More funding for regional projects

MORE funding is being made available for the private sector to pursue innovative projects in the region.

It is the Enterprise Innovation Challenge Fund (EICF), which will be providing support for innovation activities through two thematic windows, says Karen Mathy, who is attached to the Fund.

One of them is the Innovative Window, which provides up to Bds$1 million in financing to firms and entrepreneurs who want to invest in innovative and risky business in an attempt to improve the revenue performance competitiveness of the firm.

The other is the Support to Clusters Window, which provides up to a similar amount of financing to pursue innovative ideas.

She said that the EICF epitomises the intensity of Compete Caribbean’s support for the development of the region.

Mahy said that the initiative will finance cluster oriented projects that qualify through three types of alliances: horizontal business alliances, vertical business alliances  and conglomerate type alliances.

Compete Caribbean is a private sector development programme that provides technical assistance grants and investment funding to support productive development policies, business climate reforms, clustering initiatives and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise development activities in the Caribbean.

The programme, which supports projects in 15 Caribbean countries, is funded jointly by Canadian International Development Agency, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the United Kingdom Department of Interna-tional Development.