and pony" shows and investment conferences in 14 US markets and several internationally, helping nearly 400 small businesses as a banker and entrepreneur, speaking with and interviewing global figures, having helped to raise USD 1.5M for a junior senator out of Chicago who would go on to become the first black US President, interviewing and networking with global leaders, I didn't understand the basic concept of an "advanced convoy".

In December, the Honorable Mackie Holder, Barbados Consulate in New York City spoke with a member of the mission we had commissioned to let him know that Prime Minister Mia Mottley was not available. Panicked, I called a mentor and colleague of 17 years, the former Minister of Commerce to Barbados and she offered to facilitate introductions to the opposition party leader who is also a close associate and esteemed colleague despite being a general election opponent. Want to know what was the outcome of our first official convoy? (Some of us have been on variations of these missions for decades now!). The Consulate circular below hits all the highlights.

Caribbean Community of Venture Capitalists was born on LinkedIn nearly 20 years ago in a group originally titled, "Caribbean Community of Business Professionals", my inspiration was the 20 or so CARICOM assemblage of nations in the Caribbean and a sense that the Caribbean was underutilized as tribes or island nations of her brilliant people.

The CCBP group with nearly 13,000 members, averages about 17 new applicants, and 145 new posts every 15 days, has about 14,000 views in that time. That LinkedIn group is now the Caribbean Community of Capitalists, Business Executives, and Entrepreneurs , or CCCBEE - See? Be! - a group of nearly 13,000 members from across the diaspora has quickly become advanced convoys, missions, and strategic objectives deployed, executed, and achieved as well as serial entrepreneurial endeavors and businesses. We are only in seed mode but quickly sprouting in influence, reach, and audacity. Each success unfurls brand new branches of possibility, accomplishment, and missionaries to the cause of the Caribbean independence, leadership, capital market formation and increased economic opportunities.

The group was originally titled, "Caribbean Community of Business Professionals" and has become the LinkedIn group that is now the Caribbean Community of Capitalists, Business Executives, and Entrepreneurs, or CCCBEE - See? Be. And now, the Caribbean Community of Venture Capitalists is an NGO in Trinidad and Tobago with plans for two other Caribbean bases of operations and a growing network of operators throughout the diaspora - from Kentucky to the Cayman Islands to Cape Town to Accra. Most of us came here on the Transatlantic slave trade over 400 years ago and it is not mere literary device of symmetry that we are reversing that trade at its highest frequency- now.

This is a design by the intention of our ancestors. Every step of the way, our steps are ordered with purpose by those who came before us, just as our descendants will be the legacy holders of our vision, foresight, and good works. And our struggles. We are at a defining moment in our history. As so many times before, we will fall. But we will stand up afterward. And this is how progress was made by those who came before us.

Morning Report | Mornin' Barbados - December 11, 2023 ( youtube.com )

Our second mission will be in the National Island of Grenada where the Prime Minister, Dickon Mitchell astutely governs a nation, perhaps best and admiringly known for its iconic Prime Minister, The Honorable Maurice Bishop. We are hoping to duplicate efforts, reach, events, and convoys in Guyana, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, the Bahamas, and Panama in the next 24 months. There is a lot of work to be done and we recognize the Caribbean islands and nations as better able to attain its goals united by a common purpose and as a single community with singular origins.

#spiritualIQ #QuestionforGroup #LinkedIn #CCVC #GettingDealsDone #CaribbeanCommunityofVentureCapitalists #CaribbeanCommunityofCapitalistsBusinessExecutivesandEntrepreneurs #EntrepreneurMindset #QuestionsforGroup #CaribbeanIndependence #Barbados #Trinidad #Tobago #Jamaica #Guyana #TheBahamas #Grenada