Antigua Breaking News

Category: Commentary

  • Op-Ed: Gender equality has never been so close but still far from being a reality

    Op-Ed: Gender equality has never been so close but still far from being a reality

    By Patricia Scotland – Commonwealth Secretary-General This month the Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Ministers Meeting will assemble in Nairobi, Kenya. It has taken place regularly since 1985, to take stock of the current status of gender equality in our member countries, and to share perspectives and experience of how progress on this important Commonwealth priority can…

  • Handmaiden to the tyranny of a minority

    Handmaiden to the tyranny of a minority

    By Sir Ronald Sanders There have been many ignominious moments at the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) and many farcical decisions made, but they pale in significance when compared with the events of Wednesday, 11 September 2019. On that day 11 countries, accompanied by the illegitimate representative of the self-proclaimed “Interim…

  • Representative Democracy stifled in the mother of all parliaments

    Representative Democracy stifled in the mother of all parliaments

    Sir Ronald Sanders Had a government of a developing Commonwealth country suspended parliament to stop the opposition introducing a bill, British High Commissioners would have publicly lectured it, proclaiming that representative democracy had been stifled. Yet, this is precisely what happened in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) on August 28…

  • Scotiabank: Is might, right?

    Scotiabank: Is might, right?

    By Sir Ronald Sanders The Canadian-owned Bank of Nova Scotia, or Scotiabank, has more than US$1 trillion in assets; the Gross Domestic Product of the small island state, Antigua and Barbuda, is just US$1.5 billion. Yet, there is what the Canadian newspaper, Globe and Mail, described, on August 26, as a “stand-off” between Scotiabank and…

  • What about the interests of the ordinary Venezuelan people?

    What about the interests of the ordinary Venezuelan people?

    By Sir Ronald Sanders Michelle Bachelet is a torture survivor.  She was arrested in 1975 by the late dictator Augusto Pinochet’s political police and detained in the notorious Villa Grimaldi torture centre.   So, she knows much about the suffering of people. She is also an astute politician with a keen understanding of the social, economic and political…

  • Venezuela: Do we have a role in the happenings?

    Venezuela: Do we have a role in the happenings?

    By Audley Phillip I read that the U.S. has recently made secret contact with Venezuela’s socialist party boss as close allies of President Nicolás Maduro’s inner circle seek guarantees they won’t face prosecution for alleged abuses and crimes if they cede to growing demands to remove him, according to a senior Trump administration official. Diosdado…

  • Caribbean consequences of Trump’s new immigration rules

    Caribbean consequences of Trump’s new immigration rules

    By Sir Ronald Sanders U.S. President Donald Trump’s new rule on immigration and nationality, published on Monday, August 12, is not different from the rules applied by Caribbean countries.   It seeks to prohibit persons from migrating to the U.S. if they would become a charge upon the State, and it denies qualification for permanent residence status…

  • Contempt of Haitians is shameful

    By Sir Ronald Sanders The response to Haitians arriving in Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries has been lamentable at best and contemptible at worst.  They have been treated, for the most part, as pariahs particularly by the ignorant and bigoted. Recently, in Guyana, the arrival of Haitians has been greeted with a hysteria that was evident in…

  • Op-Ed: Commonwealth enables governments to collaborate on practical action to tackle devastating impact of climate change on people’s lives

    Op-Ed: Commonwealth enables governments to collaborate on practical action to tackle devastating impact of climate change on people’s lives

    By Patricia Scotland – Commonwealth Secretary-General It has been almost two years since I sat in a security plane flying over the once familiar, but then almost unrecognisable, terrain of Dominica – the country of my birth. I was on my way from Barbuda where Hurricane Irma had caused unimaginable destruction, forcing a complete evacuation…

  • BREXIT’s effect on Caribbean tourism

    BREXIT’s effect on Caribbean tourism

    By Sir Ronald Sanders Caribbean persons interacting with British tourists, apart from the super-rich, should be mindful that if these visitors appear reluctant to part with their money, or demand better value, it’s because they’re spending a much-devalued UK currency. In the first week since Boris Johnson took the reins of the British government on…

  • Haiti, a ‘shithole’ financed by the United States

    Haiti, a ‘shithole’ financed by the United States

    By Nancy Roc Last weekend, Donald Trump attacked the city of Baltimore and called it a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess”, a “very dangerous & filthy place” where “no human being would want to live”. Haitians know exactly how much it hurts to be called those names. Trump should see the capital of Haiti,…

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]