BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Several Caribbean countries are to benefit from a new US$12.6 million facility aimed at consolidating a regional investment ecosystem for inclusive private sector innovation.
Myriam Ferran Deputy Director General for International Partnerships at the European Commission and Viviana Alva Hart, the IDB’s representative in Barbados.The initiative, CARIBEquity, has been launched with support from the European Union (EU), the Organizations of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the Inter-American Development Bank Innovation Laboratory (IDB Lab).
The countries eligible for support under the facility include Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
CARIBEquity, is also intended to further foster entrepreneurship in the Caribbean and drive economic growth with the expected beneficiaries under the facility are founders, startups, growth-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as innovation ecosystem actors.
“The current nascent state of Caribbean innovation ecosystems results in entrepreneurs facing significant obstacles to starting and growing their companies. Notably, there is a lack of adequate access to risk-tolerant financing for early-stage entrepreneurs,” according to a statement issued by the Delegation of the European Union to Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean States,the OECS, and CARICOM/CARIFORUM..
“Innovation ecosystem actors, such as accelerators, incubators, academia, and other agencies supporting innovation, also require institutional support to build their capacity and networks to further support the needs of Caribbean startups.”
It said CARIBEquity seeks to address these challenges by offering opportunities centered on financing, knowledge, and connections. This includes the provision of blended finance directly into startups selected via calls for proposals, capacity building support for innovation ecosystem actors, and fostering public sector-driven innovation through public-private engagement.
The facility will also catalyze engagement, connections and networking across the Caribbean innovation ecosystem, leveraging regional and global networks, best practices, and approaches.
“It is expected that an additional US$19.1 million will be leveraged from the private sector over the five-year programme through their participation raising the total among of funds available under the facility to US$31.74 million,” the statement said.
CARIBEquity will focus on enabling new solutions and pilot testing new technologies and business models across five priority sectors, namely agriculture/natural capital, essential services, financial inclusion, talent/employment, and health/education.
The statement said that each sector represents an opportunity for job formation across key pillars that drive Caribbean economies.
The statement notes that the strong partnership between the EU and IDB had been reaffirmed on the occasion of the visit of the Deputy Director General of the EU’s Directorate General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA), Myriam Ferran, to the region.
It said that the IDB has been the EU’s partner of choice in Latin America and the Caribbean since the first co-financing agreement in 2011, and together they have executed 50 projects in excess of three billion US dollars in joint investments.
“This programme is a clear example on how the European Union, through the IDB, is landing the Global Gateway Strategy in the Caribbean, the EU’s offer to bridge the investment gap and leverage private capital and investment to boost innovative and transformative investments, tackling most pressing global challenges.”.
Ferran said the EU’s Global Gateway Strategy “is at the heart of our private sector engagement with the Caribbean.
“By supporting the innovation ecosystem and entrepreneurs, we are confident that European Union investors will find even greater opportunities to bring our regions together,” she added.
The IDB’s representative in Barbados, Viviana Alva Hart, noting the importance of the new initiative, said “driven by IDB Lab’s deep commitment to fostering the region’s innovation ecosystem, CARIBEquity will deploy risk-tolerant early-stage financing for startups, strengthen innovation ecosystem actors and boost their networks.
“We are confident that through our partnership with the EU, CARIBEquity will empower entrepreneurs to drive innovations focused on benefiting poor and vulnerable populations and activating new engines of sustainable growth in the Caribbean, aligned with IDB Lab’s mandate,” she added.
