The Performance of Women-Led  Firms 
in the Caribbean
Female participation in the management and ownership of Caribbean firms is relatively high, compared to international standards. 

Women-led businesses differ from other firms in the Caribbean along several characteristics, in particular, a larger presence of women in the management and ownership of the firms is often associated with smaller size, younger age, domestic ownership and limited access to finance. 

Some of these stylized facts differ depending on the measure of the gender composition within the firm, lending support to the fact that having a different gender balance in the ownership or in the management is associated with different firm characteristics.

This paper focuses on the presence of a gender gap in firm performance and shows that women-managed firms are in fact less productive than other comparable firms, even after controlling for country and sector characteristics and for a large set of firm-level variables that drive productivity.   Read More
Pomeroon: From Gold to Coconuts

Bottling Pomeroon coconut water for export.
Over 150 coconut farmers in the Pomeroon, Guyana have tapped into the lucrative entrepreneurial opportunity of exporting coconut water resulting in significant growth for the country and its people.

In 2016, 150.2 tonnes of coconut water, valued at US$364,121, was exported and this activity has encouraged greater potential for 2017 and beyond. 

The coconut production resurgence has also seen three regional buyers secured, the creation of 372 jobs plus the growth of female employment to 55%.

However, this picture of growth and prosperity was not always the case in the Pomeroon. A few years ago l and owners and farm operators abandoned their properties and turned their attention to the more lucrative earnings from Guyana's gold mines. 

However, in 2014, the Compete Caribbean Program collaborated with the Pomeroon Export Producers Association (PEPA ) to revive agricultural production in the Lower Pomeroon, improve the state of the farms and secure markets for export. Now, this remote territory which spans more than 20,000 hectares, has potential to be the key to both sustainable trade and social development in Pomeroon. Read More
Compete Caribbean Resonates 
Deeply Regionally

By 2017, the Compete Caribbean Program directly created over 5000 jobs and indirectly contributed to another 6000. Of the direct employment created, approximately 80% of these jobs went to women and the average labour participation of women in beneficiary firms/clusters increased by approximately 15%.

Six years ago, the Compete Caribbean Program was launched with the goal of stimulating private sector development (PSD) in the Caribbean region. This year, 2017, marks the end of Phase One of the Program which is considered a resounding success by many in the PSD hemisphere. Read More
Banane d'Haiti - Fast Becoming a Reality

 
Haiti Originale, LLC, the company behind Banane d'Haiti, was created to encourage sustainable job creation and economic growth in Haiti. The company's success is moored to an unshakable belief in the resilience of the Haitian people and their ability to produce first world products and services with which global brands will want to partner.
 
Fuelled by research and technical assistance from international fruit and vegetable giant - Dole, the company knew, given the favourable costs of key factors of production such as labour and land, and the conducive climate and soils that it was possible to grow high quality, competitively priced Bananas from Haiti. 

It also knew that it wouldn't be easy to attract buyer interest in bananas grown in Haiti, an unstable country with significant political and social turmoil and no track record of exporting bananas, unless they had hard data to prove it could be done on a competitive and sustainable basis.  So, they set out to do just that!  Read More
GRENADA'S PROTEIN FROM WASTE PROJECT
NOMINATED FOR AWARDS
 
Head of PFW, Jim Aronson talks
to visiting officials
The Grenada Project - Protein from Waste Initiative, one of the most innovative and exciting projects under the Compete Caribbean Phase One portfolio, has been nominated for two international awards .

Both nominations fall under the United Nation's banner. The first nomination is The United Nations Climate Change Secretariat's, Momentum for Change Lighthouse Activities which shines a light on the most innovative, scalable and replicable examples of what people around the world are doing to tackle climate change. It further targets leading results-driven projects that are successfully addressing climate change. Successful awardees will be announced in September.

The second nomination is for The Equator Initiative's Equator Prize for 2017. This year's prize will be awarded to outstanding community and indigenous initiatives that are advancing nature-based solutions for local sustainable development. 
WHAT'S HAPPENING...

Exciting IIC Caribbean-based Career Opportunities:
The  Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) , a member of the
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, is a multilateral organization based in Washington, DC, committed to promoting economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean through the private sector. Click Below:
Investment Management Lead Officer  (Three Positions Currently Open)