Sandra Walter Glasgow
Co-Founder of FirstAngelsJA, and RevUP Caribbean
Sandra Walter Glasgow, Co-Founder of FirstAngelsJA, and RevUP Caribbean / Photography by: Kevario Bell.
“I’m sure the whole world knows that Jamaicans are super creative people. As we like to say, ‘We likkle but we tallawah’.” With minimal effort, we could namecheck the Jamaican artists, athletes, and public figures who have contributed to popular culture and the creative industries globally for decades. Sandra Walter Glasgow lets us know that innovation in Jamaica is not limited to these spaces. Despite limited financial resources, people are innovating in various sectors. Founders are using local raw materials for manufacturing and exporting goods, coders are building apps, and inventors are finding creative solutions for everyday problems.
People may not know how highly Jamaica rates in various global indexes for its number of entrepreneurs. Named an Eisenhower Fellow in 2000, Sandra visited and learned all about incubators and angel networks in the USA.
As a founding member of FirstAngelsJA, the country’s first and only functioning angel investor network, Sandra works to maximise the success rate of the start-ups and small businesses she and the network believe can transform the nation’s economic future.
Since establishing the network in 2014 with two business partners, including the former president of The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, Joseph M. Matalon, FirstAngelsJA members have invested almost $3 million US dollars across 12 companies. The growing and diverse portfolio spans agribusiness, media, education, and even confectionery. What makes FirstAngelsJA integral to expanding the island’s business landscape, is the wealth of expertise and guidance businesses under their umbrella can access. In under a decade, the number of investors has grown to 27, with nearly half of these “Angels” being women.
Having studied Applied Zoology and Botany as an undergraduate, Sandra’s link to business might not be clear. What seems to connect the worlds of business and biology is a fascination with ecosystems, specifically, the processes and structures that things need to thrive. After further studies in business administration and certifications in corporate governance, Sandra’s interests in the entrepreneurial ecosystem have evolved with mentorship, amongst other skills, as one of her great superpowers.
Sandra’s dedication to business development endures. In 2020, Sandra was named a Senator in the prestigious World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF), representing Jamaica. In 2021, influenced by the impact of COVID-19 on SMEs, Sandra established RevUP Caribbean, a charity organisation offering a virtual incubation programme for start-ups and scale-ups. Now successfully in its second year, RevUP’s new cohort is halfway through the five-month programme. “Connecting to the Angel Network and supporting start-ups through our incubation programmes is an investment in the future generation of Jamaican business leaders,” Sandra says.
Sandra is as passionate and forward-thinking as the initiatives she supports. With a career spanning 40 years, with positions on several boards including Jamaica’s largest financial conglomerate, the NCBFG Group, one wonders what she does to relax. Sandra is big on family. Most of her spare time is spent with her female-dominated clan of two daughters and four granddaughters. Along with her husband of 46 years, they make the most of everything the island has to offer.
“Jamaica is my paradise. In a few hours, we can be in a rustic restaurant on the Blue Mountains, in a villa overlooking Kingston 3,000 ft above sea level, or on a white sand beach on the north coast,” she says.
Interview: Tega Okiti
