May 2014

CONSULTANCY OPPORTUNITY! 
CLUSTER FACILITATING FIRM: To provide general technical support, facilitation services, advice and training to Clusters selected for development of a Cluster Competitiveness Improvement Plan (CCIP) under the Program's Support to Cluster Initiative, and to elaborate and present the CCIP in the program's format on behalf of the Cluster.  Learn More... 

Donor Coordination Gives Big 
Boost To Belize Shrimp Farms 
Through its Enterprise Innovation Challenge Fund (EICF), Compete Caribbean recently granted a Belize based cluster, the Belize Shrimp Growers' Association, USD500,000 dollars to prepare for the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) international certification and to improve its global competitive edge.
View their  riveting story below.
Boost To Belize Shrimp Farms

Compete Caribbean Supports
Ornamental Fish Cluster In Jamaica
The objective of this project is to promote the cluster's ability to efficiently deliver quality ornamental aquatic products to international buyers, at competitive market prices. The target beneficiaries of this project are inner-city youth in Jamaica.  

View a short video on this project below.

 
Ornamental Fish Farm 

GROW YOUR BUSINESS IN THREE SIMPLE STEPS: CONNECT, LEARN AND FINANCE

 

Join ConnectAmericas, the premier online community of companies in Latin America and the Caribbean dedicated to international trade and investment.

 

LEARN...Discover how to expand your business to other countries.

CONNECT...Find new opportunities for your business.

FINANCE...Explore financing options available to your international business.


The IDB initiative is the first social network for businesses in the Americas. ConnectAmericas is being developed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) with support from four partners: Google, DHL, Alibaba and Visa.

With the slogan "Take the world with your hands," the goal of the platform is to foster the internationalization of companies, in particular Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by providing contacts, content and financing options.

CGF Follows Up In St. Kitts  
On June 11, St. Kitts will hold its first CGF Accountability Workshop to present the status of implementation of priority actions over the last 12 months.

Following this exercise, a CGF Capacity Building Workshop will also be held in St. Kitts on June 12 and 13.

 

The workshop will aim to address four main areas:  

  • Monitoring government reforms: international experiences (Government and Private Sector together)
  • Monitoring reforms and government performance techniques (Government and Private Sector together + other local stakeholders)
  • Building Constructive Engagement between Government and Private Sector in finding solutions to growth (Government and Private Sector together
  • Strengthening internal communication, modus operandi and rules of engagement of the Observatories (only Private Sector)
A CGF regional launch event was held in St. Kitts on February 26, 2013 where three central themes that anchored all future activities of the CGF for the following 18 months were identified: (i) Logistics and Connectivity; (ii) Investment  Climate; and (iii) Skills and Productivity. Within the three areas both economy-wide and sector specific discussions took place.

 

The CGF is organized in two phases: Phase 1 - Focused on identification and prioritization of the concrete actions through a quick mobilization of actors and resources, during which the CGF facilitated the process; and, Phase 2 - Focused on the implementation by the government, with the CGF facilitating the public accountability reporting on the progresses in the implementation of the prioritized actions.

Click For More Info! 

For the first time, Barbados, an English speaking Caribbean nation with a size of 430-square kilometers and a population of 270,000 will be hosting the
World Environment Day (WED) celebrations.

This marks the first occasion that the occasion is being hosted in this part of the hemisphere following its 2001 hosting by Cuba. Barbados is considered to be highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, especially as it relates to agricultural impacts and, the destruction of its coastal infrastructure and ecosystems.

Compete Caribbean supports the ethos that WED is an excellent opportunity to raise the call for solidarity between the islands. Similarly, Compete Caribbean will continue to encourage the development of innovative projects that seek to reduce and/or prevent the degradation of the environment amidst the challenges presented by the effects of climate change.
 

In particular, the Program held an eco-innovation open call in 2013 inviting applications for grant financing to support projects that were environmentally beneficial. By the close of the call, 37 applications were received from 12 CARIFORUM countries. Presently, Compete Caribbean is supporting eco-innovative efforts in Barbados, Haiti, Grenada, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago to the tune of approximately USD$2.25 million.

 

WED is the United Nations' principal vehicle for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the environment. Since 1972, it has grown to be a broad, global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated by stakeholders in over 100 countries.


'Hythe'

Welches

Maxwell Main Road

Christ Church

BB17068

Tel: 246-627-8500