For the most part, all it takes to start up a tech company is a proper internet connection, a computer and a vision, but digital technologies and tech start-up companies have been at the centre of the worldwide digitalisation movement since its inception. Products like Zoom and Netflix have become viable solutions which addressed the need to entertain ourselves and interact with each other for work or school, especially in the time of covid19, where people were forced to keep their distance and stay inside.
Locally, the pandemic accelerated government’s drive to digitise Trinidad and Tobago, so much so that ordering food, arranging for transport and even accessing medicine can now be done online. The need to both stay apart and stay in contact with each other has provided a gap which companies like CtrlAltFix Tech led by Ishmael Moreno were more than able to fill.
So the announcement by government to give tax incentives to start-up companies that specialise in digitisation and technology solutions was not only welcome to all stakeholders involved in the industry but it served as a great motivator to young tech graduates seeking to start their own businesses in a region that, prior to covid19, was a little more than sceptical over the viability of tech companies’ ability to enhance business.
But what is needed now is further support – not only from government and the private sector, but from the public in general.
Digitisation incentives for the start-ups
Finance Minister Colm Imbert first announced government’s plan to provide tax breaks to start-up companies specialising in digital solutions at the reading of the 2021-2022 budget on October 4. Taking effect from January 1, the tax incentive would give the companies a 50 per cent tax exemption on the first $100,000 of chargeable income for its first year, and for the first $200,000 for the second year of operation.
Moreno, whose business assists people develop their own retail spaces online, said the incentives would encourage more people to go into the digitisation industry.
“Once you have the skill set, it takes very little to start,” he said. “The costs accumulate over time, so the exemptions would actually help a lot so that you wouldn’t have to spend as much in deductions. So it would help especially companies now starting up.”
Stacy Williams, senior lecturer in the department of information science and technology at the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of TT (Costatt) told Business Day the tax incentive was a step in the right direction.
[caption id="attachment_918878" align="alignnone" width="1024"] The new and more interactive Windows 11 system. Photo courtesy Microsoft -[/caption]
“It would help getting people who want to start a tech company more motivated,” she said. “It acts as an incentive. Most students would say they could do this just because they believe that it is a good field and it is something that people would support.”
Even larger companies like Microsoft applaud the measures taken by government to encou
