An Education Needs Assessment of CARIFORUM Firms

(Represented by Akil Yearwood, Trade in Services and Investment Specialist)

2.

Improving Business Productivity

3. E-Commerce – How to build an online sale strategy; How to find Suppliers; How to build a website 4. Intellectual Property sensitization 5. Introduction to Trade in Services especially the modes 6. Understanding the market requirements re packaging, labelling, quality standards 7. B2B Matchmaking within the Diaspora 8. Understanding the benefits of the EPA 9. Best Practices for the Operation of a Services Coalition 10. Approaching Financial Institutions.

2.3 Conclusions

Combining the findings from both the survey results and stakeholder consultations, together with

previous findings from the desk research, we offer the following overall analysis.

The region’s skill needs coincide with and vary from global trends dependin g on the point of

analysis. From a future of work perspective, the region’s anticipated future needs are not reflective

of global trends. For example, many of the identified anticipated future skills needs by

CARIFORUM businesses were in areas less technologically advanced like accounting and finance,

business development, project management, etc. than those being suggested by global trends in

areas like artificial intelligence and automation, blockchain, big data analytics, etc. There is some

convergence however, in some of the digital skills currently being demanded by CARIFORUM

businesses and those in high demand globally, notably digital marketing, video production and

software development. Both global and CARIFORUM trends emphasize the importance of soft

skills even amidst an increasingly digital world, but the types of soft skills being demanded differ.

Communication and time-management are the most highly demanded soft skills identified by

CARIFORUM businesses, compared to globally trending areas like emotional intelligence, design

mindset and system thinking, etc.

In some regards, the survey results and the stakeholder consultations produced mutually

reinforcing findings. Repeated themes across both groups revolved around business support skills

(accounting/finance, marketing, grant proposal writing, entrepreneurship etc.), soft skills

(particularly customer service and communication), and e-commerce/digital skills, which were

also reoccurring skills gaps highlighted by the desk research. However, one notable difference is

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