🌅 Good Morning, Chronicles Crew!
2026 isn’t just another year of resolutions. It’s the year the Caribbean finally faces a truth we’ve been avoiding:
We’re not short on money.
We’re not even broke.
We’re just badly designed.
Let’s get into it.
📊 Data Point of the Week
$20.9 billion That’s how much the Caribbean received in remittances in 2025 — the highest in our history.
Not exactly the profile of a “resource‑poor” region right?
The problem isn’t capital. The problem is circulation.
Another way to put it: capital enters… but doesn’t circulate.
One more time for the people in the back: Money in → money out → no circle circle.
🔊 Signal vs. Noise
The noise:
“We’re aid‑dependent.”
“We lack capital.”
“Brain drain is killing us.”
The signal:
Capital is flowing in, make no mistake about that.
But the systems to capture, circulate, and compound that capital are missing.
Banks are risk‑averse. Payment rails are inconsistent. Cross‑border transactions feel like luxury events.
The result? Money arrives → pays bills → disappears.
🧩 The Real‑World Snapshot
A Jamaican entrepreneur has a scalable e‑commerce idea. Her bank calls her “high risk.” No credit.
Meanwhile, her cousin in Toronto sends $500 home every month. It pays bills — but never becomes seed capital.
Multiply that across millions of households and you get:
Billions entering the region… and exiting just as fast.
The system isn’t built for circulation. It’s built for extraction.
🚀 So Who’s Rewriting the Rules
A new generation is building the rails we’ve been missing:
TapTap Send → Lower remittance costs
Bitt (Barbados) → Digital currency + blockchain infrastructure
First Atlantic Commerce → Cross‑border payments without friction
But infrastructure alone won’t fix the problem.
The missing layer is access — to credit, investment networks, digital tools, and diaspora capital.
🔥 The 2026 Opportunity
We can build the connective tissue that keeps capital in the region long enough to matter, instead of waiting for governments to modernize legacy systems.
Because Caribbean poverty isn’t cultural. It’s not destiny. It’s design.
And designs can be changed.
🎥 Media Spotlight
Each week, we highlight a creator, journalist, or platform shaping the Caribbean narrative.
This week it’s: JOS Productions. Why we matter:
We’re amplifying regional innovation
We’re shifting the conversation from “aid” to “architecture”
We’re documenting the rise of Caribbean fintech, culture, and entrepreneurship
We want to see a better Caribbean in the spotlight
Want to be featured? Reply to this email.
🧭 What Comes Next
The next chapter will be written by:
Fintech founders building alternatives to legacy banks
Diaspora investors backing regional ventures
Entrepreneurs proving Caribbean businesses can scale globally in any industry
Media platforms amplifying the signal
Understand that poverty isn’t inevitable.
2026 is the year we fix it.
📬 Stay Ahead
If you want weekly intelligence on the Caribbean’s transformation, subscribe to Caribbean Chronicles by JOS.
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