Investment Veteran Insists Caribbean Is Ripe With Promise At Avalon Invest Caribbean Now 2013
NEW YORK – “The ‘Caribbean is ripe for significant investments to spur the region in sustained economic and human growth.”
That’s the consensus of 30-year investment veteran, Alan Loewenstein, managing partner of Wedgewood Investment Group. In delivering the keynote speech at the 2013 Avalon Invest Caribbean Now forum in New York City on Wednesday, June 5th, Loewenstein said “the government that can lure the most investment will be the long term winner because these investments will spur the local economy.”
He said the Caribbean is a safer bet for investors compared to Africa and Latin America since growth in the LATAM has much more political risk than the Caribbean while investments in Africa is “still too early stage with unstable governments that cause the potential for tremendous risk.”
“Investments now will be on the ground level of a growth and a building boom that will spur more growth in the future,” predicted Lowenstein, adding that the time to buy is when valuations are cheap.
But he said governments must do their part to attract the baby boomers and new millionaires and billionaires who are growing globally including in China and Russia.
“These people are accustomed to the modern conveniences of society,” said Loewenstein, so to entice them to come, all the technology needs to be in place, the marina has to be built, the service industry has to be trained and all the comforts of home need to be transported and this requires significant investment.”
For the full speech from Mr. Loewenstein log on here or to http://investcaribbeannow.com/presentations/
Other speakers and presenters at the Avalon ICN 2013 included Anthony Eterno of the Caribbean Affairs Office of the Western Hemisphere Division of the U.S. State Department; Dr. Rufus Ewing, Premier of the Turks & Caicos Islands; C. Washington Misick, finance minister of the Turks & Caicos Islands; Felicia Persaud, founder of Invest Caribbean Now and CMO at Hard Beat Communications; Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization and Commissioner of tourism of the USVI, Beverly Nicholson Doty; Miguel Reyna, director, Port Business Development and Asset Management, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.; Heather Flossiac of Belle Vue Properties of St. Lucia; E. Jay Saunders, CEO of Digicel TCI; Brian Lilly, founder of One Caribbean Television and Ganesh Ramanathan, creative director at Hard Beat Communications;
Dr. Grace Lappin of Avalon Partners, Inc. and Arthur Piccolo of the Bowling Green Association.
Private sector attendees included representatives from JP Morgan Chase, Nomura, Aegis Capital, Merrill Lynch, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd, Frontier Markets Capital, Ltd.; Waterloo Investments Holdings Ltd.; RBC Merchant Bank Caribbbean; efm Hospitality; CIBC World Markets; RBC Royal Bank and Ibis Investments among others.
