Preservation of Heritage/Built Culture in Anguilla and encouraging women involvement in the construction sector

Preservation of Heritage/Built Culture in Anguilla and encouraging women involvement in the construction sector

by OCTA Communication

In Anguilla, a Small Innovation Project has been implemented to preserve the built culture and encourage women participation and inclusion in the construction sector. Both elements of this initiative fall within the construction sector. Both are encouraging OCTs to rethink how best is possible to preserve or rebuild buildings of historical or cultural significance and how to break free of conventional stereotypes that exclude women from employment in the construction sector.

The passage of Hurricanes Irma and Maria caused a significant amount of damage to the built infrastructure of all OCTs affected. In Anguilla alone, more than 95% of the culturally significant buildings were completely destroyed or received varying degrees of damage rendering these structures unusable or unsafe. The built heritage is a defining factor of the region so is important to identify innovative ways to preserve it from climate change and its resulting effects.

Construction news Anguilla Bren Romney OCTA Innovation Pilot Projects Pilot project
Creative industry in Anguilla

Creative industry in Anguilla

by OCTA Communication

Various topics and sectors have been discussed during different meetings in Anguilla. Namely community, music, theatre, art and festival sectors, fashion, cultural and dance sector, culinary sector and event planning. During the workshops came out that Anguilla, despite of the problems caused by the hurricane Irma, is rising, but, to be more developed, needs a more openness and help from the government and to highlight the importance of sectors.

creative industry news Anguilla
Caribbean – shift of relations with EU

Caribbean – shift of relations with EU

by OCTA Communication

A special meeting of CARIFORUM Council of Ministers, March 26-27, 2018 in St. Kitts and Nevis affirmed that members of the 15-country Caribbean grouping is  preparing on four fronts to adapt to a shift of relations with the European Union.

Opening the meeting, Mark Brantley, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Aviation of Saint Kitts and Nevis said:

“We can all agree that we serve at a time when the tectonic plates on which our engagement with the European Union rest, continue to shift. It is a time which requires us simultaneously to:

  • Grapple with implementation of the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA),
  • Assess the impact of the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union (BREXIT), in an effort to mitigate against it,
  • Ensure the roll-over of the EPA into a CARIFORUM-UK Free Trade Agreement, preserve the level of market access into the UK market as obtains under the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement and
  • Consider our options for future engagement with the EU, Africa and the Pacific in the Post-Cotonou era.“

“… each of these components demands that we remain focused and strategic in our approach to engagement with key partners both in our region and in Europe,” he added.

CARIFORUM member states are: Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs): Anguilla, Aruba, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands Montserrat Turks and Caicos Islands and the Netherland Antilles, all have observer status in CARIFORUM.

Minister Brantley added that CARIFORUM Member States were preparing texts for submission to the United Kingdom with the aim of preserving the current level of market access into the United Kingdom after 2019 under the Economic Partnership Agreement signed with all Member States of the EU.  

He said: “We are of the view that development cooperation in the form of technical assistance, capacity building, and financial mechanisms to enable our region to capitalise on the market access opportunities resulting from free trade agreements are meritorious.”

trade Caribbean news Anguilla europeanunion-en
The Caribbean after Irma

The Caribbean after Irma

by Jezic von Gesseneck

It is the cost of the region’s unimaginable natural beauty that, by the caprice of fate, there is the periodic risk of ruin. There is nothing to be said of this past week’s tragedies that has not yet been said, and our hearts go out to the people who died.What needs to be said is this: the Caribbean will rebuild. Caribbean people: they cannot be defeated. They rebuild, they restore and they live again.

It will not be easy, it may not be quick, but it will happen.

Read more

Sint Eustatius British Virgin Islands Caribbean news feature news Turks and Caicos Islands St Barts Saba Anguilla Sint Maarten
OCTA Innovation BRUZZ events

OCTA Innovation BRUZZ events

by OCTA Communication

OCTA Innovation Brussels BRUZZ events rise the visibility of the OCTs through direct interacting with the Brussels audience but also to the world wide audience due to the high OCTA Innovation visibility and due to the high press coverage.

Last BRUZZ event was devoted to Turks and Caicos Islands. Honourable Premier Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson with her team, including Ms. Tracy Knight Turks and Caicos Islands EU representative based in London, addressed Brussels audience in Brussels Press Club last Thursday 13th of July. See photos 

You may watch videos from TEDxAruba BRUZZ  and St-Barthélemy BRUZZ.

Pitcairn’s Innovation Manager Leslie Jaques visit to Brussels concluded in the agreement to have an OCTA Innovation BRUZZ dedicated to Pitcairn in November 2017.

Anguilla’s Innovation Manager Bren Romney visit to Brussels concluded with the agreement to have an BRUZZ event devoted to Innovate Anguilla.

All OCTs are warmly welcomed to benefit having BRUZZ event to create business, investment and  knowledge and experience sharing opportunities with both EU public and private stakeholders!

Aruba event news St Barts Anguilla Pitcairn Brussels events Conferences
Declaration

Declaration

by OCTA Communication

The OCTA Innovation International Conference took place in Ponta Delgada, Azores on 11-14 April 2017. It gathered representatives of the Overseas Countries and Territories of the European Union (OCTs), the government of the Azores, the European Commission and innovation experts to look at how innovation is spurring sustainable development in small islands and to develop cooperation and future initiatives.

The pillars and values that are the basis of a society were considered as well as the capacities and needs of all stakeholders to underpin them. The implementation of different types and different levels of innovation have been under consideration. The vision of an economically prosperous and inclusive society should be based on innovation and entire collaboration between public and private actors. Innovation should support all stakeholders in society, in both economic and social fields and is perceived as crucial for tackling the issues of natural resources, climate change and sustainable development. The governments have to ensure enabling conditions for propelling innovation. Innovation Managers of the Overseas Countries and Territories of European Union, active members of OCTA Innovation, assembled in the Azores, commit themselves to feeding these dynamics.

Governments must take the lead in systemic innovation across all sectors; fostering partnerships between public and private entities and knowledge sharing and capacity-building. The ambition is to grow a number of thematic and regional centres of excellence among OCTs with a focus on those sectors where individual OCTs are already leading the way, and to share expertise among the OCTs and with regions.

Innovation Managers: Anguilla, Bren Romney; Aruba, Bianca Peters; Bonaire, Dianne Boelmans; British Virgin Islands, Lizette George; Cayman Islands, Jamaal Anderson; Curaçao, Fiona Curie; Falkland Islands, Michael Betts; French Polynesia, Bran Quinquis; Greenland, Lars Balslev; Montserrat, Angela Estwick; New Caledonia, Jean-Michel Le Saux; Pitcairn, Leslie Jaques; Saba, Menno Van der Velde; St. Barthélemy, Pascal Peuchot; St. Helena, Niall O’Keeffe; St. Pierre-et-Miquelon, Olivier Gaston; St. Eustatius, Roy Hooker; St. Maarten, Jude Houston; Turks and Caicos Islands, Alexa Cooper-Grant; Wallis and Futuna, Carole Manry.

OCTA Innovation Team Leader, Milan Jezic von Gesseneck: innovation@octa-innovation.eu

Greenland Falklands New Caledonia Sint Eustatius sustainable development Montserrat Curaçao British Virgin Islands Aruba event French Polynesia news OCTA Sint Maarten Turks and Caicos Islands St Barts Saba Cayman Islands Bonaire Anguilla Saint Helena Tristan da Cunha islands Saint Pierre and Miquelon Wallis And futuna Pitcairn Bianca Peters Menno Van Der Velde Jamaal Anderson Fiona Curie Lizette O. George Roy Hooker Carole Manry Dianne Boelmans Olivier Gaston Alexa-Cooper-Grant Michael Betts Bran Quinquis Niall O'Keeffe Pascal Peuchot Jezic von Gesseneck Conferences Azores
Anguilla: best new hotel in the Caribbean

Anguilla: best new hotel in the Caribbean

by OCTA Communication

The Caribbean Travel Awards 2016 promoted Zemi Beach House, in Anguilla as the New Hotel of the Year.

Set on the breathtaking Shoal Bay East, the newest entry in Anguilla debuted in January and immediately began blazing new trails, from its superb Rhum Room to one of the Caribbean’s most dazzling spas. It’s a beautifully designed, conceived and executed hotel that brings a touch of hip to one of the Caribbean’s luxury hotspots.

Original article

tourism Caribbean news Anguilla
Business Plan Innovation Award in Anguilla

Business Plan Innovation Award in Anguilla

by OCTA Communication

Bren Romney, our Innovation Manager from Anguilla, Director of the Department of Youth and Culture in the Government has informed us that they provide annual Business Plan Innovation Awards to young entrepreneurs.

Criteria for awarding Business Plan Innovation Awards to entrepreneurs of the Anguilla GET SET programme:

Eligibility

The Award is open to participants and beneficiaries of GET SET. The Business Plan entered may relate to a product, a process, or a service in any legitimate area.

Judging

A panel of the GET SET MAB members with co-opted members of partner organizations, as decided, will review the entries and select the winners based on criteria which include:

  • The level of creativity
  • The Quality of preparation
  • The Potential impact of the business

The consensus decision of the judges is final. The judges may disqualify entries that are incomplete, unclear, in dispute, or deemed not relevant to Anguilla.

The Awards

The Business Plan Innovation Award will be a grant to the successful entrant in the sum of XCD$5,000.00 paid towards the business undertaking. Merit Awards of XCD$1,000.00 each will be awarded to five entrants.

Criteria for the BPIA:

  • The Award will go to the winner that has shown clear originality in researching, creating, marketing / promoting and thoroughness of financial projections related to the products or services.
  • The product and / or service should have good potential to be a local leader / market leader.
  • The product and/ or service should have good potential to become a regional market leader.
  • The plan must demonstrate a sustainable business model and commercial viability.
  • The product or service must demonstrate a clear benefit to community and national development and be sensitive to the local environment.
  • The proposed business should demonstrate exploitation of local / indigenous products as well as technology.
  • The owner / entrepreneur must play a strategic and active role in the business or enterprise.

A total of 100 points are allocated in the following manner:

  • Originality In Research Business Idea / Type: 20
  • Product/Service Potential To Be Market Leader (Locally): 10
  • Product/Service Potential To Be Market Leader (Regionally): 5
  • Is The Business Model Sustainable & Commercially Viable: 10
  • Is Product/Service Beneficial To Community / Country: 15
  • Does Business Use Local Products / Technology: 15
  • Are The Financial Statements & Projections Coherent with Plan: 10
  • Is Owner Active / Strategic In Business: 15

 

incubator SME support news Anguilla