Implementation of the 10th EDF Regional Provate Sector Programme

ENHANCING COMPETITIVENESS AND PROMOTING INNOVATION

invested in a new idea, introduced a new device to the market, created an invention or introduced new practice methods that have been translated into a goods or service creating value, satisfying a specific consumer need and has created significant socio-economic impact. Lenstec Inc. from Barbados captured the Foreign Investor of the Year Award. The privately held medical devicedevelopmentandmanufacturing company, specialising in intraocular lenses which invested in Barbados from USA. The honour of Local Investor of the Year was awarded to Du Boulay’s Bottling Co. Ltd., a leading beverage manufacturing establishment in Saint Lucia and the OECS territories. A Special Award was also given to a young investor in innovation whose investments are particularly noteworthy. The recipient on this occasion, and also the overall Regional Investor of the Year, was Kikaboni (Healthy Flow Agroindustrial SRL) a healthy snack manufacturing company from the Dominican Republic, which became the first company in the world to produce healthy snacks using Moringa Oleifera as one of their main ingredients. Today they have three varieties of Pita Chips that use super foods like Moringa, Quinoa and Chia Seeds to boost the nutritional value of their products. The 2015-2016 RIYA received 26 applications from nine CAIPA member countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad

and Tobago. These best practices of the award will be heralded as role models, demonstration projects or success stories within the region, the promotion of which may attract similar investment. Overall, the RIYA has recognized 10 regional investors. For the full list of CAIPA members please refer to Annex 1 of this report. INVESTMENT PROMOTION TRAINING In September 2012, 29 investment promotion officials participated in a three- day workshop on training in Investment Promotion strategy and Branding in Suriname. This training examined the best practices in investment promotion and benchmarking; investment promotion strategy, branding and positioning; developing financial incentives; and developing investment packages and packaging incentives. The training was delivered via interactive group sessions, casestudies, andone-on-oneconsultations. Participantsalsousedtheopportunity to discuss the findings of the Investment Climate Study, which was commissioned by CAIPA and Caribbean Export. In October 2012, training in Marketing in Investment Promotion in Guyana, and Aftercare Investment Packaging in St. Vincent and the Grenadines were delivered to Caribbean IPAs. Pretraining assessments were conducted for both sessions to gauge the needs of participants, and the current knowledge they have in the area. The training in Marketing in Investment sought to combine basic principles with more advanced techniques for investment promotion marketing for the 34 IPA members present. The three-day programme covered the fundamentals of investment promotion; trends in FDI; place marketing and techniques; image building and branding; use of social media; best practice examples; the lead generation process; investor profiling; and converting leads into projects. The follow-up to this training was conducted in Aftercare Investment Packaging, which saw participation from 28 investment promotional officials. The training focused on the key elements in setting up an aftercare unit namely developing objectives and identifying partners; assessing resources and organisational options; designing an aftercare programme; and delivering services, monitoring and evaluating the results. Caribbean Export and CAIPA also partnered to deliver Investor Facilitation training to 34 IPA members in Jamaica in 2013. The three-day workshop, which focused on attracting FDI through good investment facilitation, was a capacity building exercise based on the based on the results of the Global Investment Promotion Best Practices 2012 report which is a biennial publication of the World Bank Group. The report revealed that in countries where the investment climate can be categorised as unpredictable and non-transparent, IPA support could make a significant difference to investors, by influencing their decisions. It is against this background and in a bid to increase levels of FDIs to

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