Africa is rising,with one main reason being the increased and sustained efforts on boosting intra-African trade. Traditionally, the trade of the individual countries in Africa followed routes and patterns established since colonial times. The African Free Trade Continental Area, the largest free trade area in the world in terms of the number of particpating countries, is changing that narrative. Given the massive opportunities arising from greater African trade, there are also good options for boosting the African-Caribbean trade and investment partnership. In this context, Caribbean Export joined the landmark Intra-African Trade Fair 2023 (IATF 2023) in Cairo, Egypt, last week.

IATF 2023, held from November 9-15, unfolded as a pivotal platform for fostering economic ties and cross-border collaboration while showcasing the continent’s vibrant diversity. This pioneering initiative welcomed thousands of business owners and trade experts, providing an invaluable forum for meaningful discussions on pressing topics. These included private sector development, trade facilitation, investments, digital trade, the importance of digital financial inclusion and quality infrastructure. Delegates gleaned insights that transcended borders, laying the groundwork for a future marked by strengthened economic partnerships and mutual growth, including the emphasis on business.

Recognizing the strategic imperative of enhancing collaboration, our Executive Director, Deodat Maharaj expressed his enthusiasm at participating in this significant event. The invitation extended by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to serve as the Caribbean Ambassador for IATF 2023 demonstrated the growing recognition of the mutual benefits that lie in advancing the alliance between Africa and the Caribbean.

Reflecting on his participation, Mr. Maharaj emphasised: “The imperative to deepen the trade and investment relationship with Africa is clear. Witnessing the Caribbean contingent in Cairo, as we celebrate the pinnacle of African excellence, engaging in the exchange of ideas and fostering new connections demonstrates our commitment to this objective. My sincere congratulations to Afreximbank for adeptly orchestrating yet another successful event.”

Throughout various panel discussions, the common challenges faced by Africa and the Caribbean, particularly the need for bankable projects, became evident. Addressing these challenges not only requires innovative solutions, but also a heightened level of collaboration. The event’s dynamic celebration of the creative sector underscored the potential of the arts as a formidable catalyst for economic opportunities between Africa and the Caribbean. It highlighted the prospect of the creative sector becoming the next frontier for trade between these two regions, offering a promising avenue for mutual growth and exploration.

The Caribbean actively participated in the event led by Barbados and St Lucia. Caribbean Export’s role as an IATF 2023 Ambassador, coming just months after our first trade and investment mission to West Africa, amplifies the momentum established for Caribbean businesses to actively collaborate with their African counterparts and foster mutually beneficial opportunities. This is one sure way to deepen our trade and investment partnership with Africa. It is about less talk and more business.

The EU Delegation in Guyana in the context of the EU Global Gateway has organized an EU Economic Mission to Guyana to be held in Georgetown from November 20-22nd with more than 20 companies from 8 EU Member States.

Deputy Director General of the EU’s Department for International Partnerships (INTPA) Ms Myriam Ferran, will lead the Economic Mission that is composed of companies from different sectors for the development of Guyana such as renewable energy, agriculture and forestry, logistics and infrastructure, ICT, medical and pharmaceuticals and hospitality and eco-tourism.

The mission comes at a decisive time for Guyana to undertake a green and inclusive growth model, which is the EU-LAC Global Gateway Investment Agenda (GGIA) objective. This initiative is part of the Global Gateway, the European Union’s strategy to boost smart, clean, and secure connections in digital, energy, and transport sectors and to strengthen health, education, and research systems worldwide.

The Economic mission is organized in partnership with Trade Promotion Europe and the Office of Investment of Guyana, with the support of the Private Sector Commission, the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association, and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce.
The 3-day event will take place at the Marriot Georgetown and will include a seminar, business-to-business meetings, and field visits.

Companies in EU member states or Guyana that want to participate in the economic mission can visit the landing page https://nexconsulting.kartra.com/page/rGU45

Most people would agree that spice is an essential ingredient when cooking.

In the Caribbean, our seemingly innate ability to select the right spices, and add them in just the right amount, has added depth and flavour to our cuisine and is what separates it from others.

Vincentian entrepreneur Sharon Little has always enjoyed spending time in the kitchen and her passion for spicing up recipes eventually led to the launch of her small business in 1997 – ‘Pringa’s Natural Flavours’.

Sharon started off selling her version of green seasoning at a local shop where she was the manager. After it proved popular, she approached other small stores and supermarkets, and soon her seasoning was on shelves all over St Vincent and the Grenadines.

But Sharon did not stop there. She quickly expanded the Pringa’s brand to include hot sauce, ginger sauce, and guava jelly all made from herbs, spices, and tropical fruits grown by local farmers.

Now, she is working on plans to export to the US, Canada, and Europe, after receiving assistance from the Caribbean Export Development Agency and the European Union to attend business development workshops and international trade shows.

Sharon states: “Coming on board with Caribbean Export has provided me with a lot of important information to grow the business. Thinking of where we were before, and where we are now, since working with Caribbean Export, it’s a big leap. We’ve been exposed to other markets, given lots of knowledge, and it has helped us to get to know our product and the best ways to sell it.”

In September 2022, Sharon’s daughter LaFleur, who she employs along with one other person, joined a small delegation of producers under the Caribbean Export umbrella at the Speciality and Fine Food Fair in London. Pringa’s provided a range of samples at the expo and the reception was promising.

At the time, LaFleur told Caribbean Export: “Persons from the UK are really venturing out of their comfort zone and trying more spicy foods. It was a pleasure to serve them Pringa’s line of sauces and condiments. I know they enjoyed it because most came back for seconds. They couldn’t believe they were getting all these beautiful flavours from sauces and condiments.”

After a successful trip to the UK, Pringa’s was also on display at the Caribbean Export booth at the world’s biggest tradeshow ‘SIAL Paris 2022’ where several potential distributors and buyers expressed an interest in the company’s products.

Sharon believes her biggest challenge right now in terms of exporting is the cost of automating production.

She states: “I’m not happy just supplying St Vincent so my aim is to go further afield. But right now, we are still processing everything by hand, doing all the peeling and cleaning, so that is hard on us. But if I did get an export market, I would be able to buy some machinery and employ more people.”

Over the past few months, Pringa’s has been approached by an ecommerce company based in Vietnam called Buy2sell, which is keen to offer its guava jelly on its platform to customers in Asia. The two companies are still negotiating.

Sharon says: “We are hopeful that it will go somewhere but right now we are stuck on the quantity. They want 300 cases of guava jelly, but we would prefer to start with 50 cases every three months and go from there.”

In the meantime, Sharon plans to improve efficiency to boost production and work on breaking into another Caribbean market. She also wants to find a bigger space to operate from that will also provide additional room for storage.

Sharon is determined to make Pringa’s into a Caribbean success story and she is already well on her way.

Building a business from scratch is a daunting task for most people, but when you are operating in an industry that is almost non-existent in your country, getting a company going can look even more overwhelming.

When Kenia Mattis launched her podcast production and animation brand ‘ListenMi Caribbean’ in Jamaica in 2013, she was one of the first entrepreneurs in the region to explore this creative space as a viable business idea.

Initially, Kenia did not even know that this sector was where she was meant to be. But while studying for a master’s degree in marketing, which included a module on entrepreneurship, she began to envision a way to combine her business acumen and logical side with her love for creating.

“I really started this journey not sure of what I wanted to do,” Kenia recalls.

“I grew up in a musical family. I studied piano and was surrounded by music at home, but I was always a left and right brain person. So, at school I was doing business subjects while pursuing music and audio production on my own. Media, marketing, and music were the three subjects which interested me.

“The seed was firmly planted for me to go into the creative industries when I went to university in Costa Rica. That area seemed ripe for innovation.”

Kenia knew Jamaica was not a strategically advantageous base for her new company, but she wanted to tell Caribbean stories and share her island’s perspective with the world, which meant becoming a pioneer.

She states: “Our biggest challenge was working in an environment that was not conducive to what we wanted to do. Jamaica is not known for animation and a lot of resources were not readily available.

“So, in the beginning the labour pool was small and our first employees were graduates from the Edna Manley College (of the Visual and Performing Arts) but they studied illustration or fine arts, so we had to train them internally and create processes to give them the skills that we needed.”

‘ListenMi’ initially operated as “a creative lab” but by 2018 it had begun to cement its place in the animation sphere. Its portfolio of work now includes several commercial assignments for recognised brands, such as Sesame Street and GIPHY, along with various passion projects.

Kenia’s core ‘ListenMi’ team consists of five other creatives but for some projects she has employed up to 15 people. She also partners with other studios when necessary.

“The evolution has been amazing,” Kenia says. “We’ve consistently set ourselves higher goals and have grown strategically and organically. Now, we are settled in the animation zone and have won local and global awards.

“Our first ever short film “The Adventures of Kam Kam” won the KingstOOn Best Concept Award in 2019 and that spurred us on to want to produce even more culturally infused stories where our Caribbean culture is seen, heard, and celebrated.”

In June 2022, ‘ListenMi’ attended the Annecy International Animation Festival in France with the support of the Caribbean Export Development Agency.

Kenia believes Annecy came at “a critical time” for the company as it continues to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. She says it was a great opportunity to meet people face-to-face to solidify relationships and expand her network of industry contacts.

She explains: “Annecy gave us a chance to connect with people who we had been having conversations with, and putting faces to names really made a difference. We had been talking with a company about a co-production deal and we had a handshake on that at Annecy which made it feel more definite.

“It was also great just to see what is out there, to inspire us to create in new and interesting ways based on what we know we want to say.”

Kenia adds: “Since the festival I have also worked with a company that Caribbean Export engaged to generate 50 leads for us. From that I have contacted potential business prospects and organised some meetings.”

Over the next 12 months, ‘ListenMi’ will be busy working on its first animated feature-length film which it has been commissioned to produce for the pre-teens market. Kenia says this will be the first project of its kind created in the Caribbean and demonstrated how far the industry has come in the region.

She adds: “We want to tell beautiful, meaningful, authentic stories which draw people in and not just from what you see on screen but including licensing, merchandising, and other opportunities for our people.

“One of our big goals is to be one of the premier storytelling hubs for the Caribbean and the diaspora. I am really excited about what the future holds”.

‘Jaydee’s Naturals’ is a herbal, organic hair and skin care brand founded by Dominican businesswoman Jodie Dublin-Dangleben.

Jodie officially registered her business in 2014, just two years after she had started mixing indigenous ingredients to nourish her own natural hair while working out in the field as a civil engineer.

She recalls: “In 2012, I found my relaxed hair was getting dry and dull and even starting to break off because I was out in the sun quite a bit for my day job, so, one morning I just decided to cut it all off. But then I had no clue how to take care of my Afro hair.

“I did lots of research and decided I wanted to make products for myself that were natural without any harmful chemicals. So, the business started from a personal need and then a lot of my friends were asking me for the products, and it evolved from there.”

Jodie’s first creation was a whipped shea butter made from shea butter, cocoa butter, castor oil, aloe vera, honey, and essential oils.

She has since added two shampoos made from black soap and turmeric and lemongrass, a sorrel and hibiscus smoothie conditioner, a guava, bamboo, and passionfruit leave-in conditioner, and a herbal elixir made from stinging nettle and 34 other herbs, powders, and essential oils.

Jodie also moved into skincare with the launch of a turmeric and clay face and body mask made from volcanic clay, local turmeric powder, and essential oils which is one of her bestsellers. She works with four local farmers to supply the raw materials for her products and imports her packaging.

Jodie admits keeping up with consumer demand has been a struggle, but she says it was “a tremendous help” when she was awarded a €15,000 (Euro) Direct Support Grant in 2020 from the Caribbean Export Development Agency.

She adds: “With the help of Caribbean Export we built and furnished our manufacturing space which incorporates solar energy and has access to a 500-gallon water cistern. We are just now completing the space, and then we are hoping to employ about three people on a part-time basis sometime this year. We will start them off with training. They will also do packaging and labelling and then maybe next year we can get them onto producing.

“We also bought some pneumatic equipment with the grant which has increased our efficiency, speed, and productivity because we had been pouring everything out by hand but now, I just press a button, and the containers are filled automatically.”

Jodie primarily sells her products within Dominica but launched an e-commerce website during the COVID-19 pandemic which services international and regional clients. She also ships in bulk to retail locations in Tortola, St Thomas, St Martin, Antigua, and St Lucia.

Currently studying for an advanced diploma in organic cosmetic formulation for hair and skin care, Jodie says she has become even more confident in her formulation skills, and soon plans to launch a high performing, botanical skin care range for issues like psoriasis, eczema, scarring, and dermatitis.

By the end of 2023, Jodie aims to add two to three more products including a natural lipstick line and wants to supply at least two more retail partners in the Caribbean.

Within the next five years, she is planning to register the business in the US and the UK and have her products on sale in Walmart, Target, or Sephora.

Jodie states: “Getting certification to sell our products in the UK, Europe, and the US takes a lot of money so we need to be making enough profit to pay for that. Eventually, I really would like us to be a household name. That is my ultimate goal.”

When he was about six years old, Bahamian entrepreneur Joshua Miller started selling natural limeade at his father’s food stall in Nassau.

Joshua’s dad Rudolph gave him an original recipe for the refreshing drink made from handpicked, local limes and it quickly proved to be a resounding success.

Joshua recalls: “My father wanted to teach me the value of a dollar so in the summer I would sell limeade at his Jerk stand outside my grandmother’s restaurant.

“When I was at college (studying accounting), my grandmother suggested bottling the drink so she could sell it in the restaurant. I did that from 2009 until 2012 which is when I officially launched the product to a broader market.”

Joshua says he knew his brand ‘Limeade Bahamas’ could be made into a viable business when people started asking for the drink by name.

Over a decade later, Joshua now offers his product in three sizes (12 ounces, 20 ounces, and one gallon) and six flavours – lime, strawberry, ginger, peach, pineapple, and mango. The drink is on sale at 150 locations in New Providence including restaurants, schools, convenience stores, and gas stations.

Limeade Bahamas currently employs 12 people, and Joshua has kept the business afloat, despite challenges with capital and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily through personal funds and assistance from family, as well as support from the Bahamian Small Business Development Centre.

In 2020, Joshua decided to scale up production ahead of exporting to the rest of the Bahamas and possibly even further afield. He leased a building from the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC) but it needed a lot of work to get it fit for purpose.

Joshua applied to the Caribbean Export Development Agency’s 2021 Direct Support Grant Programme to convert the building into a modern manufacturing plant.

He states: “We moved into the building early last year, but it took about a year and a half to get it up to standard. It didn’t even have electricity, so I had to get a transformer installed, which was extremely expensive.

“I decided to go the renewable energy, solar system route so that the equipment could be seen as collateral by a lending institution,” Joshua adds.

“I brought the equipment over, but it was quite high tech, so then I experienced an issue with installation. The grant money I received from Caribbean Export assisted with getting it installed.”

The new solar system allows Limeade Bahamas to run almost completely off the grid except for a few heavy pieces of equipment which require a significant amount of power.

Joshua believes getting the building onstream will take Limeade Bahamas to another level in terms of production.

“Working in this space is a huge opportunity for the business,’ he says. “Where we were before, close to my grandmother’s restaurant, was quite small and cramped. This new building gives us room to walk around without bumping into each other and the equipment. We can also make more drink now and store it. It’s already made a big difference.”

Over the next year, Joshua aims to sell his product throughout the Bahamas and in other Caribbean islands and possibly south Florida. He also wants to introduce other types of juices and water to compliment the limeade.

From humble beginnings, Joshua has substantially grown his brand, and on reflection he says there is nothing he would change because “every experience was a learning experience”.

Dominican entrepreneur John Robin was studying fisheries development in Canada over 25 years ago when he realised the potential value of sea moss.

Scientifically known as Chondrus Crispus, sea moss (also referred to as Irish sea moss or red algae) is a versatile ‘superfood’ which contains 83% of all essential nutrients and is high in antioxidants as well as vitamins A, D, E and K.

The health benefits of sea moss were well known in the Caribbean and other parts of the world for centuries but the commercialisation of seaweed in the region was almost non-existent.

“The information I discovered on seaweed was overwhelming,” John recalls. “There are 12 major seaweed corporations in Asia alone and the global industry keeps about four million people employed. But in the Caribbean, seaweed harvesting was small, and we were not doing much cultivation or processing.”

After returning to Dominica, John set about finding ways to bottle sea moss and extend its shelf life. He joined with a partner to establish his company, Benjo’s Seamoss, and then took over as the sole owner about two years later.

Benjo’s Seamoss is now the largest sea moss production company in the region. John employs 20 people at his plant in Roseau and his ‘meal in a bottle’ beverage is currently exported to around 20 Caribbean countries.

“We benchmark ourselves against Coca Cola,” John states. “They have a product that is available in 205 out of 207 countries. So, we are currently trying to get into other parts of the Caribbean like Jamaica, Guyana, Suriname, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti, as well as the US and Canada.

“We also want to move from eight to 10 flavours by August and incorporate the raw materials available in our environment like lemongrass and tamarind.”

John puts his continued success down to “the grace of God” and persistence. He is also thankful for the support he has received from the Caribbean Export Development Agency which he says has helped him develop his brand.

In 2019, he participated in the leading Caribbean tradeshow ‘Agroalimentaria’ and attended a CARIFORUM – EU Economic Partnership Agreement Workshop on Regional Business to Business Strategic Networking which concentrated on building strong trade capacity in the Caribbean.

John says: “I went to quite a few events through Caribbean Export and the OECS Export Development Unit which proved to be eye-opening and a catalyst for growing the business.

“The support from Caribbean Export has been critical but as such a crucial regional organisation I do think they can do more to help established manufacturers. The funding structure needs to change so it is not just focused on start-ups but on businesses that are contributing to their countries GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

John adds: “Sometimes it feels like companies who have stood the test of time are being ignored. If I got more support, we could do more market research and product development, and I could move some means of production to other territories such as St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago to minimise shipping costs.”

Meanwhile, John plans to focus on positioning Benjo’s Seamoss to take full advantage of the heightened interest in sea moss around the world.

According to the IMARC Group, the global seaweed market reached $7.5 billion (US) in 2022 and is expected to reach $14.3 billion (US) by 2028, which is a compound growth rate of 11.64% from 2023-2028.

John is also working on advancing the cultivation of sea moss within local communities in Dominica. He is involved in training and assisting individuals who want to grow and harvest seaweed which he might then be able to process.

John admits: “It’s not for everyone because you must withstand the rigours of the sea. But the prospects for increased cultivation are good.”

He adds: “Seaweed presents tremendous backward linkages for agriculture in Dominica and the Caribbean. It has around 2,500 different applications so we need to utilise the full potential of this product. Beverages is just one aspect.”

It goes without saying that the traditional condiment of choice in most Caribbean households is (hot) pepper sauce.

Fiery, tangy, savoury, sweet; whichever way it comes, pepper sauce is beloved by almost everyone in the region and is put it on everything from salads and sandwiches to rice and meat, and even mixed in curries, soups, and stews.

Some people might rely on store bought bottles of pepper sauce, but a lot of households have their own ‘secret’ recipes which have been passed down through generations.

Barbadian entrepreneur Nick Bynoe started making his own version of pepper sauce when he returned to the island in 2015 after living for some time in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Canada.

Nick loves food and cooking but had no formal experience in the food industry after spending most of his career in warehousing, logistics, and operations.

However, when he realised his home island was importing lots of the same types of pepper sauce and did not even have a brand to call its own, he saw a gap in the market and an opportunity that could not be missed.

“The lightbulb moment came when I saw so many flavours and variations of pepper sauce in the international, mainly US market,” Nick recalls.

“I started watching YouTube videos and reading articles about the global trend in demand for speciality, small batch pepper sauce but I didn’t see a lot of genuine Caribbean representation. The idea grew from there.”

Despite his lack of professional culinary skills and his personal intolerance to hot, spicy food, Nick’s first batches of artisanal pepper sauce, made with smoked peppers, charred pineapple, local herbs, and spices were an instant hit with his friends and family.

Nick states: “Once I realised the business was going somewhere, I just tweaked the sauce a bit to make it more efficient for production because it wasn’t realistic to char the number of pineapples that I would need. I also chose peppers that were more readily available.

“After one or two adjustments we got it just right and we really let the ingredients speak for themselves because there are no fillers or preservatives. Once the real, natural ingredients are good, the sauce is good”.

Two more pepper sauce flavour profiles were soon added, the sweet and spicy ‘Pepper Punch’, and the milder ‘Zesty Jalapeno’.

All that remained was to officially name the business, but when Nick tried to register his local brand in 2018, the name he had in mind was already taken.

Slightly disheartened, he joined some friends on the beach for a bonfire and one of them suggested the name “Duppy” which in the English-speaking Caribbean means ghost or spirit. Nick liked the connotation and felt it even fitted in well with the sauce’s smoky origins.

Five years later and the ‘Old Duppy’ product line has gradually expanded to include five different kinds of pepper sauce along with tamarind sauce, BBQ sauce, Vex vinegar, Bajan Ganoush dip, and chili oil.

Nick has now turned his attention to exporting and took a major step towards achieving his goal of selling in the UK and Europe when he was accepted onto a 10-month ‘Launch to Market’ programme facilitated by the Caribbean Export Development Agency in September 2021.

Nick says: “‘Launch to Market’ really made us step back and focus on what larger markets would expect from our product. That programme was extremely helpful because as a small producer we would never have been able to afford that kind of assistance.

“Working with experts really gives you some unique insight into what you need to do for export and opens your eyes. The help was amazing and immeasurable.”

Last year, Nick had ‘Old Duppy Foods’ incorporated and took on a new business partner. The brand also took part in the Speciality & Fine Food Fair in London in September 2022 under the Caribbean Export umbrella.

“Taking ‘Old Duppy’ to England was always aspirational,” Nick states. “So, to see people there tasting and enjoying the product was very rewarding. We learned what the British market likes and doesn’t like, and it led to so many connections with buyers and distributors.

“We knew what we had to focus on and within a month we were working with an importer and distributor that matches the size of our brand, so we’ll grow together. Our first shipment to the UK went out in November and our second shipment is being prepared now.”

Nick believes the UK distribution deal will lead to more orders and to fulfil demand he has partnered with Export Barbados’s newly opened International Food Science Center in Bridgetown to assist with bottling and labelling.

In the short term, he is concentrating on developing a footing in the UK and plans to target two other major overseas markets. The long-term goal, he jokes, is “global domination”.

Nick adds: “When we decided to really have a go at this, we knew that Barbados was the foundation and an important part of the story. But we are very niche, so if we want to grow, we can’t stay in Barbados or even the Caribbean.

“One of my main goals is for tourists to come here and ask for ‘Old Duppy’ to take back with them. Not just a pepper sauce, any pepper sauce, but a Barbadian brand.”

A contingent from The Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export), recently met with government stakeholders and partners in Saint Lucia to discuss the Agency’s services, impact and relevance. Led by the Executive Director Deodat Maharaj, during March 22- 24, 2023, Caribbean Export’s visit to Saint Lucia aimed to establish clear priorities and chart a concrete programme of support for local businesses.

During the visit, Caribbean Export met with partners, including the Prime Minister, the Minister of External Affairs and International Trade and Civil Aviation, staff of Ministry of Commerce, Manufacturing, Business Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs, Invest Saint Lucia and the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture.

The team had the pleasure of meeting the Honourable Philip J. Pierre, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia and hearing his government’s priorities, particularly on trade and investment. From the extensive discussions it was clear that the Agency’s work mirrors the government’s transformational agenda, which focuses on creating jobs and opportunities for the people of Saint Lucia. Caribbean Export lauded the Prime Minister on his imminent launch of the Youth Economy Agency and attendant programme that seeks to build capacities in Saint Lucia’s young entrepreneurs.

Caribbean Export also engaged in discussions with the Honourable Alva Baptiste, Minister for External Affairs, International Trade and Civial Aviation and his team. Here, the meeting focused on international partnerships and leveraging Caribbean Export’s role in assisting in the implementation of agreements such as the EU-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) through years of dedicated support in training, capacity building and overall technical assistance to the private sector to take advantage of those agreements. In light of the UK-CARIFORUM EPA, the agency is looking forward to similar focused work.

As the Agency continues to pave the way for transformative investments across the Caribbean, one of the highlights of Caribbean Export’s visit was meeting with Invest Saint Lucia’s CEO, Octavian Charles, and his team. During the discussions that surrounded the identification of bankable investment projects around three main priorities; renewable energy, digital economy and agriculture technology, Caribbean Export took the opportunity to signal the upcoming second iteration of its Caribbean Investment Forum scheduled for October 2022.

Said Mr. Maharaj of the visit, “The discussions demonstrated a clear appreciation of our strategic plan’s priority areas, which are fully consistent with Saint Lucia’s goals. I’m delighted with our engagements over the three days, and we look forward to strengthening our support to the Saint Lucian private sector.”

As a dedicated organization committed to promoting trade and investment across the Caribbean, Caribbean Export shares the vision of business playing a vital role in the region’s economic growth. The organization is proud to be leading the way in facilitating transformative investments, supporting local businesses, and creating jobs and opportunities for the people of the Caribbean.

Caribbean business and the Region’s trade and investment agenda will benefit following yesterday’s agreement between the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) and Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) – the development bank of Latin America, on a framework of cooperation to support private sector transformation across the Caribbean.

The Heads of the two institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in The Bahamas at the 44th CARICOM Heads of Government meeting on the 16th of February 2023.

Caribbean Export and CAF have agreed to work together in the areas of research, data collection exchange and analysis on sustainable development, trade and investment promotion issues affecting Latin America and the Caribbean with the view to strengthening opportunities for sustainable private sector growth.

Central to regional transformation will be the institutional strengthening and capacity building of businesses to enhance the productivity and sustainability, particularly in the areas of technology and innovation, digital transformation, green energy and entrepreneurship. Together they will focus on addressing key issues related to regional integration, trade and investment promotion.

CAF is a development bank focused on improving the lives of Latin American and Caribbean people. An institution which aims to become the green and blue bank of the region, CAF vision aligns well with Caribbean Export’s areas of strategic focus to advance the region’s transformation.

Thirty Business Support Organisations (BSOs) and 150 businesses from across the region will participate in a 5-month joint online training initiative to support E-commerce adoption as part of their business strategies and operations. The technical support provided under the Virtual E-Commerce Accelerator Programme (VEAP) started today, Thursday February 2, 2023.

Two Caribbean digital transformation specialists, Gilbert Williams and Leighton Campbell are facilitating the training and coaching. These master trainers met with representative from BSOs in 13 Member States over a period of five weeks to prepare them with core content and strategy that will allow each of the BSOs to work with at least 5 businesses throughout the rest of the programme. The BSOs will work together with the master trainers to guide the businesses to successfully adopt e-commerce leading to increased sales and expanded market reach.

“The VEAP is part of Caribbean Export’s wider digital transformation of business agenda. Key design elements of the programme include building the capacity of BSOs to deliver e-commerce adoption initiatives to their clients during and beyond the project’s life.  I am confident that we have developed a unique and adequate methodology to achieve this outcome.” – stated Phillip Jackson, Programme Lead and Advisor for Innovation and Digital Business.

The VEAP is an 18-month Technical Cooperation (TC) supported by a grant from the French Development Agency through Expertise France, the French international technical cooperation agency and implemented by Caribbean Export Development Agency.

The current training will be followed by a second installment of the programme that will incorporate the lessons learnt from the first iteration. The second phase will target a new cohort of businesses.

For more information or to get involved contact Phillip Jackson at : pjackson[at]carib-export.com