thebahamasweekly.com - Innovative Investors Recognised at the 3rd Regional Investor of The Year Awards 2016

From:TheBahamasWeekly.com

Caribbean News
Innovative Investors Recognised at the 3rd Regional Investor of The Year Awards 2016
By JoEllen R Laryea
May 25, 2016 - 12:52:23 PM

Pictured from left (RIYA2016) Mr. McHale Andrew, President, CAIPA Ms. Ana Arias Urones, Specialist, Integration and Trade Sector, IDB Mr. Gian Luis Pereyra, CEO, Kikaboni (Healthy Flow Agroindustrial SRL) Ms. Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director, Caribbean Export, Sen. The Hon. Darcy Boyce, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister

Miami, FLORIDA - The Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) and the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA) are pleased to announce the winners of the 3rd Caribbean’s Regional Investor of the Year Awards for 2015-2016 (RIYA 2015-2016).

Now in its third year, the RIYA 2015-2016 turned its attention to innovation bringing focus to the local and foreign investors in the region who have invested in a new idea, introduced a new device to the market, created an invention or introduced new practice methods that have been translated into a goods or service creating value, satisfying a specific consumer need and has created significant socio-economic impact. A special award was also given to a young investor in innovation whose investments are particularly noteworthy.

Pictured from left (RIYA Du Boulay) Mr. McHale Andrew, President, CAIPA Mr. Dunstan Du Boulay, MBE. SLMH, Managing Director, Du Boulay’s Bottling Co. Ltd

The RIYA 2015-2016 featured 3 specific award categories and received 26 applications from 9 countries. Front-runners for the title of Foreign Investor of the Year Award were: PV Energy Limited from Antigua & Barbuda; Lenstec Inc from Barbados; DP World Caucedo from the Dominican Republic; and Windjammer Landing Villa Beach Resort from St. Lucia. The Foreign Investor of the Year Award was captured by Lenstec Inc. a privately held medical device development and manufacturing company, specializing in intraocular lenses which invested in Barbados from USA.

For the Local Investor of the Year Award, the top 3 companies were: Chocolate Dreams LTD from Jamaica; DU BOULAY’S BOTTLING CO. LTD. from St. Lucia; and Bowjay from Guyana. The category winner was Saint Lucia’s DU BOULAY’S BOTTLING CO. LTD. a leading beverage manufacturing establishment in Saint Lucia and the OECS territories.

Pictured from left (RIYA Lenstec) Sen. The Hon. Darcy Boyce, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Ms. Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director, Caribbean Export, Mr. Ian Hickling, President, Lenstec Inc.

The top 3 companies in the Special Award category were: Kikaboni (Healthy Flow Agroindustrial SRL) from the Dominican Republic; JAMDUN FOOD Processing from Jamaica; and INAVA INCORPORATED from Guyana. The category winner and overall Regional Investor of the Year went to Kikaboni (Healthy Flow Agroindustrial SRL) a healthy snack manufacturing company from the Dominican Republic which became the first company in the world to produce healthy snacks using Moringa Oleifera as one of their main ingredients. Today they have three varieties of Pita Chips that use super foods like Moringa, Quinoa and Chia Seeds to boost the nutritional value of their products.

The RIYA were handed out at the recently held Caribbean Investment Summit which targeted investors in the US market, held on 13 May 2016, funded and co-organised by the Inter-American Development Bank as a part of a Regional Public Goods Initiative entitled: Support to Foreign Direct Investment in the Caribbean. Seventeen of the nineteen member countries of the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA) participated in the Summit sharing their investment ready projects to the more than 100 investors and site selection intermediaries.