Recent research has revealed that the Caribbean Diaspora resources in the UK, Canada and the US far outweigh those who reside in the Caribbean. The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) has recognized that the diaspora needs more information on the products and services that are available back home through trustworthy sources.
Denis St Bernard. Photo courtesy http://jamaica-gleaner.com
As a result, JSE is now embarking on a creative business initiative to extend business funding opportunities to diaspora linked businesses to list on the JSE in the form of a conference dedicated to the UK Caribbean diaspora. The event is called, the Caribbean Diaspora Business Conference (CDBC) which will be part of the National Investor Education Week (NIEW) activities, to be held during the period Saturday October 1- Friday October 7, 2022.
JSE UK representative and consultant Denis St. Bernard sees this project as a major opportunity not only for Caribbean linked businesses in the UK diaspora wanting to raise capital and expand their businesses, but also for persons in the diaspora interested in securing handsome returns on their investments. Denis further elaborates that to this end there will be collaboration with long-standing media company CaribDirect Multi-Media to assist with the strategic messaging going forward.
CaribDirect’s CEO David F. Roberts welcomes the involvement and commented that, “this initiative will be of immense value to UK diasporans keen to repatriate their earnings and undertake investments in the Caribbean. UK based High Commissions and Embassies are likely to be supportive by extending this opportunity to their business databases as part of their remit to encourage trade and investment to their respective home territories.”
The JSE confirm that The Conference will serve as an effective gateway to interface with the diaspora in meaningful dialogue and meetups that build confidence, collaboration and reciprocity. This would translate over time into significant investment from the diaspora flowing into the Region, supporting sustainable economic growth and development, and in turn, securing their wealth building Back-A-Yard! The conference aims to achieve the following objectives:
- Develop rapport with Caribbean businesses: sensitize the business community on how to raise capital in the different jurisdictions to finance their businesses and on the advantages of cross listing their companies on different exchanges
- Educate Prospective investors: Inform existing and prospective investors on how they can invest in the different markets within the Caribbean economies that provide multiple wealth options. The flexibility to give back as they love doing, but to also invest in viable entities creating a legacy of wealth for themselves and to be empowered to continue giving from their local investments, as different simply sending remittances home for immediate consumption.
- Sustainable Social Development:Explain to persons in the Caribbean Diaspora how they can donate to special projects that they love through a transparent and audited medium to ensure that the Caribbean is develops and become a part of the first world economy
- Business Financing: Inform members of the diaspora that they can develop and grow their ideas by accessing the available funds within the Caribbean.
In terms of the schedule of events:
Monday, October 3, 2022 – The JSE will be speaking with businesses personnel within the diaspora.
Tuesday October 4, 2022 – JSE will be engaging individual investors.
Both sessions will be online between 9 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. and we would like to host as many businesses and individuals as possible on the respective days.
Further details of the Caribbean Diaspora Business Conference will be forthcoming as received…
D Fitz-Roberts is a multi-talented writer on socio-economic issues having worked in journalism across the Caribbean (Grenada, Guyana and BVI) in the 90s. He has worked in London with Black Britain Online, New Nation Newspaper and Caribbean Times. An academic with a passion for research on distributed ledger technologies in emerging economies he is keen to see the Caribbean embrace bitcoin and blockchain technologies to keep pace with the west. He writes periodically for mainstream publications and is the founder of CaribDirect.com. He is also the author of Caribbean children’s book LifeSucks! available on Amazon.
