The Dominica Association of Industry & Commerce (DAIC) has taken the initiative to help businesses gain an understanding of fundraising avenues for medium enterprises in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) as well as understanding detailed information on the steps to a successful Initial Public Offering (IPO).
The DAIC, in collaboration with the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange (ECSE), held an Initial Public Offering (IPO) workshop designed for Caribbean enterprises on Wednesday at Fort Young Hotel. The workshop was part of the DAIC’s “Chew On It” workshop themed “Funding for Strategic Growth”
Managing Director of ECSE, Trevor Blake, said the ECSE was established since 2001 and has undergone a new strategic thrust to develop a new vision for the next decade.
“We have identified and have conceptualized a vision which is to be the medium of choice for wealth creation and capital raising in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union(ECCU),” he said.
Blake explained, “We see our purpose as being the vehicle to enable the people of our region to create wealth and for companies to issue securities to raise capital for their development and continued growth in the currency union. We have been in existence since 2001 and today we only have 13 companies across this currency union listed on the exchange.”
He added, “Of these 13 companies, even fewer have actually used the market to raise capital. We have perhaps one of the best platforms in the entire Caribbean area. It has the capacity to do so much more and our people are not using it for what it is designed to do.”
Blake hopes that with these workshops, the ECSE could raise awareness of the capabilities of the market and the opportunities that exist in the Eastern Caribbean Securities Market (ECSM) for companies to raise capital.
Executive director of DAIC, Lizra Fabian, explained that the workshop consisted of three topic sessions.
“Number one will be the introduction to the ECSE market and what the ECSE is all about so it describes the contexts, roles and the functions of the regional market. As a result, participants would be able to understand the general functions of the market, what the frameworks are and how they could raise capital,” she stated.
Fabien continued, “We are also looking at initial public offerings for business financing. So in this session, we will be describing the initial public offering process and patrons would receive a detailed step as to how to have a successful IPO. It talks about the cycle of the IPO, critical success factors, steps to follow and what the regulatory requirements would be.”
She said the final session would be describing the ECSE platform for auctioning and settlements among others as well as services and fees that ECSE offers.
According to the DAIC official, the workshop will be a catalyst for advancing the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and will also improve businesses contributions to economic growth.
She expressed the hope that participants would find it very valuable and as a result, to see more businesses registering on the ECSE platform.
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