Can Startups turn the Dominican Republic into the Japan of the Caribbean?

YES it can!

History teaches us lessons about economic development and turning the tides of international relevance.

Japan, for example, is a fascinating example of what innovation can do for a developing nation.

In the mid-1800s, Japan was a feudal society. Samurai walked the streets with swords, and merchants sold from horse-drawn buggies.

By 1904, however, due to rapid industrialization and the adoption of modern technology, it became the first Asian power to defeat a modern European power in the Russo-Japanese War.

Fast forward to the modern day, and it is an advanced global hub for innovation, influence, and wealth. They lead the world in key industries such as automaking and telecommunications.

Japan achieved this rapid development in several ways, but arguably the most important was its investment and focus on innovation and modernization of technology. What nowadays we call “startups”.

The Dominican Republic can become the Japan of the Caribbean by igniting its startup and innovation economies.

Here are the three steps to take:

Step One: Separate Startups from Small Businesses

The approach and development of small businesses and technology startups are not the same. These are vastly different business models that require entirely different resources.

This is parallel to the distinction of executives from entrepreneurs.

In the United States, for example, there exists the SBA (Small Business Administration) to develop a volume of small and local businesses. The startup sector’s answer to the SBA comes from accelerator programs like Techstars that engage technology startups.

There is a difference between public and private organizations, as well as a question of approach. Scaling a nail salon and a tech platform for nail salon owners requires different talent, funding, and structure.

Step Two: Develop the five elements of a strong startup ecosystem:

1. Entrepreneurs: Provide resources and community to founders and entrepreneurs in the startup space to serve as a collaboration hub for bartering knowledge, resources, and transparency.

2. Financial: Design and develop financial products that leverage equity rather than debt. Debt financing and equity financing are worlds apart in terms of risk, gains, and structure. Equity financing and venture capital are key to growing the emerging technology sector.

3. Corporations: Research and innovation are paramount to commercial competitiveness. What would happen if national companies in key domestic industries develop internal innovation centers to digitalize and improve processes? Not only do they get a first mover’s advantage in terms of growth within their firm, but they also improve domestic market competitiveness.

4. Government: Job creation, tax revenue, productivity, and market growth are all results of innovating industries. The government supports social mobility and economic growth by aligning strategic national interests with the startup sector. They incentivize technology products, providing solutions to grow key commercial projects via tax incentives, contracts, grants, and accelerators.

5. University: Developing not only entrepreneurial talent but tech talent is key to fortifying the startup industry and helping them remain in the country. By offering students pathways into the above four areas through the startup lens, emerging startups can recruit local talent and diversity of thought.

Step Three: International collaboration

The business culture of secrecy, risk aversion, and nepotism is well known in the Dominican Republic and the rest of the region.

By recruiting best-in-class experts, consultants, and vendors in the short term, seeds will be planted at the cultural and institutional level to grow key industries with real-world knowledge and a global network of resources, talent, and expertise.

Startups not only need pioneering founders, but also program engineers, cybersecurity professionals, revenue operations, legal, and strategy.

Countdown to Innovation

The Dominican Republic is already the reigning champion of economic innovation and development in the Western Hemisphere. With a 30-year history of compounding GDP, raised standards of living, foreign direct investment, tourism, social mobility, and political stability.

It’s time to solidify the Dominican Republic’s “Dominican Miracle” and start making serious investments in the Dominican startup ecosystem and infrastructure.

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Jonathan J. Mentor is a renowned revenue scientist, growth strategist, and advocate for underrepresented startups. As the Founder & CEO of Successment, he enables recurring revenue for startups with RevOps Science®.

In 2024, Successment’s #ProvokeVisibility Campaign was nominated in the Dominican Republic for the United Nations World Summit Awards.