Above: Grenada (CJ Photo)

By Gerard Best
CJ Contributor

Innovators and entrepreneurs in Grenada will soon benefit from a suite of new grant funding opportunities.

The Grenada Ministry of Communications, Works, Physical Development, Public Utilities, ICT and Community Development will launch the business grants and outline the application process at an event called CARCIP Awareness Day.

“Innovative firms and individual drive new products, processes and services that create growth and employment. Innovation boosts productivity, which is the key to faster economic growth and rising living standards,” said Alice Bain, who coordinates the Caribbean Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (CARCIP) in Grenada.

The Grenada government, through CARCIP, has promoted collaboration between industry experts, the private sector and government to generate new opportunities for technology-enabled businesses. The CARCIP Awareness Day will reveal the various opportunities available under the program.

Held at the Grenada Trade Centre Annex on May 19, the event will start with an opening ceremony at 9.30 am, and continue with interactive sessions throughout the afternoon. A slate of technology experts will share perspectives on the potential of telecommunications technology to transform regional business, government and society.

“Technology is a cross-cutting sector and has implications for all individuals and businesses. The fact is that the Internet is growing rapidly and no one should be left behind,” Bain said.

The event is part of the wider ongoing effort by the Grenada government to support Internet-based economic growth, under the umbrella of CARCIP. The objective of CARCIP is to increase access to regional broadband networks and advance the development of an ICT-enabled services industry in the Caribbean Region.

Funded by the International Development Association of the World Bank and coordinated by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, CARCIP seeks to help governments and private sector to harmonize the development of critical telecommunications infrastructure across three participating Eastern Caribbean countries—Grenada, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

CARCIP Awareness Day is free and open to the public.