Angel investors, as defined by Investopedia.

com, are affluent individuals who inject capital for startups in exchange for ownership equity or convertible debt.

The invitation-only CAIF is being hosted by LINK-Caribbean under the theme Growing angel investing in the Caribbean. The forum, expected to attract high-net-worth individuals from across the region and internationally, is among several activities of the US $1.6 million LINK-Caribbean program, aimed at promoting the development of an organised angel investment ecosystem within the Caribbean.

Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA) Pamela Coke-Hamilton said the CAIF “represents our commitment to the development of an active angel investment ecosystem that translates into an alternative stream of capital for our private sector.” The CAIF is set to explore the current landscape of angel investing in the region and provide a series of workshops led by globally experienced angels on critical aspects of angel investing.

These workshops include due diligence and assessing firm valuation; deal structuring; and strategies for developing a successful partnership with entrepreneurs.

CEDA said, “Caribbean angels will play a key role as discussion facilitators. The forum will also provide an opportunity for a select number of entrepreneurs, including existing portfolio companies of regional angel groups, to present their businesses.” Implemented by CEDA, LINK-Caribbean is an initiative of the World Bank Group’s Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC) – A seven-year, $20 million Canadian dollar program funded by the government of Canada that seeks to build a supportive ecosystem for high-growth and sustainable enterprises throughout the Caribbean.

Over the past few years the World Bank Group has been investing in improving the angel investment prospects within the region through technical assistance and coaching for both entrepreneurs and investors.

During this period, the region has seen the emergence of five angel investor groups, including First Angels Jamaica and Alpha Angels in Jamaica, Trident Angels in Barbados, and IP Angels and Renaissance Angels in Trinidad and Tobago.

These angel groups have held private meetings to review companies and have made investments ranging from US $50,000 – $200,000 in at least six companies.

CEDA said the CAIF will provide a platform for these angels to come together as a community to share best practices and knowledge; network; and uncover new investment opportunities.

According to reports out of Georgetown, Benjai was attacked outside the Palm Court restaurant and bar, where he had performed earlier, by one of its regular patrons.

Eyewitnesses told Inews Guyana that Benjai had already finished his performance and was preparing to leave the club when the incident occurred.

It was reported that he was outside the club talking with a group of fans when the driver of a car was reversing into them.

One person in the group knocked on the car’s trunk car to alert the driver that he was reversing into them.

The driver, known as “Imran”, reportedly jumped out of the car and confronted Benjai about someone knocking on his car.

When he attempted to calm things down, Imran reportedly started to curse Benjai and threatened to use his firearm. As he tried to talk sense into the driver another man got out of the car with a bottle in his hand and hit Benjai across his face with it.

He fell to the ground and was immediately taken to a private hospital. He sustained two large cuts, one closer to the ear and the other in the area of his jaw bone. He received over 20 stitches.

Newsday understands that Benjai left Guyana yesterday after making a report.

The Guyanese police are investigating the incident.

Newsday was yesterday unable to contact him by phone.

National Olympian Khalifa St Fort completed a scintillating sprint double in an emotional performance while clinching first place in the Girls Under-20 200m final.

St Fort, coached by sprint legend Ato Boldon, had to dig deep but showed her class to pull away from the field with 50m to go and power across the finish line in 23.99 seconds. Coming in second was Grenadian Halle Hazard in 24.15 while Jamaica’s Kasheika Cameron followed in 24.28. TT ’s Shikyla Walcott was out of the podium positions in sixth place in 24.88.

St Fort, overcome with emotion after her victory, sought out her coach Boldon who embraced his weeping apprentice saying: “You did it. You did it!” Speaking in a post-race interview, St Fort described the 200m final as the best performance of her life – a strong statement given her gold medal performance in the 100m at the 2015 Pan Am in Canada and her silver medal at the 2015 World Youth Championships in the 100m in Colombia.

“Definitely I was a little bit worried after the 100 (win) and definitely after the 200 prelims.

This probably was the best race of my entire career because I know I did put in 100 percent but to be able to come out here and win for Trinidad and Tobago was just amazing.

I’m just so emotional right now,” she said as her voice wavered.

Closing off the evening’s proceedings, TT ’s 4x400m Under-20 men snatched gold in a mesmerising team effort that produced a thrilling finish that was just enough to beat Jamaica to first place.

The TT quartet of Elijah Martin, Jacob St Clair, Judah Taylor and Kashief King stopped the clock at 3:09.22 with Jamaica (3:10.33) having to settle for silver and Bahamas (3:18.02) taking the bronze.

TT enjoyed a tremendous lead going into the final leg owing to strong second and third legs from St Clair and Taylor.

TT needed every inch of that advantage as Jamaica’s anchor Christopher Taylor tried to do the impossible task of catching King. The speedy Jamaican stunningly began reeling in King slowly but surely and with 50m to go caught the Trinidadian who did not panic. The effort exerted to make up an almost 50m deficit seemed to overwhelm Taylor as King maintained his stride to regain the lead and secure the victory as Taylor stumbled to the line.

In the Girls Under-20 javelin event, Asha James threw to bronze medal with an effort of 43.24m.

Her compatriot Akidah Briggs was fifth with 42.27m.

There were bronze medals for TT ’s Boys and Girls U-18 teams in the 4×400 event. Joanna Rogers, Caliyah Wallace, Patrice Richards and Rae- Anne Serville crossed the line in 3:43.05 in the Girls final behind winners Jamaica (3:38.72) and Bahamas (3:41.23).

TT ’s Tyshawn Gray, Kaylon Thomson, Kiddel Carrington and Akil Boisoon clocked 3:20.85 to place third in their relay final.

Also among the medals was Jerrod Elcock who took the silver in the Boys Under-20 half-lap final.

Elcock sprinted across the line in 21.54, trailing Cayman Islands’ Jamal Walton who won convincingly in 21.29 while Guyanese Compton Caesar was third in 21.56.

Kymoi Noray, in the morning session, produced a silver medal throw in the Girls Under- 18 javelin, hurling the metal spear 44.98m.

Also, Tyra Gittens earned silver in the Girls Under-20 long jump with a 6.10m leap. Jamaican Tissanna Hickling won gold with 6.22m.

“It is easy to give good news to the parents,” Dolly said. “It is easy to tell parents that because a child is not doing well they should get them in a particular sport or activity.

Parents like to hear that.

What teachers are not skilled in is how to give bad news to a parent who loves their child. They either do it badly, or they avoid doing it.

“When parents are told their child has a challenge and they need to get some sort of assessment, those who can afford it will get the assessment done. Those who cannot afford it would be referred to guidance clinics from the Students Support Services (SSS) in order to get an assessment, and they would get that appointment two years from now. The parent now feels frustrated by the system, the child and teacher are frustrated so they all clash, meanwhile the child is getting worse.” He said the teacher’s solution would be to avoid having that child being in their class to protect the other children and therefore leave the child out of hearing distance where the child was not even learning.

“That child is becoming more frustrated, but I am protecting those other 25 to 30 children.

That child gets put out and there is no system in the school that allows children who are having those challenges to get any kind of behavioural assistance,” Dolly said.

He said a school councillor may come in every two weeks, conduct a 40-minute session with the child and send the child back to the class.

“There is very little help. If we set up one area in the district where the children could be referred to after they get their diagnosis, a place where the care givers can manage them and then maybe we can get somewhere.

“There are some people who are willing to take over the role of the psychologist at a reduced rate to help out, There is a lot of paper work involved and I do not think the Ministry of Education is doing much of that now,” he said.

Dolly said there are several organisations which may be willing to assist with this issue, the problem though, was that they were not paid until six to nine months later.

“But, we must have a social conscience.

We are breeding these criminals, I will call them that for now, in our school systems.

If we set up in our catchment areas where the children could be referred to after they get the diagnosis, because there needs to be some kind of holding bay so the parents know how to manage them, that can help.

“If I have behavioural issues since I was six years old, by the time I reach 15 and nothing was done to help me, do you know the kind of monster I am? I don’t know why I’m getting on so and I may end up in prison or worse,” he warned.

Dolly said the world was growing at such a fast pace that by the age of 11 or 12, children were forced to get into a secondary school.

“I am a little slower than the average child. I really need to be 15 to get to that point, but socially they are telling me I have to go along with my age group. I am placed in an environment that is hostile to me. If I was a girl, I would find a man, if I am a boy, I would find a girl.

“It is all about certification. I don’t care whether you are educated or not, once you have the certification, you are okay in this society.

There is hope and the hope is that teachers can identify very early the children who are at risk in their schools. They don’t have to invent that, they are good at it.” Former education minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh said while teachers were not trained to that depth that a psychologist would be trained, a teacher would, from just having them on a daily basis, be able to pick up on problem children.

“It calls for management skills, deep introspection, research work that has brought about significant findings. We are drifting down into micro aspects, but the overall approach and the policies and programmes that this team ought to be utilising and implementing has to be broad-based,” he said.

Gopeesingh said there were 23 areas where the Ministry of Education has not been able to implement the programmes, and in fact have curtailed a significant amount of them which would undoubtedly reduce the incidence of school violence.

Gopeesingh said the SSS has been depleted.

“The particular officers who they call social workers have not been paid. Their contracts have come to an end, they have not been renewed. We had educational behavioural clinical psychologists in schools, that aspect has been curtailed. We ensured that we developed a number of programmes, school safety officers, school-based management team, the local school board, the after school homework centres, the alumni association of schools, a circle of hope once a week in a classroom…

“The minister (Anthony Garcia) and his colleague (Dr Lovell Francis) seem to be adrift in the Ministry of Education, and they lack the competence and the ability to move the process forward in education. I have called for his removal on about 15 different occasions and it is left up to the Prime Minister (Dr Keith Rowley) now to do what is appropriate. The minister obviously cannot handle the Ministry of Education. They have reversed a number of programmes and policies that we had implemented,” he said.

Gopeesingh said the former government had implemented a programme whereby every teacher in every classroom would identify the difficult students, who would then be referred immediately to the SSS.

He said the student’s analysis was based on their professional approach which would determine the causative for the student’s indiscipline whether it was emotional, behavioural or psychological, or a medical disorder.

“For every student in every class across the country, the teachers, principals, vice principals and deans were mandated to identify these children and begin an amelioration process for all of these students.

“It should be picked up how many difficult students we have in the schools at the moment. The groups ought to be managing the students with the parents. We have also conducted a number of parenting and education workshops across Trinidad and Tobago.

We should not just send messages to the parents, but also have workshops in the areas inviting all the parents and teachers to begin to discuss the issues surrounding their children,” Gopeesingh said.

Yesterday National Security Minister Edmund Dillon said seven families, including those of five police officers and two prison officers, have already qualified for the payment.

Further payments will be made as soon as the relevant documents are processed.

Cabinet took the decision last year to begin payment starting from the day police constable Sherman Maynard was killed.

On July 24, 2015, Maynard was shot dead while on duty outside the Port of Spain prison on Frederick Street when three prisoners escaped. The commitment to pay the money was made by the former People’s Partnership government under prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. However, up until that government demitted office later that year, no policy was in place to make any payment.

Yesterday president of the Police Social and Welfare Association Inspector Michael Seales said he and the executive were heartened to learn of this first payout.

“We are elated,” he said.

“This is the first move in ensuring that the process is continued smoothly and we are hoping that the relatives of other slain officers will also be compensated in swift time. I want to thank the former administration for agreeing with this initiative and for the current administration for following through.” He said this move will definitely boost morale and will assist in pushing officers to further re-dedicate themselves to the service because they would be mindful that should they fall in the line of duty, their families will not be left unprotected.

When Newsday caught up with Rowley shortly after 4pm yesterday at the Mt Pleasant Recreation Ground where the village’s annual goat and crab races were taking place, he refused comment on the meeting.

“Sweetheart, I am not here to do any interviews. I am here relaxing and taking in a few of the races just like everybody else,” he said. Rowley was accompanied to the annual Easter Monday event by Tobago House of Assembly Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles and his wife Katherine.

Cruickshank also avoided efforts to obtain information from him on the meeting. On Sunday, he had told Newsday Rowley had agreed to a meeting following a written request by the Chamber last week. He said the meeting was to take place at noon yesterday but that he could not give a location.

He remained tight-lipped yesterday about the location when asked prior to the 12 noon meeting time even as he confirmed that a meeting was being held.

Contacted again closer to midday, Cruickshank then said the meeting was private and the media was not invited. He promised to provide details after the meeting.

After several subsequent attempts to reach Cruickshank, he finally answered his cellular phone at about 3.30 pm saying the meeting had taken place and he would only be able to do a telephone interview as he was on his way to the ANR Robinson International airport to catch a flight to Trinidad to attend an engagement that evening. In response to a subsequent call, he indicated that he was about to board his flight and asked Newsday to call him back.

Further calls to Cruickshank’s phone up until 6pm went to voicemail.

Checks with reception clerks at both the Mt Irvine Bay Resort and the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort revealed that no meeting between Rowley and Cruickshank were scheduled at those venues.

Two THA Secretaries – Secretary of Infrastructure, Quarries and the Environment Kwesi Des- Vignes and Secretary of Tourism, Culture and Transportation Nadine Stewart Phillips – told Newsday they were unaware of a meeting happening between the PM and the chamber’s members.

Contacted for comment, the chamber’s chairman of its Inter- Island Transport Committee Dianne Hadad also said she was unaware of any meeting on the issue of a cargo ferry for the sea bridge.

“I did not attend any meeting.

You will have to speak with Mr Cruickshank, I am not aware of any meeting,” Hadad said.

In the first place an explanation is needed for the apparent discrepancy which has seen RHA workers in Trinidad paid first while their counterparts in Tobago are still waiting on a first disbursal. According to Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Minority Leader Watson Duke, the first 50 percent of backpay owed was paid out last July for Trinidad RHA workers while their Tobago counterparts were supposed to have received theirs in September 2016, but they are still waiting.

“We are extremely concerned about the disparity that exists between workers in Tobago compared to their counterparts in Trinidad,” Duke said. “Those workers in Tobago are comparable with their counterparts in Trinidad in every single way – education, ability, and even experience. They are on par.

Why is it that they are treated less than their counterparts? Why is it that they are always second in line to receive their pay?” Could the answer to these questions involve the arrangements in place to transfer funds between the central Government and the THA? Assuming this to be the case, it is not a good explanation at all as it would point to even more problematic issues, such as the poor health of the devolution mechanism that bridges both islands.

Another discrepancy was pointed out. RHA workers have been paid, but after public servants.

What accounts for the timing? Is it simply a matter of low cash flows forcing staggered disbursal? Why must workers tolerate this kind of wayward inefficiency which results in an unfair situation where some workers are treated more equally than others.

The biggest problem is the fact that these workers should not have had to wait years to receive their backpay in the first place. Negotiations on pay increases should have been speedily done and implemented.

There should not have been an accumulation through successive administrations (which has occurred making this a deeply apolitical problem). At the end of the day, the State has been deferring the expenditure as a means of minimising the eventual impact on the deficit represented by increased wages. By paying backpay in bullets over years, the books are effectively insulated.

But this achieves more than a rose tint on the annual financial provisions. It also erodes the spending power of workers over time. The workers are asked to give up a considerable amount: their wages, their backpay and a portion of their spending power. What does the State give these workers in return for these favours? Workers under the current administration have been slow to picket and protest. Leader of the newly- formed United Protectors of the PSA, Oral Saunders, who is seeking to unseat Duke as president in the November election, welcomed the Government’s payout.

“We recognise that the economic situation facing the country has changed rapidly from the past couple of years to the present time and we are extremely happy for the payment,” he said.

One hopes that the State would make the extra to do better in the long-run. Because there is another problem. When State workers are treated poorly, the pool of talent available for the public service – and therefore the national at large that depends on it – is reduced.

Workers pay, but so do all of us in the long-run.

Since the first World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education hosted in Moscow, Russia, in 2010, the nations of the world have been deliberate in their discussion on taking ECCE to scale and harnessing the promise of investing in the provision of quality early childhood education. Indeed, in recognition of the potential of ECCE to make a significant difference, the conference was dubbed “Building the Wealth of Nations.” It is well beyond time that here in Trinidad and Tobago we become more aware of the value of ECCE, the workers in the sector, and what we need to do to ensure that we give our young citizens the best start in life.

The remedies that we attempt to administer during the later years of schooling (read this as primary and secondary) can be reduced or eliminated if we recognise high-quality early childhood education as an effective early intervention strategy and the medium for building a strong foundation for later learning and development.

According to the Results for Education Fund, it is during the important window of opportunity from birth to the first day of primary school that the foundation is set for all future growth and learning.

Given that this is the case, one can only reason that the early education of our young citizens under the age of five cannot be left to chance, or even be developed in a haphazard manner. No! We need to be purposeful and intentional in our approach — intentionality and purposefulness being two recognised pillars of high-quality early childhood education.

The need to be deliberate is further emphasised when we understand that certain types of brain development and neurological connections are gained or lost forever in the earliest years.

Moreover, we also need to understand that when we fail to adopt a systemic approach to what we are doing in the early childhood sector and ensure that there are adequate measures, then as children grow into adults, making up for lost ground becomes more costly and less effective.

Moving forward, therefore, we need to begin with certain assumptions: * ECCE is the right of all children.

As one of the many countries that have ratified the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, we have a legal obligation.

* The power of ECCE is transformative and it has a critical role as a basis for development.

Within this framework, government, policymakers, researchers and a range of national institutions need to reorient national systems and programmes to take into account the early childhood years as a human right and an integral part of development.

What is needed? * The strengthening of policy frameworks supportive of the provision of high-quality ECCE services.

* A national regulatory framework.

* The implementation of strong monitoring mechanisms.

* Building human and technical capacity to deliver the service at the levels that are required.

These are the basics.

Bottom line, we can no longer ignore the ECCE sector; the current provisions are inadequate. It is time for us to take a definitive stance and make the necessary systemic changes needed to bring it within the formal education sector.

We can do no less. Our young citizens deserve no less and our early childhood teachers who have been carrying the sector for years deserve no less.

Newsday understands that police officers from the Northern Division, including WPC La Vaughn Cudjoe-Joseph, PC Lennon Lezama PC Dirk Hannaway and PC Ronelle Thomas were conducting exercises on Sunday at Building 16, Maloney Gardens.

At about 4 pm, they saw the teenager who, according to police, is a suspect in several matters and called out to him.

They said the boy started running.

Police gave chase and held him in an abandoned apartment on the fourth floor of the building.

When they searched him they found a Beretta pistol, and a full magazine of 9 mm ammunition.

He was taken to the Maloney Police Station where he was charged.

He has been identified as John Audrey.

Police are working on the theory that Audrey was killed when gunmen tried to rob him. According to reports, the Santa Cruz man completed his duties at the Villa Cruz bar on Akar Trace and was closing up the bar at about 1 am. He went to his car which, residents said, was a short distance from the bar.

Several gunshots were heard.

Aubrey was taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital where he died at about 4 am while undergoing emergency surgery.

While relatives were not willing to speak when Newsday visited yesterday, one resident said he had a short conversation with Audrey moments before he was shot. The resident said Audrey gave him two cigarettes and a shot of puncheon rum before closing the bar.

Homicide detectives believe that Audrey had a quantity of money which represented the day’s sales at the bar. Police are hoping to view camera footage to assist them in identifying the killer or killers.

The murder toll for the year now stands at 154.