Part of the audience at ICN 2015. (ICN image)

CaribPR Wire, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. June 1, 2016: This National Caribbean-American Heritage Month (NCAHM), Invest Caribbean Now (ICN), the private sector investment agency of the Caribbean, is celebrating the 110^th anniversary of NCAHM by putting the spotlight on economic investments in the Caribbean region and the U.S. and Canadian Caribbean Diasporas.

ICN is currently offering qualified developers with major Caribbean-focused projects in the real estate, infrastructure development, mining and energy sectors, an opportunity to pitch their projects to company executives.

Developers who meet the company’s criteria will be able to access a variety of financing options – both debt and equity – for projects valued at between USD 5 million and up to USD300 million through the ICN network. Construction projects like resort and hotel construction, villa and mixed use developments and multi-family properties are welcome as well as major infrastructure development, energy and mining projects. Additionally, debt funding is available for refinancing, purchase or bridge loans of between USD$1 to $100 million.

For an appointment, submit completed executive summary of project that includes bios of company executives, financial overview and projects and contact details to Ana Gonzalez at agonzalez@hardbeatcommunications.com. Appointments will be confirmed directly with developer based on preliminary company and project evaluation and interest.

Meanwhile, small to medium-sized Caribbean American and Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S. and Canada who have been in existence for one year and have earnings of USD100, 000 can also contact ICN for access to SBE loans of up to USD250, 000 for expansion.

For more information see investcaribbeannow.com.

ABOUT INVEST CARIBBEAN NOW

Invest Caribbean Now was launched five years ago in collaboration at the time with the Caribbean Tourism Organization to serve as a conduit between funders and governments and private sector developers in the tourism field.

It  began with an annual investment forum that featured investment bankers, private equity investors, ministers of governments, hotel developers, tourism officials, architects, real estate developers, financial advisers, entrepreneurs, Chinese government officials and investors as well as the media in a giant match making event that put the spotlight on investment opportunities in several Caribbean nations including Bermuda, the Turks & Caicos Islands, St. Martin and Trinidad & Tobago. Based on its effectiveness in bringing people together to do business and its network of high net worth lenders and programs, ICN, owned by Hard Beat Communications, expanded it focus in 2015 to become the private sector investment agency of the Caribbean, focusing now year round on matching projects with funders and funding. ICN is the brainchild of Caribbean-born entrepreneur Felicia J. Persaud and is based in America’s financial capital of the world, New York City.

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SOURCE: Invest Caribbean Now

MEDIA CONTACT:

Kathy Bronson

Communications Coordinator

Invest Caribbean Now

kbronson@hardbeatcommunications.com

718-476-3616

Felicia J. Persaud, ICN’s founder and CEO.

CaribPR Wire, NEW YORK, NY, Nov. 25, 2015:  “Unlocking finance for Caribbean-born developers and existing regional companies is key as governments continue to struggle to grow their economies,” says Felicia J. Persaud, CEO at Invest Caribbean Now (ICN).

With banks in the region now less bullish on lending there, ICN, the definitive private sector investment agency of the Caribbean, has teamed up with several global private lenders to offer multi-million financing for projects ranging from US$5 million and up for major projects being developed in the Caribbean including building of villas, hotel and mixed-use properties.

This comes as the KPMG 2015 Caribbean Hospitality Financing Survey found that non-banks are more bullish on the Caribbean these days, with 17 percent saying it is the perfect time to lend in the region especially in Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and Turks & Caicos.

Not to be left out, ICN is also offering access to capital for Caribbean & Hispanic small to medium enterprises in the US or Canada. The options include cash advances to existing micro-enterprises on invoices as well as low interest loans and lines of credit of between US$5,000 to $250,000 to qualified business owners seeking capital for expansion and growth.

Key projects ICN is teaming to support include hotel financing, refinancing and/or expansion; renovation, expansion and acquisition of existing hotels, building and renovating apartments or villas. Other sectors will be considered on a project by project basis.

To learn more log on now investcaribbeannow.com can partner with you contact us here or via http://www.investcaribbeannow.com/contact.html

Invest Caribbean Now promotes and pushes for the right investment opportunities in the Caribbean region; offers a concierge service for high end investors seeking to make the right connection with key opportunities, governments and other parties in any Caribbean destination; connects major real estate projects with debt financing and small entrepreneurs in the US and Canadian Diaspora with small business loans and cash advances.

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SOURCE: Invest Caribbean Now

MEDIA CONTACT:

Kathy Bronson

Communications Coordinator

Invest Caribbean Now

kbronson@hardbeatcommunications.com

718-476-3616

Part of the audience at ICN 2015. (ICN image)

CaribPR Wire, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Oct. 30, 2015:  Access to capital is critical to the growth of small businesses, whether in the Caribbean/Latin America US Diaspora or Canada and often many have nowhere to turn.

But true to its goal of wealth building for the region and its Diasporas, Invest Caribbean Now, the global private sector Caribbean investment agency, has teamed with several US-based organizations to expand capital access to small to medium Caribbean and Hispanic-owned enterprises in the US and Canadians Diaspora.

ICN is partnering with two top organizations to offer cash advances to existing micro-enterprises as well as low interest loans and lines of credit of between US$5,000 to $250,000 to small to medium-sized businesses.

“We are thrilled to fulfil phase one of our 2014 goal of helping to provide access to capital for Caribbean and Hispanic-owned Diaspora Enterprises,” said ICN founder Felicia J. Persaud. “Partnerships are key to our success and we continue to build this with this new service. Now it gives me hope that one day we will also be able to do this for SME’s across the Caribbean region.”

To learn more log on now to investcaribbeannow.com or contact us here or via http://www.investcaribbeannow.com/contact.html

ABOUT INVEST CARIBBEAN NOW

Invest Caribbean Now (ICN) is the definitive private sector investment agency of the Caribbean. It is based in America’s financial capital of the world, New York City. Now in its fifth year, ICN is the brainchild of Caribbean-born media entrepreneur, Felicia J. Persaud and is owned by Hard Beat Communications, Inc.

Invest Caribbean Now promotes and pushes for the right investment opportunities in the Caribbean region; offers a concierge service for high end investors seeking to make the right connection with key opportunities, governments and other parties in any Caribbean destination and connects small entrepreneurs in the Diaspora with SME loans and cash advances.

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SOURCE: Invest Caribbean Now

MEDIA CONTACT:

Kathy Bronson

Communications Coordinator

Invest Caribbean Now

kbronson@hardbeatcommunications.com

718-476-3616

Hon. Jeanne Rogers-Vanterpool, President of the Office of Tourism of Saint Martin, made the disclosure to delegates gathered at the elite invitation only Invest Caribbean Now conference, held on the island from September 24-25th. (ICN image)

Carib PR Wire, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. Sept. 29, 2015: The French Caribbean island of Saint-Martin is seeking to give its economy a shot in the arm with the expansion of two major port projects in the next few years.

Hon. Jeanne Rogers-Vanterpool, President of the Office of Tourism of Saint Martin made the disclosure to delegates gathered at the elite invitation only Invest Caribbean Now conference, held on the island from September 24-25^th.

The Government of the Collectivité of French Saint-Martin, she said, will be seeking to implement The Marigot Bay Development Project and The Galisbay Port Development Project as its works towards its overall goal – the revitalization of its capital, Marigot.

The Galisbay Commercial Port project will see the expansion of the port as a trans-shipment hub while the Marigot Bay Development Project is aimed to expand the port as a major hub for cruise ship docks and mega yacht marina and the creation of a conference hotel, residences and shops on the water front of Marigot.

Invest Caribbean Now 2015, now in its fifth year, kicked off on September 24^th in Terres Basses with an extravagant reception and dinner at Villa Mes Aimes for foreign and local delegates. It continued on Friday, September 25th with the conference at the Chamber of Commerce building in Concordia where the spotlight was put squarely on tourism investment opportunities in the French Caribbean Island. It was the first time ICN had taken its conference overseas.

The event featured several local government officials including Senator Guillaume Arnell; Hon. Jeanne Rogers-Vanterpool, and Vice-president of Economic Development Wendel Cocks, harbour developers as well as several local stake holders and over three dozen Beijing company executives.

ICN’s Felicia J. Persaud, ICN’s founder and CEO, thanked Saint Martin for welcoming the conference to its shores and urged the government to continue to work on creative “private – public sector partnerships.”

“We must move beyond petty politics and arrogant perceived power and understand that our growth as an island – and as a region – is tied to relationship building globally – whether in the Caribbean Diaspora, the US, China, Europe, Africa or other areas around the world,” Persaud said. “The competitive nature of the global market place demands such action and we cannot be left behind in 2015. We must think global and act global!”

The summit this year made history in the North-East Caribbean with the attendance of a delegation of over 40-Beijing companies and organizations.

Part of the audience at ICN 2015. (ICN image)

Speakers from the Chinese delegation included Qin, Guoying, Secretary-General of China Women’s Development Foundation; Xiong, Yumei, Executive President of the China Women Tourism Committee; Zheng, Yaoxing, Dean Of The Tourism Department, Fujian Normal University And Strait Tourism College; Yin, Zhijun, Chairman, The Beijing Lao She Teahouse Co., Ltd, Guo, LiFeng, CEO, BESTONE Jewelry Company and Li Li,   The Executive Director Of The Sino-American Friendship Association.

The 2015 event was presented by the Government of the Collectivité of French Saint-Martin, The Office of Tourism of Saint-Martin and executives at Invest Caribbean Now (ICN), in collaboration with the Sino-American Friendship Association, the Chinese American Business Development Center of New York, the  St-Martin Harbor, Hard Beat Communications, One Caribbean Television, the St. Maarten Chinese Association, CaribPRWire and News Americas Now.

ABOUT SAINT MARTIN

The Collectivité of French Saint Martin is located in the northeast Caribbean, approximately 300 km (190 mi) southeast of Puerto Rico and shares the 37 square mile island with Sint Maarten, a country within the Dutch Kingdom.  The Collectivité offers low rates of taxation for investors; exemption from property tax for five years for new commercial premises and reduced transfer tax on the acquisition of land for the purposes of priority activities.

ABOUT INVEST CARIBBEAN NOW

Felicia J. Persaud, ICN’s founder and CEO.

Invest Caribbean Now (ICN) is the definitive private sector investment agency of the Caribbean. It is based in America’s financial capital of the world, New York City. Now in its fifth year, ICN is the brainchild of Caribbean-born media entrepreneur, Felicia J. Persaud and is owned by Hard Beat Communications, Inc.

Invest Caribbean Now promotes and pushes for the right investment opportunities in the Caribbean region; offers a concierge service for high end investors seeking to make the right connection with key opportunities, governments and other parties in any Caribbean destination and connects small entrepreneurs in the Diaspora with SME micro loans.

For more see investcaribbeannow.com.

###

SOURCE: Invest Caribbean Now

MEDIA CONTACT:

Kathy Bronson

Communications Coordinator

Invest Caribbean Now

High Res images available: kbronson@hardbeatcommunications.com

718-476-3616

With over 1,000 media placements already including on the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Bloomberg and Reuters, the conference remains true to its goal of matching international financial influencers with government officials and policy makers from “Paradise,” the last emerging market on earth.

Speakers and panelists confirmed for ICN 2013 are:

Anthony Eterno, U.S. State Department

Dr. Rufus Ewing, Premier Turks & Caicos Islands, (TCI)

Washington Misick, Finance Minister, Turks & Caicos Islands

Beverly Nicholson-Doty, Chairman, Caribbean Tourism Organization, (CTO) and Commissioner Tourism, USVI

Alan Lowenstein, managing director, Wedgewood Investment Group

E.Jay Saunders, CEO, Digicel TCI

Heather Floissac, managing director, Belle Vue Properties Ltd

Brian Lilly, CEO, Lilly Broadcasting and One Caribbean Television

Adam Goldstein, president, Royal Caribbean International

Miguel Reyna, director, port business development and asset management, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Dr. Grace Lappin, managing director, Avalon Partners

Xiaoguang Liu, consul in charge of economic & commercial affairs of the Consulate General of China in New York

Jianxin Lin, president of American Chinese Commerce Development Association, (ACCDA)

Li Li, managing director of the Chinese American Business Development Center, (CABDC)

Ganesh Ramanathan, creative director, Hard Beat Communications

Felicia Persaud, CMO, Hard Beat Communications.

Government attendees will include:

John Percy de Jongh, Jr,   Governor, US Virgin Islands

Hubert Hughes, Chief Minister, Anguilla

Senator Ricky Skerritt, Minister Tourism & International Transport, International Trade, Industry, Commerce & Consumer Affairs, St. Kitts

Lorne Theophilus, Minister Tourism, Heritage and Creative Industries, St. Lucia

Stephen Cadiz, Minister Tourism, Trinidad & Tobago

Assemblyman Tracy Davidson-Celestine, Deputy Chief Secretary and Secretary, Division of Tourism and Transportation of Tobago

Mark Brantley, Minister Tourism, Nevis

Nicolaas Sneek, Commissioner St. Eustatius

Hugh Riley, secretary general, Caribbean Tourism Organization, (CTO).

Private sector representatives will include senior executives from JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Nomura, CIBC World Capital, Ibis Investments, Aegis Capital, Portfolio Credit Management Limited, DHL, Marriott International, Spackman Capital, Royal Caribbean Cruise, Ltd., One Caribbean Television, Avalon Partners, Digicel, TCI, Scotiabank TCI and Sun Realty among others.

A VIP only reception for sponsors, speakers, panelists and special guests will precede the forum on June 4^th at the Yale Club and will be sponsored by The Turks & Caicos Islands Investment Agency.

Tickets at US$185 are available only through May 24^th for the June 5^th forum at http://investcaribbeannow.com/registration/

The coveted 2013 ICN Leadership Award will be presented to Royal Caribbean International.

Invest Caribbean Now is organized annually by The Caribbean Tourism Organization and digital media solutions company, Hard Beat Communications, during Caribbean Week in New York.

ICN 2013 is sponsored by marquee sponsor Avalon Partners; gold sponsors, The Turks & Caicos Islands Investment Agency and Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd; bronze sponsor, One Caribbean Television and supporting sponsors, The Chinese American Business Development Center, the American Chinese Commerce Development Association and No-Jet-Lag.

2013 media partners are: The PR Newswire, CaribPR Wire, News Americas Now, WINN FM of St. Kitts, South Florida Caribbean, Caribseek, Antigua Tribune, Bahamas Spectator, Barbados Gazette, British Caribbean News, Caribbean ET Roundup, Caribbean Financials, Cuba Chronicle, Dominica Gazette, Dominican Republic Post, Dutch Caribbean News, French Caribbean News, Grenada Chronicle, Guyana Inquirer, Haiti Gazette, Jamaica Inquirer, Puerto Rico Tribune, St. Kitts Gazette, St. Lucia Chronicle, St. Vincent Tribune, Trinidad Tribune, the Bajan Reporter , The Bahamas Weekly and Bahamas Local.