FEATURE STORY

---

There’s a particular kind of moment that doesn’t always look dramatic from the outside — but quietly marks a shift. For Joshua Forte, that moment unfolded in Paris, France.

A Barbadian entrepreneur and finalist in the Youth Ecopreneur (YECO) Awards, Joshua is
part of a growing group of Caribbean individuals finding themselves on international stages — not by accident, but through years of curiosity, persistence, and quiet conviction. 

Notably, he emerged as the People’s Choice Award winner at YECO, a recognition that reflects not only the strength of his work, but his ability to connect with others across cultures and contexts. 

Joshua’s story begins, as many Caribbean stories do, with a question…what can I build, and how far can it go?

His journey into entrepreneurship wasn’t linear. He didn’t grow up with a clearly defined path or a step-by-step blueprint. Instead, what emerges from his story is something more familiar — especially for many young people in the Caribbean — a process of figuring things out in real time.

There’s curiosity. There’s experimentation. And there’s the willingness to keep going, even when the direction isn’t fully clear. That openness becomes a kind of foundation. It’s what allows someone from a small island to imagine themselves in global spaces — not as an outsider, but as a contributor.

But that process doesn’t come without its challenges. Like many navigating early-stage entrepreneurship, Joshua has had to contend with uncertainty — limited resources, evolving ideas, and the pressure to define a path while still discovering it. There are moments of doubt, moments of recalibration, and the quiet work of continuing forward without guarantees.

But those challenges seem to sharpen rather than stall his perspective.

Arriving in Paris

Being selected as a finalist in the Youth Ecopreneur Awards is quite an achievement on

its own. The Youth Ecopreneur programme is a global accelerator that empowers young entrepreneurs and seeks to enhance their competitiveness in green and land restoration businesses. The Programme is a joint initiative by the UN International Trade Centre and the G20 Global Land Initiative under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.

To arrive in a city like Paris — surrounded by innovation, competition, and global perspectives — is to step into a different scale of possibility. It’s an environment that can both challenge and affirm. But Joshua brought with him a sense of where he’s from. A way of thinking shaped by Barbados — not as a limitation, but as a lens.

One of the tensions many Caribbean professionals navigate abroad is visibility; not always being understood (sometimes literally), not always being expected. But Joshua’s presence in spaces like this challenges that. It expands what people imagine when they think of Caribbean talent — beyond culture as performance, and into culture as innovation, thought, and leadership.

There’s a confidence in that shift. 

Representation is often spoken about in broad terms. But in moments like this, it becomes specific. It looks like a young Barbadian entrepreneur standing in a European competition — not only representing himself, but reshaping perceptions. Being careful not to carry the weight of an entire region — but still contributing to how that region is seen.

In reflecting on his journey, Joshua also speaks to the importance of persistence — encouraging other young Caribbean people to remain open, to stay curious, and to not be discouraged by unconventional paths. There’s an understanding that there is no single way forward, that sometimes, the process of figuring things out is the path.

Looking Ahead

What’s most compelling about Joshua’s story isn’t just where he is now — it’s the sense that this is still early…still unfolding. He speaks with a quiet focus about the future — one that involves continued growth, refinement of his ideas, and expanding the impact of his work. There is no rush to define everything at once, but rather a steady commitment to building something meaningful over time. 

Island Abroad is also about building something meaningful over time, while shifting, evolving, and stepping into new spaces. 

Joshua’s is just the first of these stories we hope to tell. Across Europe, Caribbean individuals are building, creating, studying, leading — often quietly and without their full stories being told.

Island Abroad exists to change that. To create space for these stories to be seen, heard, and remembered.