A key executive of a US firm that specializes in sectors that are critical to the enhancement of the Caribbean’s development potential and more so to Guyana’s now oil-driven development potential has said that the next month’s Caribbean Investment Forum which will be held in Trinidad and Tobago provides an opportunity for investors to explore the opportunities currently available in the region,
Ralph Birkhoff, Chief Executive Officer of the New York-based firm Alquimi Renewables which specializes in providing advisory services in energy-based investments has told the Trinidad and Tobago Express Newspaper that the November Caribbean Investment Forum in Port of Spain provides an opportunity for investors to explore the extraordinary opportunities in the Caribbean region.
The company’s profile describes it as a “strategic project development firm that develops and/or identifies critically needed scalable infrastructure projects in renewable energy, protected agriculture, or climate resilience”, a profile which suggests that it may well be interested in engaging the Guyana delegation at the November 8-11 Port of Spain Investment forum.
Information published in the Trinidad Express report asserts that Alquimi has already established business ties with the Caribbean through what the newspaper describes as collaboration “with local, regional, and international investment interests (in the Caribbean) in the successful implementation and expansion of Greenhouse Farm Projects” in the region.” Alquimi and their investor partners are adding to food security in Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, and Barbados, with plans to expand in 2023 to Guyana, St Lucia, Jamaica and The Bahamas,” the Express adds.
Birkhoff is also quoted as saying that his company will also be seeking to develop “an innovative system that would meet the specific threats of the region and provide investors with risk mitigation” against “the constant risk of annual tropical storms that would destroy a standard greenhouse.” Initiatives designed to mitigate the climate risks associated with the region’s food security-related agricultural investments are likely to realize considerable traction with regional governments, given the prevailing food security pursuits of member countries of the Caribbean Community.
The November Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF) in Port of Spain is being seen here in the region as yet another opportunity for extra-regional investors to probe what are believed to be the considerable possibilities “for investors to explore the extraordinary opportunities in the Caribbean region,” according to a pronouncement credited to Birkhoff, in the Express.
The newspaper also credits the firm as being a “specialized advisory firm that focuses on high quality, asset-based energy investments in the United States and the Caribbean.”
The advent of next month’s Port-of-Spain forum coincides with what is now emerging as fairly considerable worry in the Caribbean over creeping food insecurity threats that are beginning to emerge in parts of the region and whether or not the region, as a whole, is ideally positioned to mount an adequate response to the challenge at this time.
