Mr. Owen Holder
Comptroller, Barbados Customs and Excise Department
Ms. Beverley Collins
President, Barbados Customs Brokers & Clerks Association
Malikca Cummings originates from Georgetown, Guyana and grew up in a family of entrepreneurs which sparked her interest in owning her own business. It was while working as operations manager at West Indies Recycler Ltd based in Guyana, that she conceived the idea of starting a unique business recycling electronic waste.
Caribbean E-Waste Management Inc. was formed in 2008 and following much determination and hard work and with the support of the Barbados Youth Business Trust the business has been in operation for over 12 years. The company’s collects E-Waste from a range of companies, schools and government offices and offers services such as computer refurbishing, computer upgrades, E-Waste education and training, sustainable solutions advise, as well as E-Waste drop off facilities.
Security is paramount CEWMI’s, and the company customer service philosophy is centred on the core values of satisfaction, integrity, and honesty. Ms Cummings goals for CEWMI are to leverage innovation to ensure the sustainability of the business and the continuation of her entrepreneurial journey as a leader in the recycling industry.
Over her career Ms. Cummings has taken several business courses and has received certificates from the University of Guyana, New Guyana School University, and the Barbados Youth Business Trust (BYBT). She is also the recipient of several awards including the 2010 BYBT Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the 2011 BYBT Perseverance Award, and the 2012 BYBT Ambassador’s Award.
Mr Blanchard is a certified Business & Executive Coach. As Founder & Managing Director of the Caribbean Institute of Leadership & Coaching (CILC), he works with corporate leaders and business owners helping them to grow themselves and their organisations. The CILC provides a range of coaching, leadership, personal and business assessments, surveys, and management development as well as change management programs. He has created the Goal Achievement Formula; a comprehensive goal setting and achievement system for bridging the gap between potential and performance.
Mr. Blanchard is a former CEO of Cable and Wireless of Dominica and Grenada and also held the role of Executive Vice President Transformation, leading the US$100M transformation from Cable & Wireless to LIME. Between 2009-2010 he also held the title Executive Vice-President of LIME Telecoms for the Windward Islands (Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia & St. Vincent).
Mr. Hill was appointed as CEO of the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC), now trading as Export Barbados (BIDC) in April 2021. His appointment as CEO has brought a new focus on exports and innovation, with a vision to rethink exports and be laser-focused on export development, promotion, engagement, and expansion, with a purposeful and aggressive approach tailored to build a new export economy in Barbados, which can drive foreign exchange, growth, and transformation for the country.
Shaping Mr. Hill’s vision for the Export Barbados (BIDC) is also his design background and design experience in both the public and private sector, embracing an understanding of design as strategy, well-beyond design as simply styling or process.
The new strategic focus created by Mr. Hill for Export Barbados (BIDC) is to build sustainable, responsible, and impactful investment and innovations, with the transformative direction pivoted on becoming a blue ocean organization. This focus emphasises three economies – Oceans Economy (blue economy), Bioeconomy (green economy), and Design Economy (orange economy); using the 3-part model – Design It, Make It, Ship It for driving exports
Mr. Hill is also the founder of Innogen Technologies Inc. and Biogen Biotechnologies Inc. – two research and development companies in the clean technologies market.
After leaving secondary school Mr. Ward was lucky to land an apprentice position job with MCMA Stone where he quickly discovered a talent for stone carving. This, coupled with his innate artistic ability led him to the path that he is currently still on today. Following approximately 13 years working with MCMA where he honed his carving skills, he struck out on his own to open his creative business Coral By Hand.
This endeavour proved to be quite the challenge, but through effort, determination, and resilience he has worked steadily for the past 8 years to grow and progress despite the tough economic climate which has plagued Barbados for quite some time. He considers his business a labour of love grown from his passion to succeed. This mindset motivated him to use the recent Ashfall from the erupting La Soufrière Volcano in St. Vincent & The Grenadines that negatively impacted Barbados, to create new innovative products for his business.
Mr. Ward is also a former member of the Barbados National Boxing Team and represented the country for over 17 years.
Catalyzing change that brings about transformation has been the primary pursuit of Racquel Moses’ career. Racquel has enabled leadership and organizations around the world to go beyond their current vision and stay on the cusp of what’s next. She has become a critical advisor for driving the shift to digital, for process automation and implementing key turnaround projects that heighten customer engagement and strengthen organizational performance.
Known for her ability to build coalitions, Racquel’s success in the public and private sectors has allowed her to drive important advancements on world-changing topics that require regional consensus such as climate change, sustainability and building resilience.
Joshua Forte is a sustainable environmental management practitioner and the founder and CEO of Red Diamond Compost, a biotech business that focuses on research, development, and commercialization of organic and biologic soil treatment and crop protection solutions made primarily from organic waste materials and invasive plant species such as the Sargassum seaweed, which has been plaguing the region for the past several years. Joshua has expanded his expertise to include additional areas of environmental management outside of agriculture, with the primary focus of removing pollutants from the environment and improving climate resilience and food & nutrition security. As an advocate of regenerative organic agriculture, his work with organizations in various capacities across the region and internationally has awarded him recognition as an expert in the field of climate-smart environmental management.
Some of his most recent accomplishments include winning the Climate Launchpad Barbados Nationals and advancing to the Global Grand Finals 2019, winning the Caribbean Innovation Competition 2020, presenting the Impact of Climate Change on the Caribbean at the Young Americas Forum hosted by the OAS, he is a 2021 Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) 2021 fellow and is also an incubatee of the Bloom Cleantech Incubator programme hosted by BIDC & UNIDO.