News

The Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) in cooperation with the European Union commenced a 3-day workshop to train Country Advisors from OECS countries on the Direct Assistance Grant Scheme (DAGS) at the Trade Winds Hotel, St. John’s, Antigua yesterday, April 4, 2018.

The Agency announced last month that grant funds would be provided to CARIFORUM businesses via the DAGS and they would be accepting proposals from businesses from April 23, 2018.  A key component to maximise the utilization of the grant funds allocated under the 11^th EDF Regional Private Sector Development Programme (RPSDP) is through ensuring companies understand the application process and the procedures.  Country Advisors are being trained across the region to provide assistance to companies during the application and reimbursement stages of the programme.

DAGS is a reimbursement grant funding facility specifically designed to provide financial assistance to legally registered firms and individuals with the potential to export their products and services.  Under the new DAGS programme grants from a minimum of €10,000 and to a maximum of €50,000 are available to CARIFORUM firms.

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Min. Asot Michael congratulated the Agency for the timely and crucial programme to support the region’s private sector encouraging firms to participate in the programme.

Direct assistance grants have typically been used by companies to modernize equipment, upgrade facilities to international food and quality standards, enhance products and packaging, implement alternative energy systems, train staff, develop collateral materials, market and promote products and services for export. The DAGS provides a platform that supports Caribbean businesses to become more innovative and compete internationally.

“Access to finance is a critical pillar to enable companies to expand, create new jobs for our economies and generate foreign exchange” highlighted Christopher McNair, Manager – Competitiveness and Export Promotion at Caribbean Export.

The Agency has now trained thirty-eight (38) Country Advisors across the region and details can be found on the Agency’s website.

The Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) in cooperation with the European Union today announced they are gearing up to provide grant funds to the CARIFORUM private sector via the DIRECT ASSISTANCE GRANT SCHEME (DAGS).

“The DAGS is one of the Agency’s most direct ways of providing support to the CARIFORUM private sector.  This reimbursement grant funding facility is designed to provide financial assistance to companies that are exporting or have the potential to export.  Under the revised DAGS programme, the ceiling for grants has increased to 50,000 Euros, with a minimum grant amount of 10,000 Euros” informed Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director, Caribbean Export.

Over the next few months Caribbean Export will be sensitising businesses and Business Support Organisations (BSOs) across the region on the process to apply under the Direct Assistance Grant Scheme (DAGS). This is to build the awareness of the Program ahead of the open call for proposals on April 23^rd, 2018. Additionally, the Agency will be training representatives from in each of the CARIFORUM countries to become DAGS experts. Named Country Advisors, they will provide ongoing assistance to businesses during the application and reimbursement stages of the Program.

Luis Maia, First Counsellor, Head of Cooperation at the European Union Delegation to Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean States, the OECS and CARICOM/CARIFORUM during his remarks stressed the vital role of small businesses in the creation of employment or for the reductions of unemployment and thus is the intention of the European Union to enhance the operation of small businesses in the Caribbean.   Small businesses provide “opportunities for those seeking to empower themselves to be innovative in developing businesses in new niche areas that can likewise employ others and also contribute to the economy. It is these types of enterprises that the Direct Assistance Grant Scheme will seek to foster and grow so that they can be positioned to penetrate export markets in the wider Caribbean as well as internationally, particularly utilising the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement” said Mr. Maia.

The European Union remains the world’s largest donor organisation and their cooperation with Caribbean Export to implement the 11^th EDF Regional Private Sector Development Programme valued at EUR 24 Million is a key regional initiative ultimately to support the increase employment creation, inclusiveness, particularly for youth, women and indigenous groups, and overall poverty reduction in CARIFORUM states.

“Given the need for urgent foreign exchange inflows to each of our regional economies, it is my view that DAGS can be leveraged, as an innovated investment interruption of our fragile economies through the mapping of creative funding options like this with an equally commensurate enterprising business support regime” expressed the Hon. Donville Inniss, Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development.  Minister Inniss went on to say, “I am therefore of the strong view that going forward the focus of access to capital and market interventions must primarily be on local enterprise competitiveness among those MSMEs that fall within identified special priority sectors of the region.”

DAGS is reimbursement grant funding facility specifically designed to provide financial assistance to legally registered firms and individuals with the potential to export their products and services.

Direct assistance grants have typically been used by companies to modernize equipment, upgrade facilities to international food and quality standards, enhance products and packaging, implement alternative energy systems, train staff, develop collateral materials, market and promote products and services for export. The DAGS provides a platform that supports Caribbean businesses to become more innovative and compete internationally.

Caribbean Export is now taking applications from Caribbean women-owned businesses to participate in their newest programme: Women Empowered through Export or WE-Xport.

At the Hilton Barbados Resort, Caribbean Export in cooperation with the European Union announced the commencement of the WE-Xport programme which aims to support Caribbean women in business to grow their businesses through assisting in their development to either start exporting or increase their exports, namely to the European Union, utilising the benefits of the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement.

EU Ambassador, Daniela Tramacere said: “The European Union is therefore pleased to provide financial support to Caribbean Export’s efforts to assist the growth and development of female-owned firms in the Caribbean to increase their competitiveness in the local, regional and international markets”.

Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director at Caribbean Export encouraged the regions female entrepreneurs to take full advantage of the WE-Xport programme and the opportunity to grow their businesses, connect with others and make their mark in our region, “we know you have the potential to do great things with your companies and with the right mix of support we aim to provide”.

WE-Xport is said to address women-owned businesses access to finance through the provision of workshops and technical assistance in partnership with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).  “We recognise that access to finance is an obstacle too many women owned MSME in our Region face and therefore ensuring access to finance and business advisory services is essential to unlock the economic potential of the region” said Monica La Bennett, Vice President of Operations (CDB).  The programme will have an intensive business coaching programme to build the participants capacity and also increase their access to export markets and networks.

Further, an MOU was signed between Caribbean Export and UN Women as their commitment to work together in raising awareness around many of the challenges women face in conducting business and to advocate on their behalf to address these constraints and drive greater change and inclusion in our regional economies. Representative from UN Women, Alison McLean shared that the economic empowerment of woman is one of the mail of objectives of UN Women and they have developed the “women empowerment principles which offer practical guidance to the private sector on how to empower women in the work place, market place and communities”.

Senator, the Hon. Maxine McClean highlighted that many women operated “lifestyle businesses” often as a means to supplement income and was therefore pleased that the WE-Xport programme provides an opportunity to empower female entrepreneurs to move outside of their limitations.

The WE-Xport programme is open to businesses from CARIFORUM States that are at least 51% owned by a woman or women and has been in operation for at least two years.  Full details of the eligibility criteria can be found on the Agency’s website.

A new mobile application called Findrpro has received $5,000 USD investment via the LINK-Caribbean programme’s 5-5-5 pitch competition.

In the recently held Bahamas edition of the competition, sister co-founders Yamel Marshall, and Janay Pyfrom-Symonette presented their new mobile app that promises to provide a digital on-demand platform to connect consumers with a reliable network of service providers in the Bahamas and provide them with instant estimates and prices ranges for desired services.

The sisters found that they were struggling to contract service providers to get things done such as household repairs, electricians and plumbers. After a few years of developing the idea, Pyfrom-Symonette, who has a strong background in web application development and technology systems for business start-ups, applied to the LINK-Caribbean 5-5-5 pitch competition to advance the business further.

“It’s a data-intensive initiative, so we do require a research assistant that will provide support to our strategic partners and gather market intelligence needed to code dynamically into the web and mobile applications. We will be using the investment to support staff salaries to assist with this,” Pyfrom-Symonette said.

Five judges comprising local high-net-worth individuals and members of the entrepreneurship ecosystem judged the five companies who pitched. The judges were Raymond Jones, Donald Demeritte, Keva Cartwright, Sean Brennen, and Christopher McNair. They felt that the proposition presented by Findrpro was not only great for the market but also has the potential scalability.

“We received 27 applications to pitch from The Bahamas alone, which is a great indication of the entrepreneurship ecosystem apparent in this market,” said McNair, manager of competitiveness and export promotion at Caribbean Export. To date, a total of 97 applications have been received across those markets that will be hosting pitch competitions.  The final two pitch competitions to be held in Grenada and Saint Lucia are open to all businesses in the OECS and have been rescheduled to take place in April 2018, allowing more time for entrepreneurs to submit pitch decks and apply before March 16, 2018.

Caribbean Export and the World Bank Group under the Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC) initiated the pitch competition to raise greater awareness around the LINK-Caribbean programme and to support the development of a vibrant angel investment ecosystem within the region.

The World Bank Group, together with the Caribbean Export Development Agency, launched LINK-Caribbean, funded by the government of Canada under the auspices of EPIC. The investment facilitation program aims to enable early-stage Caribbean entrepreneurs to raise capital from private investors, particularly business angel investors.

Accessing finance to fund business ventures has long been an issue across the Caribbean, especially for women.  Now that the Caribbean Export Development Agency and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) have joined forces to tackle this challenge, sourcing funds could become easier for women-owned businesses in the Region.

The two organisations today signed an agreement to collaborate on a new programme, Women Empowered through Export (WE-Xport), to support capacity-building for women-owned businesses to facilitate their access to finance.  A key component of the new initiative to be launched in March 2018 by Caribbean Export, will be “Access to Finance”, and will include a two-day workshop that aims to increase participants’ understanding of the requirements of financial institutions and how best to meet them.  Ongoing technical assistance through regional business support organisations will also be available to participating companies through the CDB-funded component.

“CDB recognises the importance of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises as contributors to economic growth and development in our Region. We welcome the opportunity to partner with Caribbean Export to give women-owned businesses the support they need to gain better access to financing. We view WE-Xport as another opportunity for the Bank to directly advance women’s entrepreneurship, and help women business owners overcome one of the greatest obstacles they face when looking to grow their businesses—unlocking financing,” said Daniel Best, Director of Projects, CDB. 

During his statement at the signing of the agreement, Best noted that between 2013 and 2017, CDB provided lines of credit to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) totalling approximately USD18mn and benefitting 974 MSMEs across the Region. The Bank’s support for interventions targeting women business owners builds on research it commissioned in 2016, which identified gender disparities in access to credit across the region. As part of its response, the Bank is also collaborating with regional development financial institutions to develop gender policies.

Executive Director of Caribbean Export – Pamela Coke Hamilton expressed her gratitude to the CDB for catching the vision of the WE-Xport programme early in the initial planning of the project and partnering on the critical access to finance pillar.  “As we brainstormed ways of supporting women owned businesses, we recognized that we needed to address the constraints they face in applying for funding. The project which we are collaborating on with the CDB will seek to increase the capacity of women entrepreneurs to better prepare proposals to meet the requirements of the financial institutions. Through your support we will be able to provide training and technical assistance (TA) to 10 women-owned Micro, Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) and 10 Business Support Organisations (BSOs).”

Caribbean Export works closely with the European Union to implement a range of activities that support the development of the region’s private sector.  Their cooperation for the empowerment of women via WE-Xport is poised to be a game changer for women who participate in the upcoming programme.  WE-Xport aims to strengthen and support women-owned enterprises to increase their access to finance, improve and build their capacity as entrepreneurs, increase access to markets (including networking and being integrated to value chains) and advocate on issues and public policies that negatively affect female entrepreneurs.

At the signing, Mr. Luis Maia, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean States, the OECS and CARICOM/CARIFORUM reminded of the long relationship between the EU Delegation and Caribbean Export of close to 20 years of cooperation working towards the development of the region.

“Caribbean Export has been a valued partner in our cooperation with the region and without their assistance we would not have been able to fulfil our mandate towards private sector development and otherwise. Currently the EU is contributing with €24 million to increase employment creation, inclusiveness, particularly for youth, women and indigenous groups, and overall poverty reduction in CARIFORUM countries through targeted interventions that provide new and innovative frameworks for growth and development” shared Mr. Maia to the attending audience.

A new online tool developed by the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) with funding from the European Union has been launched.  The SME Diagnostic Tool was developed to assist CARIFORUM SMEs increase their export competitiveness.  exporTT have adopted the tool which will be utilised as a central aspect of their Export Competitiveness Project launched.

“I am delighted that exporTT is the first Business Support Organisation (BSO) in the Caribbean to adopt the SMEs Diagnostic Tool Assessment project as the foundation for building export competitiveness. The SMEs Diagnostic Tool Assessment is in essence a response to the global economy which demands that successful industries are comprised of competitive firms producing modern and innovative products and services” commented Norris Herbert, Trinidad and Tobago’s Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade.

The SME Diagnostic tool provides a standardised, expert-based methodology for accurately assessing SMEs and identifies the areas where development is required in the areas of management, production, access to finance and marketing.

“As we live and work in an information age, how many BSOs and TPOs can scientifically speak about the needs of their members with the relevant data to back up and show where their deficiencies lie? This is why the SME diagnostic tool which will be pioneered with exporTT is so valuable and essential for TPOs and BSOs to incorporate into their operations.” Shared Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director at Caribbean Export.

Caribbean Export worked closely with the European Union to develop the Regional Private Sector Development Programme and one of the key ways to support regional business to increase their exports is through the provision of trade and business intelligence.

“The EU is pleased to work with and support valued partners such as exporTT and the Caribbean Export Development Agency which focuses on private sector development,” said Aad Biesebroek, Ambassador of the EU Delegation to Trinidad and Tobago.  “While Governments are essential for creating the conditions for businesses to prosper, we all agree that it is ultimately the private companies, the core of which are the SMEs that create jobs and growth.”

Caribbean Export collaborated with Trinidad and Tobago’s exporTT to incorporate the SME Diagnostic tool within their Export Competitiveness Project as it will become the first step in prescribing interventions to improve a firm’s export competitiveness.

As the SME Diagnostic tool is rolled out to BSOs across the region it is anticipated that more firms will become better equipped to utilise the opportunities under the EPA increasing exports and competing globally.

Given the existing contribution of the outsourcing sector to job creation in the Caribbean region, coupled with its potential for expansion, calls are being made for greater levels of priority to be given to the outsourcing sector.

Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency Pamela Coke-Hamilton said more needs to be done by regional governments in seeking to position the Caribbean for the trending opportunities in the business outsourcing industry.

Ms. Coke-Hamilton made the plea as she addressed the opening session of the inaugural staging of the Outsource to the Caribbean Conference (OCC) sponsored by itelbpo, under the theme “Leveraging the Nearshore Caribbean for Outsourcing Services”, on December 6, 2017. The conference was held at the Iberostar Rose Hall Beach Hotel in Montego Bay, Jamaica, where representatives from over 26 countries gathered to discuss how best to attract more business from international companies to the Caribbean in areas such as call centre operations, website and animation design and legal and accounting services.

Pointing to the outsourcing sector’s existing contribution to job creation in the region and its potential for expansion, Ms. Coke-Hamilton highlighted that an average of 5,000 workers were being added to the BPO sector annually. “In 2010, the sector provided employment for 47,000 workers and by 2015, this number had increased to 74,000… BPO and other professional services generated over US$2 billion in revenue in 2014. Calculations show that companies in the region generate close to US$25 million in revenue for every 1,000 agents”, said Ms. Coke Hamilton.

According to the Caribbean Export Development Agency’s Executive Director, outsourcing investors are working overtime to expand their services in the Caribbean, despite the region being late comers to the business of outsourcing. “The Caribbean is a late comer to this industry but besides our educated, multi-lingual, customer focused talent pool – we have several other qualities needed to make this sector a resounding success story for the region,” contended Ms Coke-Hamilton.

Drawing reference to an outsourcing sector investor perception survey recently conducted by her organization, Ms. Coke-Hamilton pointed out that investors perceived the Caribbean as a strategic or ideal location for outsourcing, “as we provide time zone proximity and low operating costs to investors, as a nearshore destination, we are within a similar time zone as New York, with daily flights from key markets…from Miami, we are 45 minutes to our nearest destination and up to 3 hours to our furthest”, she told the investors.

The survey also highlighted that 45% of investors indicated that their future business plans entails expanding within the Caribbean in the next 12-24 months. “This is amazing news for the region and it means that those outsourcing firms who are here are experiencing success and want more. In making their investment decisions our respondents have noted that this forms part of a regional strategy. This is a significant motivation for us at Caribbean Export to support the promotion of the Caribbean for investments given that investors are looking regionally. They are not thinking of setting up only in one territory but several’, said Ms Coke-Hamilton.

Another interesting find of the survey is that 100% of investors have indicated that they will be employing additional talent in the next 12-24 months, and they will be looking to the Caribbean for this labour, given the human capital assets of communication skills, ability to learn quickly and the professional nature of the Caribbean’s talent pool.

According to Ms. Coke-Hamilton the survey also highlighted developmental issues for the Caribbean including the need to be more creative in its incentive packaging, additional training for its people and the need to provide more data or market research on the sector.

Also speaking at the opening session was Jamaica’s Finance Minister Audley Shaw who indicated that some 26,000 persons are currently employed in the industry across the island with some 60 companies of varying sizes operating from its shores. He stated that one aspect of his government’s response to the requirements of the BPO industry is to ensure that its people are trained and equipped with the necessary skill sets to meet the demands of investors. “There is now the drive to diversify the local industry and move Jamaica up the value chain by delving deeper into new areas such as Shared Services, Legal Process Outsourcing, Computer Aided Design and Medical Process Outsourcing. These areas will present new challenges including the language barrier. We must equip our workers and position ourselves to leverage all the investment we can”, said Minister Shaw.

He further added that the geographical spread of investors within the BPO industry is an area the government has taken note of. He pointed out that the Factories Corporation of Jamaica has been tasked with providing real estate solutions for a variety of industries, including the BPO sector. He said some 365,000 square feet of the Morant Bay Urban Centre and 750,000 square feet of the Naggo Head Technology Park will see spaces developed for the BPO sector.

Other notable speakers at this first ever Outsourcing conference in the Caribbean was Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, The Honourable Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson. She implored upon investors that if customer retention was their goal, then the Caribbean is the place to do business. “In the Outsourcing Sector retaining talent is often a challenge, in the Caribbean, BPO’s service providers can boost attrition rates as low as 3% in Suriname and 5% in Haiti, which further supports the Caribbean’s case compare to other major outsourcing markets like India at 40% or Mexico at 25%.

The Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export), in collaboration with the world’s largest donor organization, the European Union, pulled together some of the region’s most influential business leaders and private sector representative organisations to answer this very question last week at a Private Sector Engagement Meeting in Kingston, Jamaica.

The meeting included a feature address from former Prime Minister of Jamaica Mr Bruce Golding who stressed that the region’s private sector collectively has the power to effect positive change in the region’s legislation and to drive the business climate in a manner that supports economic growth.  However, this is not currently happening due to the lack of a recognised regional private sector body to represent their needs when policies and trade relations are discussed by governments at the regional level. Without the private sector, the Governments cannot achieve the kind of sustainable economic growth needed to affect GDP.

H.E. Ambassador Malgorzata Wasilewska, Head of Delegation of the European Union to Jamaica, Belize, Turks and Caicos Islands, the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands, highlighted in her welcome remarks that the private sector is the engine for growth and plays a critical role in spearheading how the regional economies develop.  As the largest donor of Caribbean Export, the two organisations work together to support the increase of employment creation through the provision of targeted interventions of which the region’s private sector may take advantage.  Ultimately the development and growth of the region’s private sector will contribute to the overall goal of poverty reduction and sustained economic growth.

Executive Director at Caribbean Export, Ms Pamela Coke-Hamilton stressed that in view of the rapidly changing global trade environment and seemingly nationalistic foreign policy in the wake of BREXIT, the U.S. abandoning the Trans- Pacific Partnership Agreement and the approaching expiration of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement in 2020, the Caribbean will be significantly affected and therefore must be organized.

“As we face a rapidly changing environment, we need to ensure that our national and regional policies are adjusted to meet the new demands or challenges that they will face. Now is the time to move forward with the establishment of a regional body with private sector representation at the broadest cross sectoral level; a body that will become an integral partner in regional Public-Private Dialogue (PPD).”

With issues such as the current policies in relation to the free movement of labour which are hindering regional trade yet to be addressed, the attending private sector representatives collectively agreed that they needed to hold CARICOM and their governments to account for the implementation or lack thereof of the policies and regulatory frameworks that will improve the business environment and facilitate growth.

Joseph Cox, Assistant Secretary General, Trade and Economic Integration, CARICOM Secretariat emphasized the need for unity between the private sector across the region to ensure regional development.  A unified regional private sector would be more effective as it relates trade relations especially when it is results orientated in its approach.

It was clear from the attending participants that businesses want trade to happen and that there is a need to co-ordinate across the region for better PPD.  At the end of the meeting the grouping made a commitment to work together and signed an agreement on the way forward that will lead to the development of a relevant regional private sector body to represent their interests regionally and internationally.

De Jeunesse Bath and Body Products, a company that manufactures high-quality, natural bath and body products, earned the top prize at the launch of the LINK-Caribbean Pitch Competition held November 21  at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago.

They wowed the judges with their pitch from a field of five competing firms and walked away with the coveted $5,000 prize. Chief Executive Officer Shenelle Hills-Fife said, “We are overjoyed but we also realized that it does not matter what kind of company you have. If 

you show your passion, demonstrable evidence that the business can work and get feedback from customers, then you are in business — if not, it is a hobby. We plan on using the funds to purchase equipment that will triple our current production capacity.”

Like many start-up founders, Hills-Fife juggled full-time work with developing a business, but quit her day job earlier this year to concentrate fully on growing her business. “This is only the start. We intend to apply for the $25,000 USD LINK-Caribbean Investment Readiness Grant and even the Co-Investment Grant given the increased interest of investors in our company,” she said.

The 5-5-5 Pitch Campaign is the latest initiative of LINK-Caribbean in an effort to find more investable businesses, or “deal flow” for the region’s Angel Investor networks. The competition allows five entrepreneurs to pitch their businesses to a panel of five investors, with the top successful business selected to receive a $5,000 cash award.

“We decided to run this initiative to raise greater awareness around the LINK-Caribbean programme and to ultimately spur a more buoyant angel investment ecosystem within the region,” explained Chris McNair, manager of Competitiveness and Export Promotion at the Caribbean Export Development Agency. The LINK-Caribbean pitch campaign will continue in the Bahamas, Grenada, and Saint Lucia in 2018 and all interested entrepreneurs are encouraged to submit applications via the website www.link-caribbean.com.

Untitled-design-13.pngThe World Bank Group, together with the Caribbean Export Development Agency, launched LINK-Caribbean in September 2016, funded by the government of Canada. This investment facilitation program aims to enable early-stage Caribbean entrepreneurs to raise capital from private investors, particularly business angel investors.

Title sponsor of the upcoming Outsource to the Caribbean Conference OCC2017, Itelbpo Smart Solutions, is committed to ensuring that the conference, the first of its kind to be held in the Caribbean, is a success.

Yoni Epstein, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Itelbpo Smart Solutions, a Jamaica based organisation, explained that he supported the vision of the conference, which is to attract Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies to the region.  “I think that the region is poised for success and all we have to do is [implement] more initiatives like conferences in order to show the world that we are ready as a region and can compete with the best in the world right in North America’s back yard,” he said.

Mr. Epstein opened Itelbpo Smart Solutions in Jamaica in 2012 and since then has expanded operations to The Bahamas and Florida.  He credited his growth in the region to a number of factors.  “The people are our biggest asset. It’s why so many other industries are successful. Our proximity, cultural affinity [and] telecoms infrastructure [are also important]”, he pointed out, while noting that the Caribbean was a much nicer destination than India or the Philippines.

The BPO executive added that Governments could further assist in the development of BPOs like his in the region by creating a competitive fiscal landscape in which businesses could operate; ensuring that regulatory bodies are compelling telecommunications companies to constantly upgrade their infrastructure; providing suitable financing for the building of BPO space; and ensuring that the human capital is well trained.

Itelbpo Smart Solutions provides inbound and outbound sales and customer service; medical billing; online chat; email response campaigns; and google advertising management and website development. The services are offered in the areas of travel and tourism, car rental, automobile, medical, telecoms and utilities.

Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, Pamela Coke Hamilton, noted that her Organisation, which is one of the organisers of OCC2017, was extremely pleased to have Itelbpo Smart Solutions onboard as the title sponsor.  “The commitment of Itelbpo Smart Solutions, a company with such high standards and which has been so successful in the region, is testament to how important the development of this sector is to the region.  I encourage more organisations in the BPO sector to get on board as we seek to devise strategies to further develop the sector,” she stated.

Mr. Epstein has over 17 years of professional experience in the contact center industry and is the first Vice-President of the Business Process Industry Association of Jamaica (BPIAJ) as well as a Board Director of the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), Jamaica’s investment authority and  Montego Bay Free-Zone Co. Limited.  He is also the Chairman of Alpha Angels, an angel investment group made up of other entrepreneurs in Montego Bay, Jamaica that invests in early stage start-ups.

The CEO of Itelbpo Smart Solutions was also recently named Entrepreneur of the Year by Nearshore Americas and ranked one of the 50 most influential executives in Nearshore Outsourcing in Latin America and the Caribbean.   Additionally, Itelbpo Smart Solutions was awarded Employer of the Year in 2013, 2014 and 2015 by the Montego Bay Free Zone Company.  It is the only business in Jamaica to date to win this prestigious award for three consecutive years.

Mr. Epstein is scheduled to be a panelist at OCC2017 and will address the topic Outsourcing the Itelbpo Way.  Other speakers include Ms. Pamela Coke Hamilton; President of JAMPRO, Diane Edwards; Vice-President of Caribbean Operations at Advantage Communications, Christine Werner; and Account Manager at Sutherland Global Services, Lowenfield Alleyne.

OCC2017 will be held on December 6, 2017 at Iberostar Rose Hall Beach Hotel, Montego Bay, Jamaica under the theme Leveraging the Nearshore Caribbean for Outsourcing Services.  It is being organised by Caribbean Export in conjunction with the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA) and is funded by the European Union via the 11^th European Development Fund (EDF).