An Education Needs Assessment of CARIFORUM Firms

General, Economic Integration, Innovation & Development, CARICOM Secretariat)

3. Digital skills training is also required as the world economy is becoming more digital, and businesses need to become more responsive to their customer needs. 4. Regional businesses could also benefit from business processing training and learning to support the value chain. 5. ASG Cox highly recommends training in crisis communication and the effective management of communication so that the businesses are responsive to their audience. 6. Training should also be in the following areas once dealing with Customers: a. Effective Customer Engagement b. Customer Relations Management c. Formulating Communication Strategies 7. Regional businesses and service providers require training in Logistics with a combination of Single Window Operations and Regular Customs Sector Specific sessions. 8. Caribbean Export should create courses after identifying opportunities presented in new markets like South America. According to the ASG we need to “get away from being a region of samples. We must promote that we’re responsive and can deliver to regions since we are only a 6-hour flight from both N orth and South America.” 9. In today’s world, a business or a service provider cannot be defined by a geographic location. 1. Within Suriname, in the hinterland/ interior – they farmers have a different perspective on business – “they want things to be free. They want social enterprise – a different perspective.” According to Mr. Kalka, “they want to pla nt the coconut free – but want the state to give them the land.” There is an immediate need for them to be involved in Entrepreneurship and Business Administration skills. 2. Other areas of training to include financial literacy – i.e. Book keeping, cost-price analysis, business planning. 3. According to one of the weaknesses of Caribbean Export delivered training is that “it offers high quality level training delivered in English.” To fix this weakness, Caribbean Export should consider delivering training in the local language of taki-taki or even Dutch. 4. The point was made that the farmers are not that quite advanced in English and the output will be marginal. 5. Caribbean Export should consider using local experts and consultants to deliver Surinamese training. 6. Mr. Kalka stated that “Persons are in survival mode now, so training has to match this mode.” In this vein, farmers are not going to lose a day of work to attend training, instead, Suriname has seen success with farmers attending training in the evenings from 6:30-9:00pm. 7. The Caribbean Export Board Member indicated that regional businesses could benefit from training in Agro-processing, Standards and the development of networks and alliances. 1. The JBDC is a government owned agency which leads the development of the MSME sector within Jamaica. The Agency works closely with the government, the private sector, the academy as well as research and international communities.

Suriname Business Development Centre

(Represented by Mr. Kalka, Suriname Business Development Center, Executive Office of the Suriname Business Forum)

Jamaica Business Development Centre

(Represented by Valerie Veira, CD, JP, Chief

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