Despite the existence of a highly liquid financial market in the Caribbean,
many believe that the ability to capitalize on entrepreneurial opportunities is
stymied due to limited access to an appropriate mix of financial capital. It is
against this background, says Executive Director of the Caribbean Centre for
Money & Finance (CCMF) Professor Compton Bourne, that the organization has
partnered with the Caribbean Development Bank, the Trinidad and Tobago
International Financial Centre and First Citizens Bank, the region’s largest
indigenous bank, to host a seminar to explore the theme “Venture Capital: Its
Relevance For the Regional Transformation Agenda” on April 4th 2014 at the Hyatt
Regency Hotel in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
The seminar is aimed at professionals in the financial services sector,
private equity/venture capital fund managers, institutional and angel investors,
policy-makers, entrepreneurial firms, business owners and representatives of
development organizations with a focus on enterprise development.
Topics cover venture capital mobilization and allocation, effective fund
management strategies, aligning fund raising to investment strategy, sourcing
and structuring deals, valuations and exits and the significance of the
Caribbean financial market structure and legislation to the venture capital
process. Participants will gain practical insights through shared
investor/investee Caribbean experiences of the venture capital process from
pre-entry to post-exit.
Presenters include Minister of Finance, Government of Trinidad & Tobago,
Senator Larry Howai, Director of the International Centre for Entrepreneurship
Research at Essex Business School, University of Essex, UK, Professor Jay Mitra,
Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad & Tobago Jwala Rambarran, Advisor
to the Prime Minister of Belize and former Governor of the Central Bank of
Belize, Alan Slusher, Jeffery Hall, Group Managing Director, Jamaica Producers
Limited.
Coming out of this interactive forum will be a more in-depth understanding of
venture capital and its use as an effective complementary financing tool to
accelerate entrepreneurial development, necessary for meaningful transformation.
Interested persons should email Kathleen.Charles@sta.uwi.edu or
ccmf@sta.uwi.edu; telephone, (868) 645
1174 or (868) 224 3727; fax, (868) 645 6017.
Visit the Caribbean Centre for Money & Finance website, www.ccmf-uwi.org for regular updates to the
seminar programme or for further information.