Here’s an opportunity to invest in Jamaican companies BEFORE they list on the stock exchange!  But it’s not for everybody.

If you meet certain criteria, you can become an Angel investor.  You may have heard about Angel investors before.

An angel investor is a high net worth individual who provides financial backing for small startups or entrepreneurship.  In return, they typically get equity in the company.  That means, they would get to own a piece of the company.

So this is a great opportunity to invest in a company very early, and potentially earn significant rewards.

But it’s not for everyone.  First of all, it’s very risky.  Many of these companies will fail and you will lose your investment.  So angel investors tend to mitigate their risk by investing in multiple companies, in the hopes that one will hit big!

Second, I did mention that this is for high net worth individuals.  In Jamaica, this is the criteria: 

You have to have income of at least J$10 million a year for the past two years.  That’s about US$64,000, for those of you in the Diaspora who may be interested.

OR you could also qualify if you have assets worth at least J$50 million JMD; that’s about US$320,000.  Could be a property.

OR  a trust worth that same amount.

You’d also have to understand the risk, and of course, have good financial literacy.

And lastly, you’d have to be willing to offer a little bit of your time to these companies.  As an investor, you may want a seat on the board, for example.

So if this sounds like something you’d be interested in, RevUP Caribbean, in association with First Angels Jamaica, is hosting a workshop called Angel Investing in the Caribbean.

It’s for current angel investors, and people who want to become angels.

Topics include: Making good deals, The Art of Valuation, Growing great companies, and Creating great exits.

It’s sponsored by DBJ, Stratus, JN Fund Managers and JMMB.