Groups launch Regional Investor of the Year Award

The Caribbean Export Development Agency, in collaboration with the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA),{{more}} has announced the launch of the first Regional Investor of the Year Award for the members of CAIPA.

Member countries of CAIPA include: Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and the Turks & Caicos Islands.

A regional investor is defined as an investor into one or more of the aforementioned territories in the region. The Regional Investor of the Year Award has been developed to recognize and promote the contribution of both local investors within the region and foreign investors to the region. Their contributions include the creation of new jobs, adherence to high standards of corporate social responsibility, capital spending and largely fiscal support to economies through payment of corporate taxes, inter alia.

The Regional Investor of the Year Award will also seek to recognize investors in strategic areas of importance to the region, e.g. green energy, research and development, projects that involve a high degree of innovation and creativity and those that are championed by women. The awards to be presented include: Local Investor of the Year, Foreign Investor of the Year, and Special Awards will be presented to investors based on the assessment of the Evaluation Committee. An overall Regional Investor of the Year will be selected from the winners in these categories.

It is believed that “these best practices should be heralded as role models, demonstration projects or success stories within the region and promoted with the view to attracting similar investment,” observed Pamela Coke-Hamilton, executive director for Caribbean Export, host of the CAIPA secretariat. “At this moment, the Caribbean, as a whole, is not experiencing the significant inflows of investment that it had prior to the global crisis. However, there are a few investors whose resilience has been evidenced, despite the challenges and whose commitment to the growth of our local economies must be applauded. This initiative seeks to do just that – to highlight the good things that are happening in our region. I am confident that it will be a resounding success and Caribbean Export is proud to be a partner in this effort.”

Investors from the region are encouraged to apply through the investment promotion agency (IPA) within their country of residence. Application forms can be obtained at the Caribbean Export website, where full details of the award categories will also be found.

The deadline for submission of applications is 11 October 2013 at 11:59 p.m. AST. Announcement of the runners-up in each category (local, foreign investors and special awards) will be made on 4 November 2013. The winners will be announced at the hosting of the CAIPA General Assembly on 22 November 2013 in Belize.

The distinguished Evaluation Committee for the Award includes: Professor Alvin Wint, Chairman of the Regional Investment Promotion Steering Committee for CARIFORUM and Adviser to the Pro-Vice Chancellor of the UWI; Fernando Gutierrez, International Account Manager, fDiIntelligence of the Financial Times Ltd; Percival Marie, Director General of the CARIFORUM Directorate, CARICOM Secretariat; Dav-ernan Kowlessar, representing the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce; Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency.

The Regional Investor of the Year Awardee will be featured as a regional success story on both the CAIPA and Caribbean Export websites, and in future promotional materials. The winning investor will also be invited to accompany CAIPA on at least one outward investment promotion mission in 2014.

“This is an excellent opportunity for us to highlight the significant contribution of investors to the regional economy. As President of CAIPA, I fully endorse this initiative and know I can count on the investment promotion agencies of the Caribbean to submit excellent recommendations for the award,” notes Ronald Theodore, President of CAIPA and Vice President at the Grenada Industrial Development Corporation.

This activity is implemented as a part of the work programme funded by the European Union under the 10th European Development Fund Regional Private Sector Development Programme that is managed by Caribbean Export.

For more information on the Regional Investor of the Year Award contact Suzette Hudson at shudson@carib-export.com