By Sherika Hall
KINGSTON, Jamaica, (JIS) – Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) will host a high-level investment conference from November 29 to 30, to highlight local investment and business opportunities.
The conference, dubbed ‘Invest Jamaica’, is scheduled for the Montego Bay Convention Centre, under the theme: ‘Jamaica, the Nearshore Delivery Hub of the Caribbean’.
The event will feature up to 40 industry leaders speaking on various areas, and face-to-face engagements among 400 specially invited investors and senior business executives across the globe.
Speaking during JIS ‘Think Tank’ on Thursday, November 10, JAMPRO vice president for marketing, Gabriel Heron, said the conference evolved from a discussion with minister of finance and the public service, Dr Nigel Clarke, and senior Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) representatives, in December 2021.
He said Dr Clarke expressed keen interest in collaborating with the IDB to host an investment forum to explore Jamaica’s business opportunities in 2022.
“The event is really a high-level platform to enable discussions on investment opportunities that Jamaica presents, as well as offer a platform for deep discussions to review the business environment within a range of sectors,” Heron explained.
He noted that special focus will be placed on the outsourcing/global services sector as well as the manufacturing, agribusiness, logistics and tourism industries.
Additionally, Heron said the conference will explore Jamaica’s financial ecosystem and the Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
He indicated that Jamaica presents a very unique competitive advantage, specifically because of its geographic location, which supports the conference’s theme.
Heron added that “it is critical [for us to host the conference now], as it plugs into our need and our requirement to ramp up investments.”
“Over the two days, the conference will feature… seven plenaries focusing on the sectors which I mentioned before. This is where participants will hear from local and international industry experts, who will provide practical and disruptive solutions to the business and investment ecosystems,” the Vice President said.
There will also be site visits to provide participants with the opportunity to see investment project offerings, particularly in tourism, logistics and the SEZs.
The conference will further provide C-Suite networking, Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Government (B2G) meetings.
The C-Suite networking will enable the exploration of business opportunities and exchange of strategic perspectives from various field experts, while attendees will be exposed to investment opportunities in their specific areas of interest from the meeting sessions.