Soufriere Models Community Tourism

THE STAR Businessweek DECEMBER 1, 2018

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Soufriere models community tourism The Soufriere Regional Development Foundation (SRDF) channels tourism revenue into grassroots causes

By Catherine Morris, STAR Businessweek Correspondent

Nestled in the shade of the towering Piton mountains and fronted by a picturesque island harbour, Soufriere is one of Saint Lucia’s most beautiful (and most visited) spots. But beneath the idyllic veneer, this is a community that has seen hard times.

Continued on page 4

ECB withdraws licence of Maltese bank after scandal The European Central Bank has withdrawn the banking licence for Pilatus Bank, the Maltese lender caught up in a scandal that has raised concerns that the financial systems of some EU member states have become gateways for money laundering Page 3

How the UK plans to teach computer science to every child In a windowless classroom at Barrow Hill Junior School in north London, a small group of 9- and 10-year-olds are enthusiastically attempting to design their own video game using the Scratch coding language Page 7

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The Past and Future of the Saint Lucian Banana Industry

By ED Kennedy, STAR Businessweek Correspondent

R

ecent weeks have seen renewed debate surrounding the future of the banana production industry here in Saint Lucia. This latest chapter comes following the destruction caused by tropical storm Kirk.

The storm made its way through the region during late September, and early October saw the Ministry of Agriculture estimate in the aftermath up to 80% of the nation’s banana crops were damaged.

Even in an industry and nation seasoned in the havoc that extreme weather can bring, Kirk’s impact was a savage blow. No fair person could do anything but commend the resilience of banana growers and industry workers who have faced up to the setback and resolved to press on. Yet this latest obstacle is one that has been encountered year after year.

The banana industry has been an important part of Saint Lucia’s economic and cultural history. One could not make the national dish of green fig & salt fish without the icon! Yet the reality is, for the future of Saint Lucia’s economy, it is now necessary to have a tough but clear-cut discussion about bananas.

The Root Cause of the Problem

Though today agriculture is no longer the leading economic industry of Saint Lucia, the banana’s identification with the nation’s growth and culture means there will always be a rich affection for the crop, notwithstanding the turbulence it has experienced.

The agricultural industry today still employs around 20% of Saint Lucia’s workforce. For all the challenges a modern agricultural sector can have throughout its supply chain from ‘soil to shop’, the weakness of the banana industry begins at its very root.

When put at its simplest, it’s easy to see why the problem is clear but just about insurmountable: banana plants are weak.

Undoubtedly they look beautiful blowing in a summertime breeze, and the Caribbean’s annual output of bananas make a robust contribution to the 100 million consumed around the world each year. Yet nobody could claim a banana plant has the strength of an oak tree or a redwood.

According to Saint Lucia’s agriculture minister, between 80 and 90 per cent of the island’s banana industry sustained damage as a result of the passage of tropical storm Kirk in September of this year

Like other plants, various treatments and genetic modifications can be made to make bananas more resistant to disease.

The triumph of the November 2017 trial

by QUT researchers that successfully grew Cavendish bananas resistant to the Fusarium wilt tropical race 4 (commonly known as the Panama disease) is a terrific example of this. But making the fruit more resistant to a disease is one thing; growing bananas plants that resist tropical storms like Kirk is another thing entirely.

Just as future seasons of the banana plant will be vulnerable to extreme weather, given their structure, so too will the industry that surrounds it.

Years of Trials and Tribulations

The latest chapter of the banana industry’s decline traces its origins back

to 1993. Protests from Saint Lucians seeking higher returns for the industry saw two farmers shot dead, and since this era, nothing has been the same. A European Union tariff, and clampdown

by Brussels on the UK’s favourable trade treatment of Saint Lucia bananas marked the end of the glory years.

Since 1993 the Saint Lucia banana industry has borne the pain of many rapid shifts in the global economy.

Notwithstanding the variables that can come with extreme weather, the drop in exports from 132,000 tons in 1992 to just 42,000 tons in 2004 speaks to deeper factors in the decline.

Much good work has been done since to try and provide a new path here, especially with the partnership of Saint Lucia and the Republic of China’s (Taiwan) Banana Productivity

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Improvement Project. Saint Lucia’s current average output of 12.5 tons per hectare is half of the international standard of 25 tons. The work of the project to bridge that gap is commendable, and all must wish it every success.

The Local Experience in the Global Economy

Recent times have seen globalisation become a controversial buzzword in the international arena. After so many years where ‘going global’ appeared to be an unquestioned commandment of business, a STAR Businessweek reader may be tempted to think the banana industry can easily find a new road in this era. But ultimately it all comes back to the vulnerability of the banana.

Continued on page 5

European Banks

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© The Financial Times Limited [2018]. All Rights Reserved. Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in anyway. Star Publishing Company is solely responsible for providing this translated content and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation

ECB withdraws licence of Maltese bank after scandal

Pilatus at centre of murdered journalist’s reports of alleged money laundering

By Claire Jones in Frankfurt and Cynthia O’Murchu in London

T

he European Central Bank has withdrawn the banking licence for Pilatus Bank, the Maltese lender caught up in a scandal that has raised concerns that the financial systems of some EU member states have become gateways for money laundering.

The move comes several months after US authorities charged the bank’s Iranianborn owner and former chairman Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad with organising a scheme to evade US sanctions against Iran by illegally funnelling more than $115m from Venezuela to Iraniancontrolled companies. He has pleaded not guilty and been released on bail.

Pilatus was at the centre of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s reporting on allegations of government corruption and money laundering in the months before her death in a car bombing in October 2017.

Pilatus and its owner had filed defamation proceedings against the journalist last year after a series of stories published on her website claimed the bank had laundered funds from allegedly corrupt schemes on behalf of offshore companies and individuals, including Keith Schembri, chief of staff to the Maltese prime minister, Joseph Muscat.

Mr Schembri vehemently denied the allegation.

The Malta Financial Services Authority said in a statement published on Monday: “Further to the authority’s proposal to the European Central Bank to withdraw the authorisation of Pilatus Bank as a credit institution, the ECB’s governing council

Former Pilatus Bank chairman Ali Sadr Hasheminejad

has decided to withdraw the authorisation of Pilatus Bank with effect from today.”

The ECB made the decision last Friday.

While the central bank does not have the legal powers to supervise and enforce anti-money laundering legislation, it can withdraw a banking licence on the grounds of money laundering at the request of the national supervisor.

EU authorities want new powers to crack down on money laundering after a string of scandals in Estonia, Latvia and Malta.

In several cases, including that of Pilatus, it was US authorities that played a big role in uncovering alleged illicit banking activities.

The European Banking Authority accused Malta of “systematic” failings in its handling of the Pilatus case after carrying out an investigation into the lender.

Pilatus caters to wealthy individuals and, according to its annual report, has more than 300m Euros in assets. It has been operating in Malta since 2014 and opened a branch in London’s Mayfair last year after obtaining a UK banking licence.

Though the indictment in the case against Mr Sadr did not mention Pilatus originally, US prosecutors later claimed that he used nearly $9m of “criminal proceeds directly linked to the Venezuela project” to “establish and

capitalise the bank” in 2013.

After Mr Sadr’s arrest, the Maltese financial regulator removed him from his roles at the bank and placed it under the supervision blocking all transactions.

One report by the Maltese anti-money laundering unit, penned in 2016 and later leaked to the media, referred to intelligence that Mr Sadr was being investigated in a foreign jurisdiction on suspicion of money laundering.

It later emerged Mr Sadr was still involved in the alleged sanctions evasion scheme — and was already under investigation by US authorities — when he set out to establish the bank and obtain a licence for it in 2012.

The withdrawal of Pilatus’s licence will also draw attention to the role of the Bank of Valletta, another Maltese lender where Pilatus’s initial share capital of 8m Euros was deposited, according to public records.

“Bank of Valletta has a strict policy of due diligence which it applies to all accounts opened by the bank,” a spokesman for the bank told the FT in response to an earlier request regarding Mr Sadr’s funds held at the bank.

After a preliminary and highly critical report by Malta’s anti-money laundering unit calling into question the bank’s ability to prevent money laundering and its due diligence process in 2016, Pilatus engaged KPMG and a local law firm to conduct a review of its clients and procedures. That review gave Pilatus a clean bill of health.

EU authorities want new powers to crack down on money laundering after a string of scandals in Estonia, Latvia and Malta

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Soufriere models community tourism Continued from page 1

Once Saint Lucia’s capital, Soufriere is now the second most impoverished district in the country — buffeted by natural disasters, a waning agricultural industry and development elsewhere on the island.

“The development of the north meant a lot of people moved out. There was a very heavy brain drain,” says Franklin Solomon, General Manager of the Soufriere Regional Development Foundation (SRDF). “We found ourselves lagging behind Vieux Fort and Castries. The people who were not able to move to more affluent parts of the island stayed behind.”

Those left behind got busy. In the 1970s the area turned to tourism to revive its flagging economy, leveraging its proximity to attractions such as the rainforest, Piton hiking trails and volcanic springs. It was truly a town effort, and Soufriere is fast becoming a model of community-centred tourism that puts people, and the natural environment, at the heart of its economic development.

Building a foundation

Spearheading this push for inclusive tourism is the SRDF, a non-profit organisation which channels revenue from tourism into promoting and supporting local development initiatives. The history of the SRDF can be traced back over 30 years to the foundation’s original incarnation - the Soufriere Development Programme (SDP). Formed by a group of community leaders, the SDP set itself the ambitious goal of developing a profitable tourism industry which would not only benefit the community but also protect the environment.

Its mission energised the local community, many of whom were eager to come onboard. In the early nineties stakeholders realised the SDP had outgrown its remit and needed to be revamped and rehauled into a bigger, more inclusive, organisation.

The SRDF was formally created in January 1993. Today the Foundation is responsible for the area’s biggest tourist draws — the

Gros Piton Nature Trail, the Soufriere jetties and the Sulphur Springs Park, which attract around 200,000 visitors each year.

The bulk of the SRDF’s revenue comes from these sites and, in 2017, the organisation’s budget was $2.5 million.

This money is plugged directly back into the community — funding school bursaries, college scholarships, youth sports initiatives, and healthcare. The SRDF donates around $200,000 to community causes every year. It provides a $1,000 bonus to staff members with a child in secondary school to help meet the cost of their education, and allocates around $150,000 to help underprivileged young people progress to tertiary education.

The remainder of the Foundation’s resources go towards operating costs, maintaining and developing its facilities and upgrading infrastructure around Soufriere.

“We use the assets we are managing to support the community,” says Solomon.

“This is the primary reason for SRDF. We did it because we know the people who reside here are in need. We understand the dynamics of this community. We are well placed to help nurture and develop where necessary.”

The SRDF is directed by a Board of Directors and headed by General Manager Franklin Solomon, pictured with (starting top L-R) Antonius Alexis (Director); Uranus Alexander (Director); Methodius Claircin (Director); Michael Gustave (Chairperson); Darnell Bobb (Director); Raphael Felix (Director); Joan Hippolyte (Company Secretary); Valerie Saltibus (Deputy Chairperson); Anthony Barnard (Director)

Natural assets

Solomon is Soufriere born and bred. Proud of his roots, he says the area has a strong entrepreneurial spirit and people have been quick to rise to the challenge of building a successful tourism industry. “There is a real awareness and development of the tourism product in Soufriere. One of the things we recognise is the needs and demands of the visitor,” says Solomon who believes that Soufriere’s two greatest assets are its people and its environment — in particular the Pitons, which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.

“One of the biggest challenges in tourism is competition. We are not the only Caribbean island; one could easily conclude that the islands are more or less the same in terms of what they offer — beaches,

The SRDF is implementing an expansion and rehabilitation project of the iconic Soufriere sulphur mud baths in an effort to increase the number of pools available to patrons and the introduction of wellness services such as massages

sunshine, waterfalls. We are grateful that we have the competitive advantage of the world heritage site. The Sulphur Springs Park and the Pitons are what makes Saint Lucia. They are a must-see and that is a huge plus for us. We also have very warm, very friendly people; people who are receptive to tourists.

This is something every visitor speaks about.”

Community tourism is more than just a trendy term for the SRDF. It’s a sustainable model of growth that ensures benefits pool at the grassroots level. Solomon would like to see it being used more widely but says big brands and international operators

often crowd out small, local providers. “In a nutshell, community tourism is where the dollar from the tourist or visitor stays here and the community sees the benefits.

Everybody should be doing this but the reality is that the people with the finance continue to be the people with the power.”

In Soufriere, tourism is a group effort that encompasses small business owners, bed and breakfast operators, taxi drivers, tour guides and artisans selling their handcrafted products to guests. Today’s travellers are looking for immersive cultural experiences, and the town is happy to meet that need.

Solomon says: “The everyday tourist does

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The Past and Future of the Saint Lucian Banana Industry Continued from page 2

Banana plantations that have suffered large-scale devastation can take up to a decade to fully recover

not want to be stuck in a hotel, in that controlled setting; they want to come down into town and really mingle with the locals.

They go to the same places that locals go, they visit the same beaches, they go to street parties. They mingle a lot more than in years gone by.”

Future projects

The SRDF has exciting plans in the pipeline, starting with the $1.5 million redevelopment of Hummingbird Beach which Solomon terms “a huge project”.

The beach area is being overhauled and upgraded with support from the Embassy of Taiwan and is due to open by the end of the year. When finished it will feature beach bars, lounge chairs, booths and restaurants.

Another key initiative for the Foundation is making the Sulphur Springs Park “bigger and better”. The important volcanic site will be upgraded to provide “world class” spa services that capitalise on the therapeutic qualities of its water and mud.

The organisation is also focusing on the Pitons. While the larger mountain is welltraversed by eco-tourists and nature lovers, the smaller peak is steeper and harder to climb. The SRDF wants to give visitors and locals a chance to experience Petit Piton and is currently working on a proposal to begin tours on its slopes, looking at ways to make the trails safe and provide the necessary

facilities for hikers and staff.

It’s an ambitious agenda but Solomon says the hard work and effort involved is worth it. “It is very exciting. You feel like you are really part of change.” He adds that his current position is hugely rewarding and he is honoured to be a part of SRDF’s efforts in his hometown. “The best thing is the ability and opportunity I have to improve and direct not just individuals but an entire community. I’m very grateful for where life has taken me.” As he celebrates his sixth year with the organisation, Solomon’s one regret is that the Foundation cannot do more. “The challenging thing is the extent to which the entire community depends on this organisation for support. That is a huge responsibility. We cannot help everyone.

The biggest challenge is our limited resources.”

He believes that stepping up marketing efforts to draw in more tourists from markets such as Canada, the UK and Europe will help keep the funds flowing and is optimistic about the Foundation’s future saying: “I really believe that this organisation is fully sustainable. It is a business entity with longevity. We are extremely grounded and we understand the dynamics of this community. We strive to touch and impact lives in many different ways. People see the Foundation as the godparent of the community.”

Continued from page 2

Many nations have had to go through painful shifts in their economies. Then there are businesses and industries that recognise their current mode of operation must change to meet new demands.

The rise of email is a key example of this, having seen the shift of many postal delivery services from a focus on delivering traditional handwritten mail to ferrying eCommerce-ordered goods to their buyers.

While the capacity for industries to adapt cannot go overlooked, neither can the strength of global headwinds. At its heart, the global economy today is truly global and, despite the flirtations with protectionism and trade wars seen by the likes of the US and China, only set to grow more borderless in the long run.

Going for Growth

For as long as Saint Lucia is vulnerable to extreme weather, the stability of the local banana industry will always face the risk of extreme pressure testing year by year. There is no suggestion that solutions to this issue are easy, nor that they will occur overnight. Instead, there is an opportunity here to have a frank discussion about the future of the industry — one that does not seek to do away with jobs or industry, but to secure them. Such a plan would require thinking for the long term, but with work that begins now.

The diversity of Saint Lucian agriculture also means there is no need for a lone answer here. A readiness to proactively develop other industries alongside bananas could, in time, achieve profits to match bananas, and even

exceed them, whether it be the greater cultivation of sweet potatoes in the ground, strong timber trees, or any other local seed.

Having this conversation now could kickstart a plan to deliver greater stability for the agricultural sector, and the livelihood of all in the industry.

Recently, the Taiwanese have begun work with the Saint Lucian Ministry of Agriculture on an import substitution agricultural programme set to begin implementation by 2019.

The three-year project is aimed at increasing local production of the key crops that currently contribute to the island’s high food import bill.

According to the Minister of Agriculture Ezechiel Joseph, the seven crops that are being targeted are cucumbers, lettuce, sweet peppers, cabbages, watermelons, pineapples and cantaloupes.

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DECEMBER 1, 2018

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Investment Migration: A Future-Proofing Mechanism for Smaller States

by Dr. Christian Kalin

According to an industry survey published by Investment Migration Insider, the Middle East accounts for the largest source market for RCBI consultancy firms (survey did not include EB-5 consultancy firms)

I

n an epoch as unpredictable and changeable as our own, it is no wonder that governments are looking for common-sense ways in which to future-proof their countries, and residence- and citizenship-byinvestment (RCBI) programmes represent a sensible means of doing just that. When the

future is murky with uncertain prospects and outcomes, the implementation of economic, environmental, social, and technological strategies that can ensure the long-term sustainability of a country and its people is becoming more attractive than ever.

This year has also seen the RCBI industry facing increased scrutiny from external

regulatory bodies, however, raising important questions about due diligence practices and the concept of citizenship in general.

Dubai, recently named a “model smart city”, with a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that is helping the UAE realize its Vision 2021, is the ideal backdrop for these discussions in no small part because so many UAE-based expatriates, who constitute approximately 80% of the UAE population, are flocking to RCBI programmes.

Indeed, the UAE contains an ideal client base for countries offering second citizenship and residence prospects. The most sought-after programmes are those that provide business and travel access to Europe’s Schengen Area, the US, Canada, China, and other international destinations that are valued by the Middle Eastern and other expats living in the UAE. Emirati citizens themselves are not eligible for dual citizenship, but they also happen to possess the fastest improving passport in the world. The UAE passport has made a stunning ascent on the Henley Passport Index, from 62nd place in 2006 to 21st place worldwide in Q4 2018, and the UAE now holds the number 1 passport in the Middle East region.

The performance of the Emirati passport is a

testament to the UAE’s (as well as Dubai’s) status as a growing international hub of business, trade, tourism, and culture.

Foreign direct investment: The lifeblood of economic growth

The significance of foreign direct investment (FDI) as a source of economic stimulus has increased rapidly over the past decade.

FDI has traditionally taken place between advanced global economies. However, since the early 2000s, the importance of emerging market economies as a destination for FDI has gradually been on the rise. It is now widely acknowledged that FDI is the lifeblood of economic growth for many developing and recovering smaller economies around the world — and it is within this context that the simultaneous boom in the investment migration industry ought to be seen.

The number of RCBI programmes has been increasing steadily in recent decades, from just a handful in the 1980s and 1990s to over 60 active programmes today, with Moldova and Montenegro — both small but fast-growing European countries — being the latest to launch strong citizenship offerings earlier this year.

As an established form of FDI, investment migration revenues bring a tapestry of benefits to nations with programmes in place — Continued on page 8

The Saint Lucia Registry of Companies & Intellectual Property Company Incorporations Name: R + G Ltd.

Name: Anse Galet Investments Ltd.

Description: Construction and consultancy

Description: Property holding

Directors: Rick Soodat; Guibion Ferdinand

Directors: Humbert Gidharry

Date Incorporated: 8-Nov-18

Date Incorporated: 23-Nov-18

Chamber: Pierre, Mondesir & Associates Chambers, Saint Lucia Name: JJG Plant Hire & Sales

Chamber: Brickstone Law Chambers, Saint Lucia

Name: Anse Galet Management Ltd.

Description: Sales and services of machinery

Description: Property management

Directors: James Plante; Jason Campbell

Directors: Humbert Gidharry

Date Incorporated: 20-Nov-18

Date Incorporated: 23-Nov-18

Chamber: SEDU, Saint Lucia

Chamber: Brickstone Law Chambers, Saint Lucia

Name: Noa Noa Holdings Inc. Description: Property holding Directors: Niameki Charles

Name: Omega Caribbean Ltd. Description: Money service business

Date Incorporated: 20-Nov-18

Directors: Derek Fox; Thomas Lorenz

Chamber: Brickstone Law Chambers, Saint Lucia

Date Incorporated: 23-Nov-18 Chamber: McNamara & Co. Chambers, Saint Lucia

Name: Taico Trades Inc. Description: Distribution company Directors: Yann Anselm; Cleaver Williams; Garvin Girard; Knedy Petit-Rodriguez; Thomas Bryan; Junior Octive Date Incorporated: 23-Nov-18

Name: Legends Carnival Band Inc. Description: Carnival band Directors: Zinaida McNamara; Jenella Gaston; Maundy Lewis; Dwayne Mendes

Chamber: Tonjaka E. Hinkson & Associates Chambers, Date Incorporated: 23-Nov-18 Saint Lucia

Chamber: McNamara & Co. Chambers, Saint Lucia

Education

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© The Financial Times Limited [2018]. All Rights Reserved. Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in anyway. Star Publishing Company is solely responsible for providing this translated content and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation

How the UK plans to teach computer science to every child

£78m project led by computer maker Raspberry Pi aims to train 40,000 teachers

By Madhumita Murgia, European Technology Correspondent

I

n a windowless classroom at Barrow Hill Junior School in north London, a small group of 9- and 10-year-olds are enthusiastically attempting to design their own video game using the Scratch coding language.

Teacher Susie Turner is helping one of the students, Asal, to write the correct code to steer a ship through a maze.

“You can’t just skip all those steps in between,” she tells Asal, who looks sheepish. “They’re there for a reason — to build on.”

Ms Turner is one of 40,000 teachers across the UK who have just become part of arguably the world’s largest government experiment in computing education.

The teachers, many of whom do not have a computing background, will be trained by the start-up Raspberry Pi, which sells the most popular British computer in the world to customers ranging from the International Space Station to Welsh schoolchildren.

The government has pledged £78m of funding, and the teachers will then fan out to teach computer science to children in every school in England.

“We have not seen anything of this scale and comprehensiveness in the world from a government, which is really exciting,” said Philip Colligan, chief executive of the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

“The combination of emphasis on teacher training, commitment to the subject and making resources available to get teachers out of the classroom — that’s an incredible cocktail of investment.”

UK funding is part of a £100m tranche of money announced by the chancellor in the last Budget, a per capita investment by government that is unprecedented

The Raspberry Pi team along with its partners, STEM Learning and the British Computer Society, will deliver a programme for primary and secondary schoolteachers, including free educational resources, nationwide training, and certification.

Over the next four years, they will deliver face-to-face workshops across 40 schools in well-performing areas, which will then be paid to deliver training to neighbouring schools.

In other countries, teacher training in computer science tends to be bundled with other science subjects, or funded through philanthropy. In the US, Code.org, a nonprofit organisation, says 900,000 teachers use its resources, but only just over a third of high schools teach computer science. It is funded through a combination of corporate donations and state or federal money. Its workshops mostly work through a network of local delivery partners that provide the training.

The UK funding is part of a £100m tranche of money announced by the chancellor in the last Budget, a per

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capita investment by government that is unprecedented.

“We have a lot of teachers that don’t have computer science qualifications themselves, who are trying to teach a pretty challenging curriculum. A big part of money is going to bursaries. We would pay a school the amount of money it would cost them a classroom teacher being out of school for a day,” Mr Colligan said. “Many schools can’t afford to send their teachers to training, so this is a great thing for schools in areas of disadvantage.”

Ms Turner, who is head of Maths at Barrow Hill, says she was asked to teach computing two years ago despite not having any particular knowledge of the subject. In the mornings she teaches English and Maths, and computing in the afternoons.

“I came to this not knowing anything about coding and I had had no more training than anyone else on our staff,” she said.

For the last year, she’s been coming along to Code Club, the after-school group that the FT attended in Barrow Hill run by

Raspberry Pi. Today, there are more than 6,000 of these across the country, each run along with a school teacher, reaching an estimated 110,000 children every week.

“I imagine most schools will have someone like me who isn’t a specialist, who is doing this on top of other jobs,” Ms Turner said. “If [Raspberry Pi’s] training curriculum is things teachers can do quickly and easily, in short bursts and online, it sounds perfect, because there’s a lot of time pressure.”

When Raspberry Pi was founded in 2008 by Eben Upton, the idea was to get young people interested in technology.

“We started in the year with the lowest number of applicants in computer science at Cambridge. We went from 600 applications in 1999 down to barely 200 in 2008,” said Mr Upton. “Eric Schmidt [Google’s former CEO] gave a lecture that was extremely critical of how we teach computing — he said this is the country of Turing, and now I go into schools and kids are taught PowerPoint. It was horrifying.”

The non-profit designed $5 credit-cardsized computers that can be programmed by anyone from a laboratory engineer to a child. At last count, it had sold 23m of these devices and works with partners including Google, Arm and Cisco. The charity’s volunteers work with kids to inspire creativity using the Pi and other devices, resulting in projects including Google Home voice systems, space experiments and chatbots.

“I was an 80s kid and I remember the computer lab being set up in my school. My friend and I used to copy out hundreds of lines of code from magazines to create games on a ZX Spectrum,” Mr Colligan said.

“What we are doing now in this country is far more systematic, more significant and ambitious than what was done then.

If we look back and say that was a golden age in British computing, what might we see now?”

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Scotiabank to exit nine countries in Caribbean shake-up Fourth-quarter earnings slightly below expectations

Scotiabank, which has operated in the Caribbean since 1889, says it plans to refocus its business in the region by selling a number of insurance and banking operations

T

ORONTO — Bank of Nova Scotia on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter earnings which were marginally below expectations and said it planned to exit nine countries in the Caribbean as part of a shake-up of that business.

The bank, which has operated in the

Caribbean since 1889, said that it would refocus its business in the region by selling its insurance operations in Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago to Sagicor Financial Corporation, with whom it will partner to sell insurance products in those countries.

Scotiabank said it planned to sell its banking operations in Anguilla, Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St Kitts &

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Nevis, St Lucia, St Maarten, St Vincent & the Grenadines to Republic Financial Holdings.

“Due to increasing regulatory complexity and the need for continued investment in technology to support our regulatory requirements, we made the decision to focus the bank’s efforts on those markets with significant scale in which we can make the greatest difference for our customers,” Ignacio Deschamps, Scotiabank’s group head of international banking, said in a statement.

The transactions are not material to Scotiabank, it said, but will result in its core tier 1 capital ratio, a key measure of its financial strength, increasing by 10 basis points when the deals, which are subject to regulatory approvals, close.

The bank reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.77 in the quarter ended Oct. 31, up 8 per cent but marginally below the average forecast by analysts of $1.79 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Excluding one-off costs, net income rose by 13 per cent to $2.35 billion, compared with the average estimate by analysts of $2.24 billion, according to IBES data.

For the full year, Scotiabank reported a 7 per cent increase in earnings at its Canadian business to $4.4 billion, helped by improved margins as it benefited from five Bank of Canada rate hikes since last summer and growth in customer deposits.

The bank’s international business increased earnings by 18 per cent during the year, driven by growth in the Pacific Alliance trading bloc which comprises Peru, Mexico, Chile and Columbia and accounts for around a quarter of its revenues.

Scotiabank is the first of Canada’s major banks to report fourth-quarter earnings. Royal Bank of Canada and TorontoDominion Bank report later this week.

Published in the Financial Post

Investment Migration: A Future Proofing Mechanism for Smaller States Continued from page 6

benefits that can be mobilized and deployed to stimulate profound yet sustainable domestic growth. Countries that have a clear strategy for how to attract FDI and utilize its potential are in a better place to deal with economic, social, or environmental issues that may arise now or in a few years to come. For this reason, RCBI is an optimal form of future-proofing, if managed effectively.

Investing in a sustainable future

Malta is a good case in point. The Malta Individual Investor Programme (MIIP) has emerged as a model citizenship-by-investment (CBI) programme in the years since its launch in 2014, with the Malta Residence Visa Programme also gaining traction among highnet-worth-individuals (HNWIs) seeking EU residence.

The revenues from the MIIP in particular have helped the country reverse a decades-long fiscal deficit trend, resulting in a surplus of 3.9% of GDP in 2017 — the highest percentage of any EU member.

However, it is not only Malta that understands the benefits of investing in a sustainable future and of laying the groundwork for positive, long-term momentum. In Greece, the Permanent Residence Permit programme has raised over EUR 1.5 billion and has helped halt a nine-year decline in real estate prices. Even more dramatically, figures coming out of Cyprus indicate that, in 2016, the FDI received through the country’s CBI programme was the difference between recovery from the 2013 sovereign debt crisis and what would otherwise have been an economic contraction that year.

In the Caribbean, inflows from St. Kitts and Nevis’s pioneer CBI programme experienced a surge in 2010, which led to programme revenues growing from less than 1% of GDP in 2008 to 25% by 2014. According to the International Monetary Fund, the robust inflows that resulted from the programme “have supported economic recovery, improved key macro-economic balances and boosted bank liquidity”.

However, the key elements of future-proofing facilitated by RCBI are not simply limited to its direct economic ramifications. The arrival of HNWIs in a host country also brings new innovations, talent, and entrepreneurs who can foster efficiency through increased competition.

A bright and burgeoning industry

Ultimately, when properly executed, investment migration is a highly desirable, profitable, and socially beneficial form of investment. However, just as the industry can assist countries and individuals with preparing for future uncertainty, it must also ensure that it futureproofs itself. While the main players in the industry are consistently applying strenuous effort to ensure that thorough background checks and due diligence processes are always applied, these efforts need to be constantly reinforced and replenished. If the industry can do this, its future prospects look bright, as do the prospects for global citizens and host nations alike.

Dr. Christian H Kalin is the Chairman of Henley & Partners.

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