Joe Matalon, chairman of the ICD Group and the RJR Group of Companies, has stepped away from both RevUp Caribbean and First Angels Caribbean, of which he was a co-founder. 

Our Today understands that after 11 years with First Angels, Joe Matalon felt fresh leadership was needed.

Though Joe Matalon has retired from the boards of FirstAngels and RevUp, he has now been designated chairman emeritus.

Joe Matalon had a vision to encourage first Jamaican and then Caribbean entrepreneurs and to enable them with the tools to see to it that their ventures flourished.

If Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg were born and raised in the Caribbean, there would be no Apple or Meta. Why? Because banks in the Caribbean do not get behind ideas and entrepreneurs and have no appetite for risk.

Many businesses have to get funding from friends and relatives. These fledgling enterprises more often than not have to be bootstrapped, with founders having to hold down a job while getting their company off the ground.

The reality is that there is no real help for small and medium enterprises.

Joe Matalon saw this and that it was an impediment to start-ups getting off the ground and young people heading their own companies.

Although he is head of the ICD Group and RJR, this initiative of his will be an abiding part of his legacy. He did something that many others did not dare do.

Since RevUp was founded four years ago, it has grown with 145 business founders graduating from its programme. Both RevUp and FirstAngels pair entrepreneurs with mentors who have built a business. They provide case studies and guide young entrepreneurs with a reassuring hand.

RevUp’s success is borne out by 93 per cent of those who signed up saying it had a direct, measurable and positive impact on their businesses.

Joe Matalon has made a significant contribution to the Caribbean’s startup ecosystem.

The new chairperson of FirstAngels Caribbean is Melanie Subratie of the Musson Group. An accomplished senior executive, she is also the chair and CEO of Stanley Motta Limited.

Nigerian businessman Tomi Davies, who resides in the UK, is the new chairman of RevUp with Sandra Glasgow as managing director.