Taking Caribbean Excellence to the World

Women in Digital Trade – WTO Workshop

1 July 2019

Who we are and what we do

Focus Areas: Trade Development, Export Promotion, Investment Promotion

Trade Development & Export Promotion - 15 CARIFORUM countries

Investment Promotion - Secretariat for the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies – 23 Caribbean countries (CARIFORUM + OCTs)

Manage international donor funding geared toward private sector development – 11th European Development Fund, Regional Private Sector Development Programme

Offices: Barbados, Dominican Republic, Haiti (programmeoffice

Who we are and what we do

Women in Business

WEXPORT Programme – provide technical and financial support to 20 Caribbean women owned businesses since 2017

Digital Economy

Provide ICT training through our PRONET training programme

Promotion of the outsourcing sector for investment –Outsource2Caribbean

About Services Trade in the Caribbean

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Developed Africa Asia Caribbean Pacific

Share of goods and services exports by Commonwealth region, 2016 (%)

Goods Services

Commonwealth Caribbean members are the most dependent on services exports, with services being 41% of their overall world

exports

About Services Trade in the Caribbean

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St Vincentand the

Grenadines

Grenada Dominica Saint Lucia

Exports % of world exports

The Bahamas and Barbados are biggest exporters of services in intra-Commonwealth trade, over US$1bn

About Services Trade in the Caribbean

Most Caribbean members states have levels of internet access above the global average (per capita); The Bahamas leads in

internet access and speed

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Increasing broadband coverage can boost Caribbean members’ GDP by US$7.4 billion

Commonwealth Caribbean

member country

Estimated GDP increase (US$ million)

Scenario I: 50% BB

Scenario II: 75% BB

Scenario III: 100% BB

(US$ 7.4 billion)

Scenario IV: <50% double BB and

100% BB if >50%

(US$6.4 billion)

Antigua andBarbuda

- 45 161 161

The Bahamas - - 635 635

Barbados - - 350 350

Belize 47 188 329 234

Dominica - 12 54 54

Grenada - 69 150 150

Guyana 130 405 679 420

Jamaica 348 1,467 2,585 1,889

Saint Lucia - 100 210 210

St Kitts and Nevis - - 71 71

St Vincent and the Grenadines

- 57 119 119

Trinidad and Tobago

- 388 2,062 2,062

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Afr Asia Car Eu Pac2016 2018

SMALL STATESUN eGOV

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SMALL STATESUN eGOV BROADBAND SURVEY (% pop.)

2018

Mobile W BB % Pop. Internet

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Mobile W BB % Pop. Internet

Caribbean RegionConnectivity (% pop.)Time Series Analysis

2016 2018

About MSMEs in the Caribbean

In the Caribbean there is a dominance of sole proprietorships (individuals)

Firms exporting services tend to be sole proprietorships, many are in the informal economy. The legally established firms tend to have higher levels of foreign ownership and higher proportion of formal training programmes.

Exporting manufacturing entities tend to have more staff, better performance in sales and profits, higher technology knowledge intensiveness (TKI), training programmes for staff and higher level of new product releases in the last three years in ownership.

About MSMEs in the Caribbean

Firm ownership: 62% male dominated, 27% female dominated, 11%

shared equally between males and females (Lawrence Nicholson, 2012 )

*Note: Based on Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago

Participation in ownership: 40 % female (World Bank, 2018)

** Note: Based on Latin America and the Caribbean

Challenges faced by Caribbean MSMEsGeneral Challenges Weak MSME Enabling Environment – Legal Regulatory and Policy

Frameworks Access to Financing High Costs of Inputs to Production and Inadequate Supporting

Infrastructure Limited Human Resource and Entrepreneurial Skill Weak Business Support Limited Trade Facilitation, Inadequate Market Support and Lack

of Ability to Conform to Regional and International Standards Inability of SMEs to facilitate payments via debit and credit cards Absence of information and know-how regarding industry business

practices

Challenges faced by Caribbean MSMEs

Digital Economy Challenges Finance, bureaucracy, information and awareness issues ranked

high in a 2017 survey for Inaugural Caribbean MSME Conference, 2017

High costs of, and limited access to online payment systems High cost of IP protection for each creating vulnerability in

international market and potential back end costs for protection or loss of brand

Dominance of large international Internet business which limit/shape accessibility to foreign distribution channels

Services policies and firm level disaggregated data are limited so government understanding of sector is limited and facilities inadequate

Challenges faced by Caribbean MSMEs

Digital Economy Challenges Trust Cyber security High cost of Broad Band Oligopoly Environment for E-Commerce (Policy) Limited support for digital start-ups Black-listing affects the financial services sector- payments

Where do we go from here?

Continued firm level support - sector focus; and focus attention on export ready firms

Continued support to Caribbean BSOs and to women exporters through WEXPORT

Provide financing with financial knowledge

Capacity building exercises with learning from peers – E-commerce Workshops

Policy Advocacy - Improved Regional Public - private dialogue; Improved investment and business climate; Increased focus on female empowerment in the area of business ownership and management; increased focus on specific SDGs (8, 9); building strategic relationships with intra and extra-regional partners.

Taking Caribbean Excellence to the World

Thanks for your attention….