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Third Regional Caribbean Growth Forum
June 16-17, 2015Sandals Resort, Pigeon Island, St Lucia
This event will bring together in Saint Lucia, Caribbean heads of state and over 200 government officials, private sector, civil society and development partners to discuss what are the new strategies and tools necessary to achieve growth in the Caribbean.

What’s the solution to low growth in the Caribbean?

For three years, over 2,500 government, private sector, civil society leaders from 15 Caribbean countries have been working together through this initiative to find answers to this exact question – implementing over 100 reforms to boost skills, productivity and the overall business climate.

Join us for the 3rd regional Caribbean Growth Forum in Saint Lucia as the region discusses new strategies to achieve sustainable growth and promote innovation and entrepreneurship.

Have your say. Tag your tweets with #caribgrowth.

 

TUESDAY JUNE 16

HARNESSING GROWTH IN THE CARIBBEAN

 

8:00-9:00 - Registration and Breakfast

9:00-9:45 - Official Opening Remarks by Hon. Dr. Kenny D. Anthony, Prime Minister of the Government of St Lucia

9.45-10.00 - Keynote: Global Economic trends and Implications for the Caribbean Region.  Marcelo Giugale, Sr. Director, Macroeconomics & Fiscal Management, World Bank

SESSION I GROWTH, COMPETITIVENESS AND JOBS

10:00-11:30 - The Caribbean region’s interventions of the past decades aimed at spurring growth have not led to the expected outcomes. Supply-side responses, focused on improving the overall investment climate and on removing obstacles to growth, have not generated the expected growth rates and employment levels.  What would it take for growth to resume? What are the strategies and tools necessary to achieve growth? How can Caribbean small states diversify their sources of growth?  

  • Chair: Hon. Dr. Kenny D. Anthony, Prime Minister of the Government of St Lucia 
  • Daniel Lederman, Deputy Chief Economist, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, World Bank; 
  • Edgardo Favaro, Senior Consultant
  • Didacus Jules, Director General, OECS Commission

11:30-11:45 - Coffee break

SESSION II TRADE AND DIVERSIFICATION 

11:45-13:15 - What would be the best strategy for the Caribbean region: diversify products and services or trading partners? Is there scope for further regional trade integration? Where are the opportunities to enhance export performance?  

  • Chair: Daniel Lederman, Deputy Chief Economist, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, World Bank       
  • Malcolm Spence, Senior Coordinator, Intellectual Property, Science and Technology Issues in the Office of Trade Negotiation (OTN) of the CARICOM Secretariat
  • Lino Briguglio, Professor of Economics, Director, Islands and Small States Institute, University of Malta
  • Alberto Trejos, Former Minister of Foreign Trade, Costa Rica

13:15-14:30 - Lunch Keynote. 

  • Introductions: Tracy Polius, Permanent Secretary of Planning and National Development in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Social Security, Saint Lucia
  • The Case of Mauritius. Sen Ramsamy, Managing Director, Tourism Business Intelligence, Vanilla Islands, Africa & Middle East

SESSION III PRODUCTIVITY, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION

14:30-16:00 - Labor costs too high for light manufacturing – at the same time, deficit of skills to compete at a higher level of technical sophistication. What is the story of productivity in the Caribbean – is labor too expensive for manufacturing and not high skilled enough for high-tech? What needs to be done to raise productivity in the region? What is the role of the services sector in the Caribbean growth model?  

  • Moderator: Inder Ruprah, Regional Adviser, Caribbean, Inter-American Development Bank
  • Preeya Mohan, University of the West Indies, SALISES, Caribbean Center for Competitiveness 
  • Martha Licetti, Senior Economist, World Bank
  • Avinash D. Persaud, Chairman of Intelligence Capital Ltd

16:00-16:30 - CLOSING REMARKS

  • Sophie Sirtaine, Country Director, World Bank

18:30-21:00 - DINNER AND CULTURAL EVENT, Courtesy of the Host Government

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WEDNESDAY JUNE 17

INNOVATIVE APPROACHES AND ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR GROWTH

 

9:00-9.15 - Youth Testimonial 

SESSION IV - ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION

9:15-10:45 - Can innovation fuel growth and new market opportunities for Caribbean economies? Where do we see examples in other parts of the world of innovative clusters creating new and exciting economic prospects, and what can the Caribbean learn from them? What are the right strategies to stimulate innovative, growth oriented enterprises, entrepreneurs and foster the right ecosystems for them to succeed? 

  • Moderator: Valerie D’Costa – Program Manager, infoDev, World Bank
  • Justin Ram, Director of Economics, Caribbean Development Bank  
  • Rikhi Permanand, Executive Director of the Economic Development Board and the Council for Competitiveness and Innovation, Ministry of Planning and Sustainable Development, Trinidad and Tobago
  • Danielle Irons, DRT Communications, recipient of First Angel Jamaica Investment, Jamaica 
  • Jessica Colaco, Director of Partnerships at iHub, Kenya 

10:45-11:00 - Coffee Break

SESSION V - INNOVATIVE APPROACHES FOR FINANCING THE PRIVATE SECTOR

11:00-12:30 - How can the financial sector help support growth? What is the role of the banking sector in providing an expanded range of financial services tailored to the needs of the Caribbean economies? What are new and groundbreaking approaches for financing SMEs / entrepreneurs in the Caribbean? How can the private sector and government support these approaches to ensure sustainability?  

  • Moderator: Ann Rennie, Lead Financial Sector Specialist, World Bank
  • Caroline Cerruti, Senior Financial Specialist, World Bank
  • Phillip Cross, Scotiabank St. Lucia
  • Mrs. Claudine Tracey, General Manager Strategic Services, Development Bank of Jamaica
  • Mariame McIntosh, Partner, Portland Private Equity Fund

12:30-13:45 - Lunch – Caribbean Diaspora Capital

  • Moderator: Zahra Burton, Founder of Global Reporters for the Caribbean and the Executive Producer of 18 Degrees North
  • Honorary Guest Speaker: Dr Martin Russel, Associate Director, Diaspora Matters/UNU-MERIT Fellow

SESSION VI - HOW TO SUPPORT GREATER PARTICIPATION IN GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS

13:45-15:15 - Global value chains (GVCs) are creating more and more of world income. Data at the individual country level indicate that being part of GVCs is associated with a higher growth rate since the mid-1990s. How can you be competitive when you are small? What can public policies do to harness market opportunities in industry segments? What lessons learned from industry-specific reforms? What process can firms follow to enter GVCs and benefit from transmission channels between the global chains and domestic value-added? This session will present a few sector cases.  

  • Chair: Daria Taglioni, Senior Trade Economist, World Bank
  • Indera Sagewan-Alli, Head of Caribbean Center for Competitiveness
  • Desiree van Welsum, Senior ICT Policy Expert, Associate Partner, Innovia Ventures
  • Lorna Green, CEO, GSW Reel Rock Animation, Jamaica  
  • Andre Boersma, General Manager, Sugar Beach Resort, St Lucia
  • Holger Cray, Lead Agriculture Economist, World Bank

15:15-15.30 - Coffee Break 

SESSION VII - CGF’s ROLE IN SUPPORTING GROWTH: STOCK-TAKING AND OUTLOOK

15:30- 17:00 - Reforms in the Making: Taking Stock of progress of CGF National Dialogues, Regional Cooperation and Ensuring Sustainability. How successful has the CGF process been in supporting reforms in the three areas identified to date? What has worked? What has not worked? In light of the event’s discussions and lessons learned, what is the suggested contribution of the CGF to continue supporting reforms going forward? What will be the role of regional cooperation in the reform process? 

  • Chair: Timothy Antoine, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Grenada
  • Syed Akhtar Mahmood, Lead Investment Policy Officer, World Bank Group
  • Hon. K Dwight Venner, Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank 
  • Aine Brathwite, President of OECS business council

17:00-17:30 - CLOSING SESSION: Reflections on way forward 

  • Keynote Speaker: Sophie Sirtaine, Country Director, the Caribbean, World Bank
  • Keynote Speaker: Ms. Emma Hippolyte, Honourable Minister for Commerce, Business Development, Investment & Consumer Affairs.
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SIDE EVENTS 

MONDAY JUNE 15

 

ROUNDTABLE WITH CGF FOCAL POINTS

3:00-6:00pm - Stocktaking of Caribbean Growth Forum.Participants: Government Focal Points 

HIGH LEVEL PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP EVENT

1:00-1:30 - Welcome Addresses

  • Dr. Justin Ram (CDB)

1:30-2:00 - The Risks and Rewards of PPPs 

  • Introduction: Dennis Blumenfeld (MIF/IDB)
  • Brian Samuel (CDB)

2:00-3:00 - Panel Discussion: Sharing PPP Experiences

  • Coordinator & Moderator: Matt Bull (PPIAF)
  • Denise Arana (DBJ Jamaica) 
  • Stewart Smith (Ministry of Health Trinidad & Tobago) 
  • OECS Perspectives: Fitzroy James (Minister of Finance Granada) (To be confirmed)

Audience Q&A

3:00-4:00pm - Trending Issues in PPPs:

  • Coordinator & Moderator: Dennis Blumenfeld (MIF)
  • PPPs and Fiscal Management: Rui Monteiro (World Bank)
  • Managing Unsolicited Proposals: Marcel Ham (RebelGroup)
  • Preparing Bankable Transactions: Darryl Davis (IFC)

Audience Q&A

4:00-4:30 - Overview of the Regional PPP Activity: 

  • Toolkit, Bootcamp, Helpdesk: Matt Bull (PPIAF)
  • Policy, Project Screening: Dennis Blumenfeld (MIF) 
  • Overview, timeline: Brian Samuel (CDB)

Audience Q&A

4:30-4:45 - Closing Remarks: Sophie Sirtaine (World Bank)

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TUESDAY JUNE 16

 

CGF TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP MEETING

8:00-11:00am - Roadmap for the way forward for the CGF

  • Participants: Government Focal Points, Permanent Secretaries and Private Sector Point Persons

  • Timothy Antoine, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Grenada

    Timothy Antoine is presently the Permanent Secretary in Grenada’s Ministry of Finance and Energy and Ministry of Economic Development, Trade, Planning and Cooperatives. From 2005 to 2007, Mr. Antoine acted as an Advisor to the Executive Director for Canada, Ireland and the Caribbean at the World Bank, working on behalf of the Caribbean and played a significant role in the establishment of CCRIF in 2007. An economist by training, he also is Chairman of the Grenada Authority for the Regulation of Financial Institutions, a board member of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and Grenada’s Operational Focal Point for the Global Environmental Facility.

  • Andre Boersma, General Manager, Sugar Beach Resort, St Lucia

    Andre, a Barbados-born, Dutch citizen, has close to 19 years of experience in the international luxury resort industry. Andre, studied Hotel and Restaurant Management at the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Vancouver, Canada, was the General Manager of One&Only Ocean Club on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, as well as having been Resident Manager of the One&Only Palmilla and Rosewood’s Las Ventanas, both in Los Cabos, Mexico. In addition to his experience in the Bahamas and Mexico, Andre has worked in Mallorca, Spain; the People’s Republic of China, and Canada.

  • Aine Brathwite, President of OECS business council

    Aine Brathwaite is one of two lead consultants with A J Business Solutions supporting small to medium-sized businesses in building sustainable and profitable enterprises.Having worked in a variety of sectors including education, public relations, cottage industry, retail, tourism and printing across Jamaica, Guyana, Saint Lucia and Grenada, Aine has a range of practical knowledge which she now employs to serve her clients. Her company has facilitated training for staff for major companies in Grenada as well as the Ministry of Social Development. In early 2015 she competed and won one of 15 slots to become accredited to deliver the Women Innovators in the Caribbean (WINC) Accelerator Programme. Aine’s commitment to the business sector and to national development can be seen in her continued activity in various organisations. During her tenure as President of the Grenada Chamber of industry and Commerce from 2011- 2014, she championed the cause of the small business and was responsible for drawing a significant number of small businesses into the Chamber. She has represented the private sector at the Social Partners Forum in Grenada in 2014 and currently serves as a Director on the Grenada Tourism Authority and the Grenada Solid Waste Management Authority. She also represents the private sector on the Grenada IMF Monitoring Committee and is the first Vice President of the OECS Business Council. Aine holds a first degree from the University of the West Indies and post-graduate Diplomas in Education from the University of Guyana and Business from the University of the West Indies.

  • Lino Briguglio, Professor of Economics, Director, Islands and Small States Institute, University of Malta

    Professor Lino Briguglio is the Director of the Islands and Small States Institute of the University of Malta and a member of staff of the Economics Department of the same University. He is known internationally for his seminal work on the “Vulnerability Index” which was published in World Development in 1995, which led to a worldwide interest and to many quantitative studies on economic vulnerability. He has also pioneered work on the measurement of economic resilience, in a paper published in Oxford Development Studies in 2009. He has acted as consultant to various international organisations on studies and reports relating to small states.

  • Zahra Burton, Founder of Global Reporters for the Caribbean and the Executive Producer of 18 Degrees North

    Burton is the founder of Global Reporters for the Caribbean, an organization that seeks to raise the bar on in-depth and investigative reporting in the Caribbean. She’s also the executive producer of the award-winning TV news magazine, 18 Degrees North, seen in 27 countries around the world. Before GRC, Burton lived and worked at Bloomberg Television in New York City until 2012. There, she covered the stock market from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Prior to joining Bloomberg, Burton worked for The Young Turks, a national radio show, and as a reporter for Television Jamaica in her hometown of Kingston. Burton holds a master’s degree from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication. She was also Miss Jamaica Universe in 2001.

  • Caroline Cerruti, World Bank Senior Financial Sector Specialist

    Caroline Cerruti is a Senior Financial Sector Specialist in the Latin America and Caribbean region of the World Bank. She works primarily on financial sector restructuring issues, non-bank regulation and supervision, and MSME finance. She has been involved in various financial sector assessments jointly with the IMF. Before joining the World Bank, Caroline worked for the French Treasury on trade and financial regulation issues, and for three years as a banker in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Caroline was educated at the Institute of Political Science in Paris (Sciences- Po), the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) in Paris, and is a CFA Charterholder.

  • Jessica Colaço, Director of Partnerships and Community at iHub

    She was the Founding Manager between 2010 and 2011 at iHub and Research Director between 2011 and 2013 at iHub Research. She is passionate about Innovation, Research, Mobile and Robotics Technology, Mentorship and Entrepreneurship in Kenya as she uses her position at iHub to court local, regional and international stakeholders to adopt Kenyanmade and African-made solutions. As an angel investor, she courts local and international investors to invest in great tech ideas and companies at idea and concept stage.

  • Holger Cray, Lead Agriculture Economist, World Bank

    Dr. Holger A. Kray, a German national, is Lead Agricultural Economist in the World Bank’s Agriculture Global Practice. His main fields are agricultural policy and rural strategy reform, climate-smart and sustainable agriculture, public sector management, and related international development finance. He has extensive working experience in Europe, Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well in a number of global initiatives. Before joining the World Bank, Mr. Kray worked as Senior Financial Sector Consultant for an international management consulting firm, mainly in the areas of change management and institutional reforms, and led a consulting firm working with international organizations such as the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), European Commission (EC), and the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Kiel University, Germany.

  • Phillip Cross, Scotiabank St. Lucia

    Cross, a Canadian national, has lived in the Caribbean for the past 13 years. Prior to coming to Saint Lucia, he served with Scotiabank in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Cayman Islands in Corporate, Commercial, Retail, Wealth and Insurance

  • Valerie D’Costa, Program Manager, infoDev, World Bank

    Ms. D’Costa holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the National University of Singapore and a Master of Laws degree from University College, University of London. Valerie D’Costa is infoDev’s Program Manager. She has led infoDev’s evolution from its original founding focus on information and communications technology for development (ICT4D) to current its role as a “learning lab” and convener for donors, client countries, and public and private sector actors around the innovation, technology and entrepreneurship agendas. The vision Ms D’Costa promotes for infoDev’s role today is to derive and test new approaches to support the growth of innovative, technology enabled new ventures; provide cutting-edge knowledge, networks and tools to developing countries to navigate these dynamic market and technology evolutions; collate lessons from success and ‘failure’ in the field; and promote the adoption and scaling of interesting and innovative new approaches that work by the World Bank, donors and other development partners. Ms D’Costa believes strongly in the promise and potential of innovative new ventures to create transformative, profitable and locally relevant solutions in their markets. She advocates infoDev’s grassroots approach to support these actors via start-up support facilities that give them access to mentoring, equipment, technical assistance, potential partners, and early-stage financing. She believes that by staying true to this ‘bottom-up’ approach, infoDev makes a unique difference and a significant contribution to the World Bank’s goals of alleviating poverty, growing jobs and livelihoods, supporting the growth of a strong private sector, and enhancing inclusive, sustainable development. Before joining infoDev, Ms. D’Costa served as the Director of the International Division at the Info- Communication Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), where she formulated the Singapore Government’s policies on international ICT issues and oversaw Singapore’s bilateral relations with other countries on these issues. She received a Public Administration Medal from the Singapore Government for her work in building Singapore’s international ICT trade and diplomatic ties. Ms. D’Costa had a distinguished career in private legal practice before joining her country’s nation-building efforts in government service at IDA.

  • Edgardo Favaro, Senior Consultant

    Edgardo Favaro, a Uruguayan national, is an economic consultant. Before his retirement from the World Bank he had been the Lead Economist and chair of the Thematic Group on Economic Growth and an expert in the economics of Small States at the World Bank. Before joining the Bank in 1992 he was the Senior Adviser to the President of Uruguay on budget management. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago. He is the author of Small States, Smart Solutions and several publications on economic growth, monetary policy and banking (Rand Journal of Economics etc.).

  • Lorna Green, CEO, GSW Reel Rock Animation, Jamaica

    Lorna Green holds a Bsc in Computer Science and an MBA in Finance & Telecommunications. Lorna has been an ICT Entrepreneur since 1994 operating a business she conceived and launched –Digital Transtec Ltd (DTL). She currently serves as its CEO and Chairman. DTL is the only ICT firm of its kind owned by a female in the English speaking Caribbean. The firm currently specializes in the development of software applications for the regulatory sector of the Aviation Industry and the Mobile Gaming industry. Prior to this refocus in its core business, DTL was among the top five firms in Jamaica supplying and servicing computer hardware and networks to major public and private sector entities. Lorna also serves as Chairman and is part owner of the Caribbean largest animation studio GSW Animation—Reel rock Studio. Lorna is recipient of the Alexander Graham Bell Award 1989 and the Jamaica Computer Society Life Time Achievement Award 2013. Lorna was the convenor and founding President of Chicago Concerned Jamaicans (CCJ)—a charitable organization-- for which she was honoured at its 25th anniversary in October 2012. She also was the convenor and is the current President of Women Business Owners Ja Ltd (WBO) which was founded in 2003. Lorna currently chairs the Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) and is a Commissioner for the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC). She also recently chaired the CITO Board and eGovernment Secretariat for the Government of Jamaica--- MSTEM. She is the proud parent of 2 children Abeng and Gillian “Fidgy” and loves travelling and reading

  • Didacus Jules, Director General, OECS Commission

    Dr. Didacus Jules is the Director General of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States. Born in St. Lucia Dr. Jules is known as a radical educator. He was influenced by the work of Paulo Freire and his early work included pioneering literacy work in the Prisons in St. Lucia (Eastern Caribbean). He was a principal actor in the National Literacy Campaign in Grenada during the revolution of 1979. He later served simultaneously as Chief Education Officer and Permanent Secretary for Education, Youth, Culture, Women & Social Affairs in Grenada. He serves on the International Journal of African and African American Studies Editorial Group. Following the demise of the revolution, he served as an education consultant helping to establish mass literacy programs in St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Vincent and other parts of the Caribbean. He worked internationally with multilateral agencies such as CIDA, the World Bank, SIDA and assisted the African National Congress in developing adult education programs for its cadres. Dr. Jules served as Permanent Secretary for Education & Human Resource Development in the Ministry of Education, HRD, Youth & Sports in St. Lucia from 1997-2004. He holds a BA (hons) in English from the University of the West Indies in Barbados, an MSc in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, an MBA from the University of the West Indies in Barbados and a PhD in Curriculum & Instruction and Education Policy from UW– Madison. He has written extensively on critical education, education policy, and public sector reform.

  • Daniel Lederman, Deputy Chief Economist, Latin America & Caribbean

    Daniel Lederman is a Lead Economist and the World Bank’s Deputy Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean. During 2011-12 he led the World Bank’s work program on Trade Policy and Integration in the International Trade Department (PRMTR). Since 1995 he held various positions in the Office of the Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean, and during 2005-2011 was Senior Economist in the World Bank’s Development Research Group (DECRG). Mr. Lederman has written extensively on a broad set of issues related to economic development, including financial crises, violent crime, the political economy of policy reforms, economic growth, international trade and labor markets. His research has been accepted for publication numerous professional journals, including the American Economic Review, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Law and Economics, European Economic Review, Journal of Development Economics, among others. He has authored or coauthored several books, including The Political Economy of Protection, From Natural Resources to the Knowledge Economy, and Does What You Export Matter? He holds a B.A. from Yale University, and M.A. and PhD degrees in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

  • Syed Akhtar Mahmood, Lead Investment Policy Officer, World Bank Group

    Syed Akhtar Mahmood is Lead Investment Policy Officer and Global Lead for Business Regulations in the Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice of the World Bank Group (WBG). He is also part of the WBG’s global team on public-private dialogue. He conceived, set up and managed the WBG’s largest country program on investment climate (in Bangladesh, from 2007-2010) and was co-author of the WBG’s Private Sector Development Strategy of 2002. In his 24-year career at the WBG, Mr. Mahmood has worked on privatization and state-owned enterprise reforms in the former socialist economies of Eastern Europe and Central Asia and Africa, and on private sector development issues in various regions of the world. In addition to the technical areas of trade, competitiveness and investment climate, Mr. Mahmood is also interested in the mechanics of policy reforms, including political economy, institutional and incentive issues in government, and stakeholder engagement. He earned his D.Phil. in Economics from the University of Oxford in 1989. His publications include The Political Economy of Development Policy Change (with Gustav Ranis), Blackwell 1991, which is a comparative study of East Asia and Latin America, and Direct Support to Private Firms: Evidence on Effectiveness (with Geeta Batra), World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 3170, November 2003.

  • Israel Mallett, Chief Creative of IDS Creative Inc., a creative agency based in Barbados and a member of the Caribbean Growth Forum Advisory Board

    With almost 10 years in the industry he has worked with many emerging businesses and entrepreneurs to build their brands and customer engagement strategies, which has led him to have first-hand experience in the challenges facing emerging businesses in the region. With a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree (Hons.) and a certificate in Marketing, Public Relations and Advertising, his focus is on developing creative and innovative linkages, projects and strategies to promote regional growth.

  • Mariame Mcintosh, Partner, Portland Private Equity Fund

    Mariame is a Partner at Portland Private Equity (PPE), a private equity fund that provides growth equity capital to companies in the Caribbean and Central America. Mariame joined in 2009 and leads the Fund’s due diligence process as well as portfolio monitoring activities for her closed deals (power, food processing, and hospitality real estate). Prior to joining PPE, Mariame spent 8 years as a Strategy Consultant at McKinsey & Company and Bain & Company where she advised CEOs and their management teams on growth strategy and operations. She was most recently a Manager in Bain’s New York office. In her spare time, Mariame volunteers with and is the President of TEACH Caribbean, an educational NGO she founded with other Jamaican Rhodes Scholars, focused on improving access to quality education for rural, economically disadvantaged youth via innovative methods. She also serves on the Boards of two commercial banks and one advertising agency in Kingston, Jamaica. Mariame was named a 2014 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Mariame has a BSc. in Electrical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and an M. Phil. in Economics from Oxford University where she attended as a Rhodes Scholar in 1998. Mariame is married with one son.

  • Preeya Mohan, University of the West Indies, SALISES, Caribbean Center for Competitiveness

    Preeya Mohan is currently a PhD candidate in Economic Development and Policy at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine. She was awarded the Eric Williams Memorial Scholarship for her PhD studies and her thesis focuses on Caribbean economic growth and development primarily through diversification strategies and policies. Her other research interests include Financial Economics, Caribbean economic history and Hurricanes. Ms. Mohan completed her MSc in Economics from the Department of Economics, UWI for which she was awarded the De la Rue Scholarship by the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago. She also completed her B.Sc. in Economics [Economics (major) and Finance (minor)] with first class honors from the Department of Economics, UWI for which she was awarded a National Scholarship from the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.

  • Rikhi Permanand, Executive Director of the Economic Development Board and the Council for Competitiveness and Innovation, Ministry of Planning and Sustainable Development, Trinidad and Tobago

    Dr. Ramnarais Rikhiraj Permanand is the Executive Director of the Economic Development Board (EDB) and Council for Competitiveness and Innovation (CCI) and has a wide range of international business experiences, ranging from R&D, new Business Development and change management. These were primarily developed during his twenty year career with Unilever Plc. He has lived and worked in the UK, Kenya, Venezuela and China and has travelled the world extensively on various business assignments. Eleven years ago Dr Permanand returned to his native Trinidad and Tobago and has since worked first with the private sector and currently with the Ministry of Planning and Sustainable Development seeking to identify new opportunities for sustainable socio-economic growth.

  • Avinash D. Persaud, Chairman of Intelligence Capital Ltd

    Avinash Persaud’s career spreads across finance, academia and public policy. He is currently non-resident Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington D.C, Emeritus Professor of Gresham College in the UK and non-executive Chairman of Elara Capital PLC. He holds a number of non-executive board positions. He was chairman, regulatory subcommittee of the UN Commission on Financial Reform; Chairman, Warwick Commission; Member of the UK Treasury’s Audit and Risk Committee and the Pew Task Force to the US Senate Banking Committee; Visiting Scholar at the IMF and ECB and Distinguished Advisor, Financial Sector Law Reform Commission of India. He is a former senior executive of J. P. Morgan, UBS, State Street and GAM London Ltd. He is a former Governor, London School of Economics and 2010 President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (Section F). He was elected Director of the Global Association of Risk Professionals and the Royal Economics Society. He won the Jacques de Larosiere Award in Global Finance from the Institute of International Finance and was voted one of the top three public intellectuals in the world on the financial crisis by a panel for Prospect Magazine. He was born in Barbados and after spending 33 years in the UK and US is now based in Barbados with his wife and twin boys.

  • Sen M. Ramsamy, Managing Director, Tourism Business Intelligence, Vanilla Islands, Africa & Middle East

    Sen M. Ramsamy is the Managing Director of Tourism Business Intelligence, a tourism consultancy firm operating from the island of Mauritius and providing advisory services and thought leadership in tourism in the Vanilla Islands (namely, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar, Reunion, Maldives, Zanzibar, Comoros, Mayotte) as well as in Africa and Middle East. Sen occupied the post of Director of Tourism, Hotels and Leisure (Mauritius and Vanilla Islands) for KPMG. Sen Ramsamy is a well-known public figure in tourism in the Indian Ocean region and Africa. He has 30 years of experience in the tourism industry starting his career at the Ministry of Tourism in Mauritius to subsequently climb up the career ladder to become official spokesperson of the tourism industry for the private sector where he worked as CEO of the Association des Hoteliers et Restaurateurs de l’Ile Maurice (AHRIM). Sen also spent 5 years in charge of Business Development for a major Arab conglomerate in the United Arab Emirates, with base of operations in Dubai. He has acquired hands-on experience in tourism management with primary focus on policy-making, planning and development, investment facilitation, tourism SME’s, market research, marketing, sustainable development, hospitality, eco-tourism and training. He is actively engaged in regional tourism with a new concept which he pioneered in the mid 90’s under the label of Vanilla Islands. In 2002, Sen was appointed by Government as President of the Hotel School of Mauritius and as Governor of the University of Technology where he had spearheaded the creation of a full-fledged Tourism Faculty. He had also initiated actions towards the creation of the Tourism Police and had won the Energy Globe Award 2003 for his works on Tourism and the Environment under the aegis of the United Nations. Sen served as Executive Council Member on several Government and apex private sector institutions. In 2003, Sen was unanimously appointed by 13 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa as Vice-President of the Regional Tourism Organization of Southern Africa (RETOSA), the tourism arm of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). Sen Ramsamy has authored numerous publications on tourism and related topics and he has travelled extensively across the world as Resource Person and Consultant for Governments, regional and international organizations, including the United Nations World Tourism Organization, World Trade Organization, International Labor Organization, Economist Intelligence Unit, Indian Ocean Commission and many more. Since 2004, he is a member of the Panel of Experts of the World Tourism Organization. He was also called upon by the Prime Minister of Mauritius to serve as President of the National Pay Council in 2007. Sen Ramsamy is graduated in Mathematics and Statistics in India. He completed his post-graduation in Tourism Management at the George Washington University in USA and at Pantheon Sorbonne University in France.

  • Eric A. Reid, CEO/Founder of CiBEXO Group (SPAGnVOLA)

    An award-winning, small business owner and industry expert in designing micro to medium scale chocolate manufacturing facilities. His primary focus is on premium chocolate production. Mr. Reid is a graduate of the Barry Callebaut Chocolate Academy and continues to immerse himself in the world of chocolate confections. He specializes in highlighting flavor characteristics through cocoa genetics and the role they play in creating distinct flavors and aromas. Born in Panama, Mr. Reid came to live in the United States at the age of two. He later received education in farm management. His extensive experience came from managing over 450 acres of private farmland cultivated with a variety of tropical fruits, including cocoa trees. He quickly became an expert in the cocoa bean fermentation and drying process. In addition to streamlining post-harvest procedures, Mr. Reid has pioneered a quality assurance process called, Fine Flavored Circle of Excellence, which brings forth the best aroma and flavor from cocoa beans. At SPAGnVOLA, they cultivate and process their own cacao beans the traditional way, by hand-picking perfectly ripened pods, sorting and skimming through the pulp and beans prior to fermenting them, drying them and grading them. They do this all to insure that only the finest make their way to their artisan factory in Gaithersburg, Maryland (USA). There, the cocoa beans are roasted and refined in small batches bringing out the flavor of the most exquisite premium chocolate. Owning his own land, cultivating, harvesting and post-harvest processing of their cacao beans is not an easy task, but it affords him and his team an increased appreciation for the value of this commodity. The daily, arduous labor serves as a reminder that they are in business to create premium chocolate rather than bulk confections. The work of manufacturing and building a premium brand is not easy but Mr. Reid’s passion for the chocolate making process helps him to stay innovative as an industry leader. Mr. Reid travels throughout the Caribbean, Latin America and West Africa to support the cocoa industry and innovate ways to eradicate poverty by helping to bring forth wealth, prosperity and dignity to cocoa farmers. With his mission to enrich cacao farmers, Mr. Reid and his family plan to expand their Chocolate Academies and factories in Nigeria and Barbados to develop a new wave of informed cacao chocolatiers while encouraging continued growth in the economies of Latin America, West Africa and the Caribbean.

  • Ann Rennie, Lead Financial Sector Specialist, World Bank

    Ann Rennie is an independent consultant who advises multilateral organizations, financial institutions, and policymakers on financial market development. From 2001 to 2013, she was a Lead Financial Sector Specialist at the World Bank, where she oversaw financial sector operations and analytical work in both Asia and Africa, and advised governments, central banks and regulators on the design and implementation of policies to promote sound, efficient, and inclusive financial sectors. She led joint World Bank/IMF Financial Sector Assessments under the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) in a wide variety of countries and monetary unions, including in G20 countries. Prior to joining the World Bank, Ms. Rennie was an investment banker for JP Morgan Chase for nearly 20 years, working primarily in corporate finance in emerging markets. During that period, she also served on the Boards of Directors of several international bank subsidiaries and venture capital investments of the bank. Ms. Rennie holds an MBA in finance from Columbia University.

  • Inder Jit Ruprah, Regional Economic Advisor, Caribbean Country Department, Inter-American Development Bank

    Inder Jit Ruprah is currently the Bank’s Regional Economic Advisor for the Caribbean (The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago). Prior to joining the Bank, in 1994, he was the head of the Economics Faculty, CIDE, Mexico. He has published extensively on issues in Latin America and the Caribbean. His most recent publication is titled “Is there a Caribbean Sclerosis? Stagnating Economic Growth in the Caribbean”. He studied at University College London, London School of Economics and University of Cambridge.

  • Dr Martin Russell, Associate Director, Diaspora Matters/UNU-MERIT Fellow

    Martin is Associate Director of Diaspora Matters. He was Senior Researcher on the Global Diaspora Strategies Toolkit launched at then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s inaugural Global Diaspora Forum in 2011. He has also served on and chaired committees for the inaugural European strand of the Global Diaspora Forum and the recent Global Diaspora and Development Forum in 2014. He co-authored the “Supporting the Next Generation of the Irish Diaspora” report, commissioned by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He is currently the lead consultant on an EU-funded project to develop a national diaspora policy in Malawi and has recently completed a research project for the UK government examining the linkages between diaspora, trade and investment. He has advised on diaspora policies and projects in North America, Latin America, Europe and Africa. In 2015, he is a visiting fellow at the United Nations University (UNU-MERIT) where he work focuses on the linkages between diaspora and the corporate world examining areas such as corporate diasporas, diaspora engagement as CSR and diasporas as clients.

  • Indera Sagewan-Alli, Head of Caribbean Center for Competitiveness

    Mrs. Sagewan-Alli is currently the Executive Director of the Caribbean Centre for Competitiveness of the University of the West Indies. She is certified by the European Cluster Foundation in Cluster Management Excellence, by Duke Centre on Globalization, Governance and Competitiveness in Global Value Chain Analysis and case writing and UNU Merit in Innovation Policy. She has provided technical supervision for a number of cluster and value chain studies conducted in the region in areas such as; agro-processing, eco-tourism, yachting, cruise tourism, wedding and honeymoon tourism, culinary tourism, sports tourism, solar energy, furniture, ship building, rum, fashion, poultry and cocoa. Indera holds a MSc. Economics (UWI), Post Graduate diplomas in Project Cycle Management (IDB), Privatization and Private Sector Development (University of Bradford, England) and Oil and Gas Management (Boston, USA). She is a U.S.A Certified Adult Trainer with specialization in leadership development, Time and Life Management, Team building and Conflict resolutions, Emotional Intelligence and Effective Presentation. Indera served in the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago, both as an elected representative (MP) and a Senator. Prior to September 2011, she was the Principal Consultant, Trainer & Economist of Applied Learning and Solutions providing leadership training and economic consultancy services. Indera has done work for the IDB in Trinidad and Tobago, Belize and Suriname. and on the boards of the National Gas Company of Trinidad & Tobago, the National Energy Corporation, Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited and the Board of Governors of the Trinidad & Tobago Institute of Technology. Indera has worked as advisor to the Minister of Health and Policy Analyst in the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of the Economy and served on the Government appointed ‘Prices Council”.

  • Malcolm Spence, Senior Coordinator, Intellectual Property, Science and Technology Issues in the Office of Trade Negotiation (OTN) of the CARICOM Secretariat

    Malcolm Spence is the Senior Coordinator for Intellectual Property, Science and Technology Issues with the Office of Trade Negotiations of the CARICOM Secretariat. Malcolm has represented the Region in negotiations within the World Trade Organisation; for the Free Trade Area of the Americas; the Economic Partnership Agreement with Europe; and the Trade and Development Agreement with Canada. He has advised the Region in and negotiated issues principally concerning intellectual property, innovation, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade. Malcolm is an Agricultural Engineer with an M.Sc. in Manufacturing for Agricultural and Industrial Development, was the Chief Technical Examiner at the Trinidad and Tobago Intellectual Property Office and has worked on development issues in the Region for more than thirty years.

  • Daria Taglioni, Senior Trade Economist, World Bank

    Daria Taglioni is a senior economist in the Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice of The World Bank Group. She has 15 years of experience in economic policy analysis, working on issues of trade, international competitiveness, globalization, and the links between financial markets and trade. Prior to joining the World Bank, Daria worked at the European Central Bank, and at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. She holds a PhD in International Economics from the Graduate Institute, Geneva

  • Danielle Terrelonge, DRTCommunications, recipient of First Angel Jamaica Investment, Jamaica

    With over 12 years of marketing experience, Danielle is the Managing Director of DRTCommunications Ltd. in Kingston, Jamaica, which began operations in July 2008. DRTCommunications offers a wide range of Marketing Communications services including public relations, communications strategies development and consultation, event executions, social media marketing and its recently launched technology-driven media monitoring services. Danielle, along with her team, continues to work for medium to large organisations including UNICEF, Red Bull, Virgin Atlantic, J. Wray & Nephew (Campari Gruppo) and other companies across finance and QSR. Danielle recently pitched her company to First Angels Jamaica, the country's first Angel Network, and became the first investment awardee from the network in April 2015. In 2014, she was also awarded one of twenty-two fellowships from Vital Voices, an organisation geared at empowering women business leaders across Latin America, the Caribbean and the Sub-Saharan Territory. Outside of her company, Danielle is an avid philanthropist and mom of Maija.

  • Claudine Tracey, General Manager Strategic Services, Development Bank of Jamaica

    Claudine Tracey is the General Manager of the Strategic Services Division at the Development Bank of Jamaica where she is responsible for MSME capacity building, grant financing, strategy management, research, product and business development, business analytics, risk management and compliance. Prior to joining the DBJ, Mrs. Tracey held the position of Director of Corporate and Business Planning at the Urban Development Corporation. She has also worked in private sector banking for over ten years in numerous areas including research, marketing, strategic and business planning at Jamaica National Building Society and led the Human Capital Analytics Unit at the National Commercial Bank of Jamaica. Mrs Tracey has a Masters in Business Administration and holds the Certified International Risk Manager(CIRM) designation. She also holds the Accredited Director (Acc.Dir.) designation from the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) and is a Director on the Jose Marti Technical High School Board.

  • Alberto Trejos, Former Minister of Foreign Trade, Costa Rica

    He received his doctoral degree in Economics with honors at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been a faculty member at Northwestern University, visiting professor at the University of Michigan, Research Affiliate at Institut de Anàlisi Econòmica de Barcelona, and professor and Dean at INCAE Business School. As Costa Rica’s Minister of Foreign Trade, he led the negotiation of CAFTA. He was also President of the Board of CINDE, the agency in charge of attracting foreign direct investment, and member of CONASSIF, the entity that regulates and supervises Costa Rica’s financial system. He participated in the design and negotiation of the country’s pension system reform. He is a partner at CEFSA, Costa Rica’s largest bureau of macroeconomic analysis. He is also a board member for different Costa Rican corporations, such as BAC San Jose bank, Cuestamoras, El Financiero and DIPO, a distributing company. He has been a consultant for a variety of governments, international organizations and companies in 50 countries in Latin America, Europe and Africa. He is the director of South Africa’s Brenthurst Foundation and Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Economics to the President of Malawi. He is a member of the International Advisory Board to Mozambique’s President.

  • Desiree van Welsum, Senior ICT Policy Expert, Associate Partner, Innovia Ventures

    Desirée van Welsum is a senior economist and policy consultant specialising in the economic impacts of information and communications technologies at The World Bank. She has over 10 years of experience in applied economic research and policy analysis on private and public sectors in the economy, having previously worked at the OECD, the UN (UNCTAD and ITU), The Conference Board, and the UK National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). She has also worked as a consultant for the RAND Corporation, INSEAD, and the European Commission. She holds a PhD from Birkbeck College (University of London), a MSc from the University of Nottingham, and a Maîtrise from the University of Paris IX Dauphine. She has published widely in the areas of the impacts of technology, including on growth and productivity, development, innovation, employment and skills, trade in services, and offshoring and outsourcing.

  • Kenny D. Anthony, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs, Planning & Social Security, St. Lucia

    Dr. Kenny Davis Anthony was elected Prime Minister of Saint Lucia on 28 November 2011. He also served as Prime Minister of Saint Lucia from 1997 to 2006. Dr Anthony is a noted scholar and attorney. He remains in high demand in regional and international fora, as a greatly respected, dynamic leader of integrity and vision. Prior to becoming Prime Minister, in the Labour government that led the country from 1979 to 1982, Anthony was Special Advisor to the Ministry of Education and Culture from August 1979 to December 1980, then Minister of Education from December 1980 to March 1981. Prime Minister Anthony also holds the portfolios of Finance, Economic Affairs, Planning & Social Security. He is the holder of a PhD in Law from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

  • Jorge Familiar, Vice President. World Bank, Latin America & Caribbean

    Jorge Familiar, a Mexican national, is the Vice President of the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean since May 1, 2014. He is the first Latin American to be appointed to that position in the last 30 years. Eradicating extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity through the creation of opportunities for all Latin Americans are at the core of his vision for the Region. As Vice President and Corporate Secretary of the World Bank Group since August 2010, Familiar played a key role in facilitating and promoting cooperation and dialogue between the Board of Governors, Boards of Executive Directors and Management of the World Bank Group institutions in the adoption of the new strategy for the eradication of extreme poverty globally by 2030. He has also promoted the modernization of the institution in terms of delivering services adapted to the needs of its clients, including innovative financial services, knowledge products and integrated solutions to respond to development challenges. Familiar leads relations with 31 Latin American and Caribbean countries through a portfolio of ongoing projects, technical assistance and grants worth more than US$30 billion. Traditionally, the Region has represented slightly above 30 percent of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (IBRD) —the Group window for middle -income countries— total lending portfolio. Previously, Familiar devoted his efforts to financial inclusion as Chief Executive Officer of Mexico’s Instituto del Fondo Nacional para el Consumo de los Trabajadores (Instituto FONACOT), a public financial institution with more than one million clients and a loan portfolio of more than US$1 billion, which grants consumer loans to workers, guarantees their access to finance and fosters financial literacy. Between 2004 and 2008 he served as Executive Director and Alternate Executive Director for the World Bank Group in Washington, DC, representing Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Spain and Venezuela. He started his career in the National Banking and Securities Commission of Mexico (CNBV, in Spanish), where, having held several positions, became Vice-chairman of Securities and Derivatives Markets Supervision and served as a member of the Governing Board in that entity. He was in charge of designing, negotiating and implementing several regulatory instruments such as the Securities Market Law, issued by Congress in 2005, as well as the Investment Fund Law issued by Congress in 2001. He was a member of the Committee of Best Practices of Corporate Governance of Mexico’s Business Coordinating Council (CCE) and the Accounting Principles Commission of the Mexican Institute of Public Accountants. Familiar also lectured on finance at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and was a member of the Advisory Board of the Accounting and Strategic Finance Program at the same university. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in finance from ITAM.

  • Marcelo Giugale, Sr. Director, Macroeconomics & Fiscal Management, World Bank

    Marcelo Giugale is the Senior Director of the World Bank Group’s Global Practice on Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management, the professional home of the Group’s 300-plus macroeconomists. An international development leader, his twentyfive years of experience span the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Latin-America, and Africa, where he led senior-level policy dialogue and over thirty billion dollars in lending operations across the development spectrum. A Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, he has published on macroeconomic policy, finance, subnational fiscal rules, development economics, business, agriculture and applied econometrics. Notably, he was the chief editor of collections of policy notes published for the presidential transitions in Mexico (2000), Colombia (2002), Ecuador (2003), Bolivia (2006) and Peru (2006). In 2014, he authored “Economic Development: What Everyone Needs to Know”, a featured volume by Oxford University Press. His opinion editorials are published in the leading newspapers and blog-sites of the USA, Europe, Latin-America and Africa. He received decorations from the governments of Bolivia and Peru, and taught at the American University in Cairo, The London School of Economics, and the Universidad Católica Argentina. A citizen of Argentina and Italy, he holds a PhD and an MSc in Economics from The London School of Economics, and a Summa-Cum-Laude BA in Economics from Universidad Católica Argentina.

  • Honourable Emma Hippolyte, Minister for Commerce, Business Development, Investment & Consumer Affairs

    Emma Hippolyte OBE is a Certified General Accountant, CGA, a Certified Fraud Examiner, CFE with over 25 years of experience in Public and Private Sector Auditing, Governance, Management, Finance, Social Security and Non-Governmental Organizations. Between 1987-2010 served as Director of Audit of St. Lucia; consultant and Senior Auditor of The Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO of the UN in Rome, Italy; member of the External Board of Auditors of the Organization of American State, OAS and Executive Director of the National Insurance Corporation of St. Lucia (NIC). In 2002, Emma started The National Community Foundation (NCF) and in 1990, the Concerned Citizens for Deprived Children in Soufriere. Between 1986 and 1995 she served on and chaired the Board of the National Research and Development Foundation (NRDF) and the regional umbrella body East Caribbean Organization of Development Foundations (ECODEF) both aimed at developing micro businesses in St. Lucia and the Region. Between 2002 and 2007 she chaired the Universal Health Care Taskforce and Steering Committee and successfully launched the UHC pilot programme for Diabetes and hypertension.

  • Tracy Polius, Permanent Secretary of Planning and National Development in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Social Security, Saint Lucia

    Prior to her current engagement at the Ministry of Finance she worked as the Group Economist for CIBC First Caribbean. She has also worked as a Research Fellow at the University of the West Indies Saint Augustine and as an economist at Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. Polius is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, Saint Augustine (M.Sc. Economics). She has published regionally and internationally in the areas of reserve pooling, price formation, financial sector development, and financial stability. She is married with one daughter.

  • Sophie Sirtaine, Country Director for the Caribbean Countries

    Ms. Sophie Sirtaine, a national of Belgium, is the World Bank’s Country Director for Caribbean countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region, where she holds responsibility for fourteen countries. With over fifteen years of experience in the World Bank, Ms. Sirtaine has held various positions in the Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, and Europe and Central Asia regions; the Corporate Secretariat, and Operations, Policy and Country Services (OPCS). Throughout her career, she gained extensive experience in private and financial sector development and stability and led the Bank’s banking Sector crisis response in several EU countries during the 2008-09 global financial crisis. Her most recent post was Director of the Corporate Reform and Strategy Department of the World Bank. In her current position as Director for the Caribbean region, Ms. Sirtaine is responsible for maintaining a strong partnership with the governments of Caribbean countries in order to address their development and financial challenges. She also leads the Bank’s country program support in these countries and oversees the management of the country offices. Prior to joining the World Bank, Ms. Sirtaine worked in London in investment banking at JP Morgan and as an infrastructure economist for Halcrow Fox and Associates. She holds an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics (UK), and a Bachelor’s Degree in Commercial Engineering from the Solvay Business School of the Free University of Brussels (Belgium).

  • Justin Ram is Director of Economics at the Caribbean Development Bank

    His specialisations are in energy, and development economics. He has previously worked as Senior Global Economist with WorleyParsons, as an economist with the United Kingdom’s (UK) Government’s Department for Transport and as Supervisory Economist with the Greater London Authority. Justin has also been a Class Teacher at the London School of Economics and Political Science and was Lecturer in Economics at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. He has also worked as a consultant on many oil and gas and energy-related projects in Central Asia and Africa and with the World Bank, United Nations and the International Labour Organization. Justin has a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science, he also holds an M.Sc. in Economics from the University College London, B.Sc. in Economics from UWI and a Post Graduate Certificate in sustainable environmental management from the University of California, Berkeley.

  • Honourable K Dwight Venner, Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank

    Sir K Dwight Venner is currently Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, a position he has held since December 1989. Prior to that he served in the position of Director of Finance and Planning in the Saint Lucian Government between November 1981 and November 1989. Sir Dwight is an Economist by training and was educated at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica where he obtained both a Bachelor of Science (BSc) and a Master of Science (MSc) Degree in Economics. He served as a Junior Research Fellow at the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of the West Indies and then as a Lecturer in Economics from 1974 to 1981. He has written and published extensively in the areas of Monetary and International Economics, Central Banking, Public Finance, Economic Development, Political Economy and International Economic Relations. Currently, he is a member of the Commission for Growth and Development, World Bank. He is the Chairman of the UWI Open Campus Council and was the Chairman of the OECS Economic Union Task Force Committee. Sir Dwight received the award of Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1996 in Saint Lucia and was recognised as a Distinguished Graduate of the University of the West Indies on its 50th Anniversary in July 1998. In June 2001, he was awarded Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) in St Vincent and The Grenadines for services to the financial sector. In October 2003, Sir Dwight was recipient of an honorary degree, the Doctor of Laws from the University of the West Indies. In February 2011, he received Saint Lucia’s highest honor, the Saint Lucia Cross.

  • Wayne Mitchell, Regional Resident Representative Office in Eastern Caribbean Currency Union

    Wayne Mitchell, is the IMF’s Regional Resident Representative with responsibility for the member countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. Wayne is a national of St.Lucia, and worked at the Ministry of Finance in St.Lucia from 1986 to 1991 before moving to the Research Department at the ECCB. Wayne joined the IMF in 2001 and has had country assignments as Economist on Lesotho, Estonia, Uganda, Liberia, Kosovo, and Rwanda and had review responsibilities covering the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative. Prior to taking up his current assignment Wayne was the IMF’s Resident Representative in Ghana for three years. Wayne’s research interest and writings are on external debt and financial sector issues.

Browse a selection of photos from the Forum

Videos featured at the Caribbean Growth Forum
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    Technology offers Caribbean youths a brighter future

    Technology could place the Caribbean's youth on a level playing field and kickstart the region's stalling economies. A prodigious talent and a depth of ideas reside in the Caribbean. Digital Jam 3.0 brought together the private and public sector to harness this intellectual talent and turn it into a powerful catalyst to kick start the region's stalling economies
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