IDB to help entrepreneurs

IDB President Luis Moreno gave this commitment, even as Jamaica has also bid for an IDB office on its soil. While a member of the IDB Group, the IIC is legally independent from the IDB Group, having its own management and resources.

The IIC has an exclusive focus on providing direct and indirect financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It provides financing and technical assistance so SMEs can grow and drive development in the region and expand themselves geographically in key sectors.

It finances companies that are profitable, have growth potential, have audited financial statements, and comply with national labour and environmental regulations.

It funds projects that are financially feasible and profitable as well as environmentally sound and also offers funding for financial institutions to use the IIC’s resources to lend to small and medium- sized companies in LAC member countries.

This will provide direct benefits to businesses in Trinidad and Tobago while contributing to the development landscape by providing opportunities for joint venture projects and public private partnerships (PPP).

It also opens up the opportunity for the private sector to play an even greater role in national development through the provision of financing and technical support to help their businesses grow.

The IIC also helps to leverage access to other global and regional sources of funding.

The Ministry welcomed this initiative as helping the Ministry’s goal of national development through environmental, social, spatial and economic progress.