I want to tell you something I have been sitting with for a few days, because I think you need to hear it.
Every day we are bombarded with headlines about job losses. Big companies cutting staff. Whole departments disappearing.
If you are watching that news like I am, it is easy to feel like the ground is shifting under everybody’s feet.
But here is what nobody is putting on the front page. While all of that is happening, more people are starting their own businesses right now than at almost any point in recent memory.
I saw the numbers and had to sit back in my chair. Axios reported that Americans are filing paperwork to start new businesses at near record rates, in the middle of all this uncertainty. Bank of America backed it up. What they call high propensity applications, meaning new businesses with a genuine shot at growing and making money, were up more than 15 % from the year before.
While everybody is talking about jobs disappearing, more people than almost ever before are choosing to build something of their own instead.
Why Now
Think about how business has always worked. You had an idea, but before it could grow, you needed a team.
Somebody to answer the phone.
Somebody to keep the books.
Somebody to handle the marketing.
Until you could afford all of that, your business had a ceiling on it, no matter how good the idea was.
That barrier is coming down.
Sitting right next to that surge in new businesses, Bank of America found something else. Applications where the owner planned to hire staff right away actually went down. At the same time, small business spending on AI and technology tools jumped more than 14% , with small retailers leading the charge.
More people starting businesses than ever.
Fewer of them feeling like they need a team on day one to do it. AI is very likely a big part of why.
I am not telling you AI is handing people new jobs to replace the ones being cut elsewhere. That would not be true.
What I am telling you is something better. The cost of starting something yourself just got a lot lower. The person with the idea, the skill, and the calling on their life does not have to wait anymore until they can afford a staff before they begin.
Bringing It Home to Us
We do not have this exact data for Trinidad and Tobago. Nobody has done the study measuring new business formation here against AI adoption. I am not going to pretend we do.
But this is not just an American story. The same AI writing tools,
the same AI customer service, the same AI marketing and design help, sit in your hands in Port of Spain exactly the same way they sit in someone’s hands in New York.
And here is what makes this our moment more than anyone’s. Our region has always run on the one person business.
The family shop. The entrepreneur who is the whole operation, doing everything because that is what it takes. For years, that looked like something you needed to grow out of. Now the rest of the world is racing to catch up to the very model we have been living in all along.
If you have been sitting on an idea, waiting for the day you could afford help before you start, that waiting period just got shorter.
Getting Ready for What Is Coming to WhatsApp
Part of what is fueling this is about to get even more powerful.
On June 3, Meta announced Meta Business Agent, an AI tool built right into WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger.
It answers customer questions, recommends products, books appointments, and helps close a sale, on its own, in your customer’s own language, day or night.
Meta says it is rolling out globally and free to start. What is not yet confirmed is exactly when it lands here, since Meta has not published a country timeline, and smaller markets have tended to see these tools arrive a little after the big ones.
So do not wait for it. Get ready for it. This kind of AI agent learns from what you already have, your product catalog, the questions your customers keep asking you. Getting that foundation solid is worth doing today no matter when the tool arrives:
- Write down the questions your customers ask you most, and have clear, simple answers ready
- Keep your WhatsApp Business catalog current with accurate prices and photos
- Make sure your business information, hours, location, and contact details are consistent everywhere you post
One More Thing Worth Hearing
Kelly Loeffler, who heads the US Small Business Administration, called AI a huge leveler of the playing field for small business, and said small businesses stand to be among its biggest winners as the technology matures. She also gave a warning worth hearing. Nations that fall behind on AI adoption risk falling behind economically too. That applies to us just as much as anyone.
The Door Is Open
You do not need a big team to build a big business. You need clarity, consistency, and the willingness to let good tools carry some of the weight while you focus on what only you can do.
That is exactly what we built School of AI for Business to help you do. Real foundations, real tools, and a community of Caribbean business owners walking through this door together.
If you have an idea sitting on the shelf, come join us. The door is open, and I would love to walk through it with you.
