Microfinance Initiatives in the Caribbean: Challenges and Solutions

This paper presents the proceedings of the 4th Roundtable conference on Microfinance in the Caribbean. The discussions at the Roundtable mainly focused on:

• Impact of politics on the efficiency and sustainability of microfinance institutions (MFIs);
• Reasons for why the Caribbean is lagging behind Latin America and lessons to be learned from the Latin American models;
• Services that micro entrepreneurs really needed and the quantity of demand.

Some of the presentations made at the Roundtable were:

• Alvaro Ramirez, from the Inter-American development Bank (IDB) discussed IDB's experiences in microfinance, especially in the Caribbean;
• Glenn Westley explored the challenges that the Caribbean microfinance faced and suggested ways to overcome them;
• Prakash Dhanrajh of Microfin Caribbean Holdings Limited, and Amy Lofgren, of Caribbean Microfinance Limited, discussed surveys of the demand for microfinance in various parts of the Caribbean;
• S. Venkatraman of the Caribbean Information and Credit Rating Services Limited discussed the role of ratings in microfinance;
• Maguerite Berger of the IDB, spoke about the application of international best practices in the Caribbean environment;
• Dr. Crompton Bourne of the Caribbean Development Bank spoke about the United Nations' Year of Microfinance.

The paper also presents the Roundtable Discussions with comments from various experts in the field about:

• Challenges that Caribbean microfinance faces;
• Responses to 2004 Hurricanes and Flooding Disasters - Lessons for the Future;
• Role of the State in enterprise development on the Caribbean;
• Entrepreneurship and wealth creation.