Antigua Breaking News

Category: Commentary

  • Gaston Browne Gambled with St. Mary’s South Constituency and Lost

    Gaston Browne Gambled with St. Mary’s South Constituency and Lost

    Wayne Mariette Photo Get the news delivered directly to your phone. Click here to Join our WhatsApp Group DEAR EDITOR: In a shocking display of arrogance and disregard for the democratic process, Prime Minister Gaston Browne of the governing Antigua Barbuda Labour  Party made a bold and ill-advised gamble by replacing Samantha Marshall, the chosen…

  • Audley Phillip | Bribery In Voting – Can We Ever Solve it? Election Fraud is A Serious Problem!

    Audley Phillip | Bribery In Voting – Can We Ever Solve it? Election Fraud is A Serious Problem!

    Get the news delivered directly to your phone. Click here to Join our WhatsApp Group As we head into the much anticipated by election in St. Mary’s South, there has been much talk about political inducement or bribes and the role it is  playing in this all important seat for both the ABLP and the UPP.…

  • Sir Ronald Sanders | UN action needed urgently to end Israel-Hamas violence

    Sir Ronald Sanders | UN action needed urgently to end Israel-Hamas violence

    The attack by Hamas on civilians in Southern Israel on 7 October 2023 was as stupid as it was cruel, brutal and inhuman. Get the news delivered directly to your phone. Click here to Join our WhatsApp Group Whatever the purposes – and there were many – behind a slaughter of 1,200 persons, including children…

  • Ramesh Lutchmedial | Caribbean Airlines Expands Fleet, Antigua Protests Intra-Regional Moves

    Ramesh Lutchmedial | Caribbean Airlines Expands Fleet, Antigua Protests Intra-Regional Moves

    (Trinidad Newsday) — In delivering TT’s 2023/2024 national budget, Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced that the Caribbean region has been exhibiting strong air transport demand. According to Imbert, to meet this growing demand, Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) intends to expand its fleet through the lease of additional ATR-72, B 737- MAX 8 and Embraer E-175…

  • Arvel Grant | CAL Alone or CAL and LIAT? Fair Competition or Fearsome Fighting

    Arvel Grant | CAL Alone or CAL and LIAT? Fair Competition or Fearsome Fighting

    Get the news delivered directly to your phone. Click here to Join our WhatsApp Group Last week, I read (with some delight) that the IMF is   signaling support for a resurgent LIAT. That could  then signal possible interest by the World Bank and network of regional institutions, including the Caribbean Development Bank. A few…

  • Keeping Cattle on Public Land Is Bad for People, Cows, Wildlife, and the Planet

    Keeping Cattle on Public Land Is Bad for People, Cows, Wildlife, and the Planet

    By Erika Schelby When conservationist Aldo Leopold persuaded the U.S. Forest Service in 1924 to establish the nation’s first federally approved wilderness of more than 500,000 acres around the headwaters of the Gila River in southwestern New Mexico, he did not anticipate that this priceless pristine land would be invaded by cattle. This problem would…

  • Dr. Oswald Thomas | Mental Health and Suicide

    Dr. Oswald Thomas | Mental Health and Suicide

    The global community is focusing on mental health awareness and suicide prevention this month. Most unfortunately, Antigua and Barbuda have seen a rise in suicide and suicidal attempts over the years, and police involvement with the mentally ill has not always ended well. Taken together, these factors suggest that lawmakers need to change our laws…

  • Do Caribbean countries need a new social contract?

    Do Caribbean countries need a new social contract?

    Recent findings by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) ring alarm bells for the global community: democratic governance is under threat, with an increasing number of people subjected to authoritarian regimes that bluntly infringe on human rights and freedoms. CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES. While authoritarian regimes…

  • The Caribbean should ban lethal autonomous weapons

    The Caribbean should ban lethal autonomous weapons

    By Sir Ronald Sanders Autonomous weapons pose a clear and present danger to the Caribbean.  Action to ban them should be seriously considered now. CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES. This is one of four recommendation that I made in an address to a conference on September 5, organised by the Caribbean…

  • MAKEDA MIKAEL | Liat’s Two Companies, North & South

    MAKEDA MIKAEL | Liat’s Two Companies, North & South

    Once in LIAT’s lifetime it operated efficient two companies in the black! One in the South and one in the North, Four Island Air & Inter-island Air, and their fleet consisted of Britton Norman islanders and de Havilland Twin Otters CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES. These aircraft kept the Northern…

  • Haiti: a peaceful multinational approach, not a warlike force

    Haiti: a peaceful multinational approach, not a warlike force

    Аdvеrtіѕе wіth thе most visited news site in Antigua and Barbuda ~ Wе оffеr fullу сuѕtоmіzаblе аnd flехіblе dіgіtаl mаrkеtіng расkаgеѕ. Yоur соntеnt іѕ dеlіvеrеd іnѕtаntlу tо thоuѕаndѕ оf uѕеrѕ іn Antigua аnd аbrоаd via our One Signal push notifications! Соntасt uѕ аt [email protected]. ——————————————————————— By Sir Ronald Sanders Haiti needs “to get its political…

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

(CONSULTING SERVICES – INDIVIDUAL SELECTION)

 

OECS MSME Guarantee Facility Project

Loan No.: IDA-62670, IDA-62660, IDA-62640, IBRD-88830, IDA-62650

Assignment Title: Senior Operating Officer (SOO)

Reference No. KN-ECPCGC-207852-CS-INDV

 

The Governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have received financing in the amount of US$10 million equivalent from the World Bank towards the cost of establishing a partial credit guarantee scheme, and they intend to apply part of the proceeds to payments for goods, and consulting services to be procured under this project. 

The consultant will serve as the “Senior Operating Officer (SOO)” for the ECPCGC and should possess extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to Micro, small and medium-sized businesses, knowledge of the internal control processes necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk mitigation procedures. The ideal candidate should possess an Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Accounting, Banking or related field, with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in lending, inclusive of MSME lending. The initial employment period will be for two years on a contractual basis. Renewal of the contract will be subject to a performance evaluation at the end of the contractual period. The assignment is expected to begin on September 30th, 2021.  The consultant will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer of the ECPCGC.

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be viewed by following the attached link below. 

 

https://bit.ly/3iVannm

 

The Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECPCGC) now invites eligible “Consultants” to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have:

  • An Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Finance, Banking or related field; and
  • Minimum of 5 years’ experience in MSME lending. Applicants should also have:
  • The ability to design and implement risk management procedures 
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to small and medium-sized businesses
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME banking operations
  • Knowledge of the internal controls necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk management procedures
  • Experience developing and presenting information in public, including responding to questions in real-time
  • Experience lending to MSMEs located in the ECCU
  • Knowledge of marketing and communicating with the MSME sector
  • Ability to draft procedures to be used in a lending operation
  • Familiarity with the mechanics of a loan guarantee program
  • Exceptional written, oral, interpersonal, and presentation skills, and
  • Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office suite.

The attention of interested Individual Consultants is drawn to Section III, Paragraphs 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers July 2016, [revised November 2017] (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Approved Selection Method for Individual Consultants set out in the clause 7.34 of the World Bank Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers. 

 

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 0800 to 1700 hours:

Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation

Brid Rock, Basseterre,

St. Kitts.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form by e-mail by August 11th, 2021, to [email protected]. 

 

For further information, please contact:

Carmen Gomez-Trigg                                                            Bernard Thomas

Chief Executive Officer                                                          Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 868-620-8144                                                                  Tel: 869-765-2385

Email: [email protected]                                          [email protected]