The following was posted to Mark St. Hill’s Facebook page, Hill is the CEO of Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) – Blogmaster

See this team right here – Touchstar Robotics, including Ramon Dummett (even though he’s not so young!). These young people are some of the most talented on the island, with incredible attitudes and humility. I absolutely love working with them. Barbadian youth are doing amazing things in A.I. and robotics.

As CEO, I faced a huge challenge: securing offtake agreements for space and managing the risks that came with them. I’ve known Ramon for a long time, but I never knew he was into robotics. That changed when I was touring BMEX 2022 with Mia Amor Mottley. Ramon demonstrated the robotics training he was providing to the Ministry of Education and the robotics school he runs with some of his current team. He and the PM had a great conversation, and as usual, I listened carefully.

The following week, I called him and said, “I’ve got a problem that needs solving with robotics and automation. I need A.I. to help manage lease contracts and offtake agreements, turning the industrial estates into one big A.I. system.”

He said he’d never done anything like that before. I told him, “You know how I learned to swim? I was taken out on a boat, pushed off, and told to get to shore.” That’s how I learned – and I told him, “If you don’t help me solve this problem, I can’t move this corporation forward.” cannot move industry or export forward we need to innovate how we do business.

We drafted a design brief and built a basic framework. Then we presented the vision of an A.I.-powered business to the chairman and the board. The response? Full, full, full support from every member.

Today, we have 95% of our customers in the A.I. system, and we’re about to implement project and spend management. This system was fully designed and developed by these young people. I believe the youth and their robotics skills are the future of all industries. A lot is happening in Barbados behind the scenes, and there are more youth building this nation than those who try to tear it down.

I’m writing this to say thank you. Thank you to my staff who contributed to the design and development at every level and every stage. And we couldn’t have done it without your talent.

If I weren’t CEO, I know where I’d put my money and investment. Happy Birthday, Ramon! You lead and mentor this team with excellence. It’s a joy working with all of you.