C-PAF and OECS To host e-business training

The Caribbean Performing Arts Federation (C-PAF) has collaborated with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Competitive Business Unit (OECS-CBU) to host a two-day e-Commerce (Crowd-funding) workshop on innovative/creative SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) financing. This workshop is being facilitated by the Barbados based Crowd Funding Platform, Vision Funder.

The workshop is geared towards advancing the e-Commerce agenda of the OECS territories for SMEs across the region. This activity is being funded under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF), Economic Integration and Trade of the OECS Region programme.

Successful workshops have already been held in Antigua, St. Kitts, Grenada and St. Vincent. The training in Dominica will be hosted on Thursday 22nd and Friday 23rd October 2015, 8:30am-4:00pm at the Fort Young Hotel. Participants are: Individuals and Businesses in the Creative Sector (performers and related support services), Individuals and Businesses in the Service Sector, persons engaged in innovative business projects or developing projects and ideas as well as Individuals from the Agriculture, Manufacturing, Commerce and Tourism sectors.

C-PAF is sending out a special call to the number of young entrepreneurs in the Creative Arts Sector to come forward and participate in this training workshop.
An important component challenging the development of the Creative Arts Sector has been Access to Finance. As many SMEs are known for “high risk” associated with their operations they tend to have difficulty accessing and securing finance on terms that they can meet. As a result many businesses have to resort to self-funding their projects. This has the effect of severely limiting their abilities to start, develop and expand or export.

In recent years, a social media based funding model (referred to as Crowd Funding) has become an increasingly popular mechanism for raising financing to fund creative projects across all sectors. It has been reported that these crowd funding platforms have raised approximately $1.5 billion and funded over 1 million projects in 2011 alone. Unfortunately, the Caribbean has lagged behind in the adoption of crowd funding models as well as in the development of appropriate and locally relevant crowd funding platforms.

One of the primary challenges cited by accredited Diaspora investors was the lack of visibility and awareness of interesting projects deals that could generate attractive private returns while also creating positive externalities or imparts on their communities. In cases where Diaspora investors were able to identify deal opportunities, a number of other factors thwarted any real investment decision.

An online platform that connects entrepreneurs and investors could be a critical link in connecting Diaspora investors with opportunities back home. Using a low-cost, scalable, and economically sustainable model, such an approach would capitalize on the geographically dispersed nature of Diaspora populations, the increasing use of the Internet for social networking and investing, and the nascent but growing crowd-funding sector.

While an online platform could provide investors with significantly increased visibility of deal flow, it would also enhance access to finance for entrepreneurs and serve as an incentive to rally stakeholders around a network of innovation ecosystem participants.

The training is an opportunity for persons in the creative industries to enhance their skill to acquire, secure and manage finances through the crowd funding platform.

C-PAF-Dominica urges all interested persons who wish to participate in this workshop to contact the Country Director at email: [email protected], mobile: 17672654323; 17673156333.