News

The new decade ushers in a new focus by the Caribbean Export Development Agency to leverage the support of the European Union (EU) to bolster private sector growth within the Caribbean.

This year marks the 4th year of implementation of the EU’s 11th European Development Fund (EDF)Regional Private Sector Development Programme, which is focused on market penetration, increased access to finance and providing more targeted approaches to enhancing firm capacity, amongst others.

Since the start of the programme the Agency has supported a cadre of companies across CARIFORUM in areas such as business development, capacity building, export promotion, and export development, and has so far awarded $3.5M (BBD) or €1.5M in grant funds, and is preparing to award even more grants in 2020. Despite these results, there remains a need to revisit the vision for private sector development in the Caribbean given the rapidly changing global trade landscape.

H.E. Ambassador Daniela Tramacere, Head of the EU Delegation to Barbados, Eastern Caribbean, in a recent interview said institutions such as Caribbean Export have been doing a tremendous job to increase Caribbean firms’ export potential and capacities; but there was an urgent need to ensure the sustainability of this effort as capacity development and access to finance remain important challenges. She stressed that there is need for a concerted plan of action among all relevant stakeholders, public and private, to look for synergies and avoid duplications.

To that end, Ambassador Tramacere said: “Considering the fiscal challenges faced by the governments in the Caribbean, the private sector has an important role to play as a driver for economic growth and job creation. Therefore, access to finance is a ‘pre-condition’ for companies seeking to drive economic growth, maintain competitiveness and create jobs.”

She continued, “This is where the EU’s support to capacity building activities targeting Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in particular are important to identifying the right sources of finance.”

In 2018 and 2019 Caribbean Export partnered with the Caribbean Development Bank to support the access to finance pillar of the Women Empowered through Export (WE-Xport) programme. This saw participating MSME’s increase their understanding of the requirements of financial institutions and receive ongoing coaching in sourcing finance from both traditional and via alternative sources such as angel investment.

Further, through a programme funded by the World Bank, Caribbean Export has established CBAN – the Caribbean Business Angel Network (formerly known as Regional Angel Investor Network or RAIN) in 2017/2018 to support the development of a regional angel investment eco-system.

“We recognise access to finance is a major challenge for SMEs and we will be announcing the 3^rd Call for Proposals in May 2020 when companies will be able to apply for a €10,000 grant through our Direct Assistance Grant Scheme” informed Anthony Bradshaw, Officer in Charge at Caribbean Export.

As the Agency continues to roll out work programme activities whilst implementing the Regional Private Sector Development Programme, expect to see more partnerships like this being leveraged to pool resources and increase the overall support to the private sector in the Caribbean.

The investment promotions agency of St. Vincent and the Grenadines – Invest SVG has announced that the country’s inaugural SVG Investment Forum will be held on 2^nd May 2020 on the island of Bequia.

The announcement comes at a time when more and more countries across the world are competing to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) particularly as this is the third consecutive year for global decline in FDI according to UNCTAD’s 2019 World Investment Report.   

It is noted however, that despite this the Caribbean continues to receive some of the highest levels of FDI in the world and thus making initiatives such as this a prime opportunity to increase visibility and awareness for investment opportunities.  Further, the SVG Investment Forum 2020 comes within the country’s 40^th year of independence and it is anticipated that this will provide an added bonus to increase the country’s visibility internationally and of course with investors. 

Executive Director at Invest SVG Annette Mark described in her remarks how they wanted to expose investors to the culture, way of doing business and to expand their perception as to what could be possible.  The aims of the event are to produce “heightened visibility as a prime jurisdiction in the Caribbean for investment.  To generate investor leads… and to give investors who are not familiar with St. Vincent and the Grenadines and opportunity to meet public officials and to understand how we do business here”.

Ms. Mark also shared how the investors that would be in attendance would be ‘qualified’ beforehand, to ensure the highest quality of investor leads, ultimately increasing the possibility of doing business. 

InvestSVG is expecting to attract over 100 attendees including qualified investors, government officials, private sector representatives and development partners to the event in May, which is being supported by the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) the Caribbean Development Bank and Compete Caribbean.

Gayle Gollop, Legal Advisor at Caribbean Export delivered remarks on behalf of Officer in Charge, Anthony Bradshaw who was unable to attend. 

“Caribbean Export recognizes that the Vincentian economy is focused on growth in the upcoming years. The IMF projected a 2.3% growth in 2020 for the economy fuelled by increased tourist arrivals. It is however recommended that sustainable growth be achieved by enhancing the competitiveness of the local private sector, increasing exports and investments and reaching new markets, which will lead to increased GDP, foreign exchange earnings and employment. We view the Investment Forum as an important step in establishing linkages and promoting investment into the country and achieving this growth objective.”

Pictured from left: Mr. Anthony Regisford, Chairman of the Board – Invest SVG; Ms. Gayle Gollop, Special Advisor – Legal Affairs, Caribbean Export; Mr. Russell Franklyn, Operations & Financial Coord. – IDB Compete Caribbean; Ms. Annette Mark, Executive Director – Invest SVG

Barbados has joined five other Caribbean countries to launch an online investment guide or iGuide with the support of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export), the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA) and the European Union.

“The development of an iGuide is an effort to improve our region’s investment facilitation” informed Mr. Damie Sinanan, Manager for Competitiveness and Export Promotion at Caribbean Export.  Caribbean Export serves as the Secretariat for CAIPA which is focused on attracting investment into the Caribbean and supporting regional investment promotion agencies.

The iGuides are a product of UNCTAD which enables potential investors to discover investment opportunities, get a better understanding of a country´s business costs, key procedures and laws, providing a range of useful information to support the decision-making process.

At the launch Chief Executive Officer of Invest Barbados, Kay-Anne Brathwaite expressed “We are confident that the launch of the Barbados iGuide site will augment the country’s efforts of making it easier for investors to do business in and with Barbados. We know that the iGuide represents best practice in the provision of information to investors and we anticipate that the iGuide will be a tool to attract more foreign investment in line with our developmental needs”.

Caribbean Export in cooperation with the EU and CAIPA has been working with UNCTAD to develop iGuides for Caribbean countries as part of an overall Regional Investment Promotion Strategy (RIPS).  To date, they have supported the launch of iGuides in Jamaica, Curacao, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines thus far, with an iGuide previously existing in Antigua and Barbuda.  This latest launch in Barbados brings the total number of Caribbean based iGuides to five and there are two more iGuides in development for St. Kitts and Nevis, Turks and Caicos, whilst plans are in place to also include Trinidad and Tobago on the platform.

“The idea is not just to promote Barbados but to promote the whole Caribbean as a market for investment opportunities. And, if you can present the big market, which is the Caribbean, you would be much more successful in attracting investment,” shared Ian Richards, Economic Affairs Officer at UNCTAD.

The Caribbean Export Development Agency has recently received commendation from H.E. Ambassador Daniela Tramacere, Head of the EU Delegation of the European Union to Barbados, Eastern Caribbean, OECS and CARICOM/CARIFORUM, for the agency’s work involving the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement or EPA.

The CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement or EPA is a trade and development partnership signed in 2008 by the 15 states of CARIFORUM and the EU’s 28 countries, with objectives to facilitate trade and investment between the EU and CARIFORUM and to catalyse development across the Caribbean.

Ambassador Tramacere praised the work done by Caribbean Export on the promotion of Caribbean firms at international fairs and fora, including business-to-business meetings like those held in Frankfurt, Germany at the 4^th CARIFORUM-EU Business Forum in September 2019, and which have paved the way to a number of leads.

In addition, Ambassador Tramacere evoked that supporting CARIFORUM firms to leverage the CARIFORUM-EU EPA and to transform market access opportunities into real market penetration has been at the forefront of the Caribbean Export Development Agency’s work programme which is being funded by the European Union.

Since 2010, approximately EUR 52 million (about 58.1 million U.S. dollars) have been dedicated to enhancing the competitiveness and value of the Caribbean brands through the delivery of transformative and targeted interventions in export development and investment promotion. 

Concerning the CARIFORUM-EU EPA, the EU Ambassador remarked, “The region has one of the best Economic Partnership Agreements which provides duty and quota free market access for all Caribbean products. Unlike other EPAs that the EU has concluded, the CARIFORUM-EU EPA also provides substantial market access for services”.

Caribbean Export released a series of explainer videos to support increased awareness in the private sector for the benefits of exporting to Europe.  “We recognize that the average person isn’t going to sit down to read a trade agreement and so we wanted to break it down so businesses understood more easily the opportunities available and how they can leverage the benefits of the EPA whilst exporting to Europe” informed Dr. Damie Sinanan, Manager – Competitiveness and Export Promotion, Caribbean Export.  

The series not only breaks down general provisions such as duty and quota free market access and rules of origin, but also sector specific provisions making it easier for viewers to understand how practitioners in sectors such as music, food, craft and Information Communication and Technology (ICT) can leverage the EPA when exporting to Europe.  The EPA video series was a significant resource added to the Agency’s CE-Intelligence portal which was launched in 2018.  The CE-Intelligence portal provides information for its users in the areas of trade and business intelligence; access to finance with a listing of financial institutions and opportunities across the region; step by step export guides; foreign direct investment and a section on food safety providing information on the market entry requirements of key markets such as the EU, the USA, and Canada.

To learn more about the EPA, go to Caribbean Export’s website or follow this direct link: https://www.cedev.local/the-epa/.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force on May 25, 2018 across Europe and was designed to modernise laws and protect the personal information of individuals and give control to individuals over their personal data.  Further, it aimed to streamline the regulatory environment for business in the use of personal data and the protection of privacy rights of European citizens.  GDPR also applies to non-European Union (EU) companies processing European personal data outside the EU and since its adoption the regulation has become a model for many national laws outside of the EU. 

Within the Caribbean, there remains a level of uncertainty surrounding the regulatory framework and the manner by which governments, businesses, and entities collect, store and disseminate private data of EU citizens.  As such, companies and public bodies within the Caribbean could encounter serious challenges in the conduct of their business with EU operators and citizens.

In view of this, a two-day workshop on the requirements and conditions of compliance with the EU GDPR for public administrations and regional social partners is being organised. This activity is funded by the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument (TAIEX) of the European Commission in cooperation with the Caribbean Export Development Agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH or GIZ in short, the CARIFORUM Secretariat, the Barbados Coalition Services Industries and the Ministry of Foreign Trade for the Government of Barbados.

The workshop is scheduled to be held on 29-30^th of January 2020 and supports the EU’s goals through raising awareness and understanding about the EU data protection regulation.

Six companies from the Eastern Caribbean participated in the 4th edition of the TechBeach Retreat which took place in Montego Bay, Jamaica, from December 5-7 2019.

The two-day event brought together hundreds of participants including technology entrepreneurs from the Caribbean and North America, and 52 world class keynote speakers from multiple global companies like The New York Times, Forbes and Inc. Magazine, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, Massy and Airbnb, among others.

The six participating technology companies from the Eastern Caribbean were: IslandTEK, eMagine Solutions Inc, Converge Solutions Inc, and Big Brother Technologies (based in Saint Lucia); and airZoon and Wimediacom (based in Martinique).

The mission was part of the INTERREG Trade Enhancement for the Eastern Caribbean (TEECA) project which is coordinated by the Chamber of Commerce of Martinique (CCI Martinique) along with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the Territorial Collectivity of Martinique and the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export).

The delegation was led by OECS Competitive Business Technical Specialist, Kwesi Roberts; and Special Advisor for Trade and Legal Affairs at the Caribbean Export Development Agency based in Barbados, Gayle Gollop.

This year, the TechBeach Retreat was sponsored by Google and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Participants had the opportunity to attend key presentations on the current state of innovation, entrepreneurship and disruptive technology in the region. The event also enabled the six entrepreneurs to participate in B2B meetings during which they had the opportunity to network with global players in the area of technology, access new products and services, and showcase innovations made in the Caribbean.

Co-Founder of TechBeach Retreat, Kirk-Anthony Hamilton, highlighted: “The event sought to foster collaboration among like minded individuals in the area of technology and strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. The nonhierarchical nature of the event allows people to meet tech leaders and exchange ideas in a relaxed environment”. Hamilton said.

Panel discussions, round tables and presentations were delivered on the following matters:

• The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Fifth Horizon;
• Life with Machines: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation;
• Blockchain Technology and Digital Assets;
• Cashless Societies: Scaling Fin-Tech Solutions to Mainstream Impact;
• Smart Infrastructure and the Future of Cities;
• Google Innovation and Reinvention: The Intelligent Enterprise and the Experience Economy;
• The Future of Work: Exploring the Technological Transformation of Industries;
• Cyber Security and the New Paradigm of Everyday Life;
• The Future of Health and Well-Being; and
• Entrepreneurship and Innovation within the Digital Revolution.

Participants also attended workshops for Start-Ups and Corporates on eGovernance, Scaling and Venture Capital.

This article was originally posted on St. Lucia News Online

Curacao is the newest country to launch an iGuide, or online investment guide, with the support of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export), the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA), the European Union and the Ministry of Economic Development in Curacao.

The iGuide, launched on Monday, is an online repository of information on the opportunities and conditions for investment in Curacao. iGuides are a joint product of UNCTAD and the International Chamber of Commerce. 

Speaking at the launch event, President of CAIPA, Ms. Tessa Jacques noted, “This iGuide for Curacao, is the fourth one that we have launched in the Caribbean so far. We are very pleased to be working with UNCTAD and Caribbean Export for the development of eight iGuides for the Caribbean region. We have so far launched the iGuides for St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Jamaica, during the last three months.”

“We look forward to launching the iGuides for Barbados, St. Kitts & Nevis, the Turks and Caicos Islands and Trinidad & Tobago in 2020,” added Ms. Jacques.

The Minister for Economic Development of Curacao, Ms. Giselle McWilliam highlighted the significant benefit of the iGuide to Curacao, noting, “Curacao as a small island, needs to work hard and invest a lot to be captured and discovered by potential investors. We need to compete with other islands, cities, countries and continents. So, when UNCTAD offered us the opportunity to join the iGuide platform, we accepted immediately. Through such an important international organization like UNCTAD and [CAIPA], we are assured of broad coverage, to capture attention worldwide and regionally.”

This position was supported by the Executive Director of the Curaçao Investment & Export Promotion Agency (CINEX), Ramon Koffijerg, who said, “Many are already familiar with the Investment Guide of CINEX, where all the detailed information is available, online and in hard copy, explaining the investment benefits of Curacao. However, what makes the UNCTAD iGuide very special to us, is the value it carries given the endorsement of the United Nations. This not only adds the element of respect, trust and validity to the information we share, but more so expands our reach into networks we would not have been able to tap into. on our own, as a small island in the Caribbean.”

“Investors are reticent to invest without adequate information,” explained Suzette Hudson, Snr. Advisor, Investment Promotion, Caribbean Export, adding, “It is our hope to have iGuides developed for all the countries that we support as an Agency. In this way, we would have created information ‘one stop shops’ for investors, improving the business climate in the Caribbean by reducing the time and the costs that investors face in trying to secure information from various sources.”

The iGuide for Curacao can be found at:  https://www.theiguides.org/public-docs/guides/curacao

Caribbean small island developing states, or SIDs, were exposed to key strategies in attracting and facilitating investment into projects that seek to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs), at a recent seminar titled: ‘Facilitating Investment in SDG-Projects’, held in St. Kitts from November 26-28.

The 17 SDGs, adopted in 2015 by the United Nations member states, are strategies focused on peace and prosperity, preservation of oceans and forests, and are also meant to end poverty. These strategies include improving health and education, reducing inequality and spurring economic growth.

Forty delegates attended the regional seminar which covered topics including the strengthening of value chains in the region to support the attainment of the SDGs, the importance of partnerships to achieve the goals, as well as the role of Special Economic Zones and innovative modalities of financing SDG projects. The importance of attracting investment that considers issues such as gender equality and linkages to the domestic economy were also covered, along with the relevance of international investment agreements to the Caribbean.

The seminar was hosted by the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export), secretariat for the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA), in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the St. Kitts Investment Promotion Agency (SKIPA).

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, the Honourable Shawn Richards, noted that the Caribbean SIDs face significant challenges including vulnerability to exogenous shocks, climate change and the socio-economic impact of brain drain.

“Resilience building must…be our developmental priority as part of a multi-faceted plan that includes climate adaptation and economic diversification” the Deputy Prime Minister noted. He added “It makes sense therefore that the small island developing states of the Caribbean focus on attracting investments that do not increase our vulnerabilities or jeopardize the sustainable use of our natural resources.”

This position was supported by the President of CAIPA, Ms. Tessa Jacques, who indicated that, “It is the intention of CAIPA to play its part in ensuring that our members attract investment that will meet the needs of today, while safeguarding the ability of future Caribbean generations to meet their own needs.”

“Our Agency has…been at the forefront regionally in creating the partnerships needed to support the achievement of our sustainable development goals as a region” noted Ms. Jasemin Weekes, the St. Kitts and Nevis Board member for Caribbean Export, in reference to the cooperation forged with CAIPA and UNCTAD, among other regional and international agencies. “These relationships have strengthened our capacity to deliver on our mandate as an export and investment promotion agency and will support our achievement of the SDGs as a region.”

The event was deemed timely by UNCTAD, given the falloff by 32-percent in foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to the Caribbean in 2018 relative to the previous year. Mr. Paul Wessendorp, Chief of the Investment Promotion Section in the Division on Investment and Enterprise at UNCTAD shared the findings of UNCTAD’s 2019 World Investment Report, that FDI in small island developing states “remains fragile and dependent on a few capital-intensive projects…in construction, as well as hotels and tourism”. Further, “FDI is the largest source of external finance for developing countries and as such, has the potential to create higher skilled employment, access to technology and international markets and can help achieve the SDGs. It is our aim to offer support to countries, in particular the SIDs given their special vulnerabilities, in the attraction and facilitation of projects that will meet their SDGs. We are particularly pleased to have worked with Caribbean Export and CAIPA in making this event a reality.”

The 3-day event welcomed 40 key delegates from across the region and saw the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between CAIPA and the Caribbean Agribusiness Association to forge relations to collaborate for the attraction of investment into the high-tech agriculture sector.

The seminar ended with the hosting of the CAIPA Annual General Assembly, which focused the attention of the Caribbean investment promotion agencies on the continued collaboration with UNCTAD, the definition of a CAIPA 2020 work plan and the development of a financial sustainability strategy for the Association.

The event was funded by the European Union under the 11th European Development Fund Regional Private Sector Development Programme and UNCTAD.

Participating countries included: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Bonaire, the British Virgin Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The billion-dollar Global music industry has changed rapidly over the past 10 years alone.  Some may argue that the digital age has made it that much more accessible with social media platforms supporting artist and new music discovery.  However, the introduction of streaming shook up the industry causing adaptation and change to enable artists capitalise through the monetize digital music.  

YouTube along with other social media platforms has birthed stars allowing unknown artists to reach parts of the world they couldn’t imagine and creating a demand or following for their music long before any record label picked them up.  But how do artists get discovered online?  And how can the Caribbean musicians leverage digital platforms to export their music globally?

These are some of the questions the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) is attempting to answer with its Business of Music (BOM) programme.  “Understanding of the digital music industry is imperative if an artist is going to succeed and the Business of Music training programme aims to build the capacity of artists, managers, producers and those involved in the music industry” informed Allyson Francis, Services Specialist at Caribbean Export.

Since 2017, the Agency has worked with Business Support Organisations (BSOs) specifically the Coalition on Services Industries (CSIs) from across the region to enable those involved in the industry to participate in BOM sessions via the online self-learning platform, and face to face workshops.  A  new dimension to this training was the instructor led webinars. Over 120 people have participated in these initiatives thus far and most recently, the Agency held a two-day workshop in collaboration with COSCAP (Copyright Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Inc.) and the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) and the ‘knowledge company’ Music Ally Ltd in Barbados.

The workshop welcomed twenty-three (23) participants from nine Caribbean countries who gained insight on topics such as the mystery of YouTube’s algorithm and how to optimise it; how to develop a lean and mean online campaign; how to leverage tools such as Chartmetric amongst others.  Participants also performed digital health checks to get a better understanding of how they or their artists are viewed online and increase their understanding of how their music can be discovered.

“This isn’t an age now where you can simply sit back and relax and hope that people get involved with you and your music simply by making music available.  You’ve got to be regularly interacting with people” stressed the CEO and Co-founder of Music Ally Ltd – Paul Brindley.

“You have to go where the music fan is so that means making sure that all of those channels are absolutely properly optimised, so your Youtube, Spotify, all the social media platforms and make sure they are all linked together” he continued.  “Make the music fans life as easy as possible and so think through the eyes of the music fan and think, how are they going to discover me?”

“Our managers, musicians, artists need to leverage the tools that are out there and do everything they can to increase their chances of being discovered” commented Francis.  “At Caribbean Export we are committed to providing the necessary support, but we can only take you so far.”

One participant from Saint Lucia Akeem Anderson, artist and producer from Onel Sound Productions summed up his experience, “The last two days have been nothing but beneficial.  The majority of us who have been in attendance are pretty much individuals who have gotten our feet wet already in the business and in the industry.  We’re getting some gigs, we’ve had some success, we have a little bit of notoriety.  However, the information that they’ve disseminated is going to allow us to chisel in our characteristics and our skills, honing in on our good qualities and strengths and maximise our resources however limited or expansive that they may be in to reaching not just a regional audience but also an international audience and getting the revenue we desire for our work and our intellectual property”.