90

SPEAKERS

6,800

PARTICIPANTS

15

PARTNERS & SPONSORS

250

ISLANDS

Island Finance Forum 2022

About The Track

Most small island governments still rely primarily on fossil fuels for most of their energy, including transportation and electricity generation. Diesel prices are high, especially in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), due to the distance from major oil refining and distribution centers and lack of economies of scale. It causes most islands’ commercial electricity tariffs to be much higher than the worldwide average.

Islands are good locations for testing new technologies of energy production and storage. Most islands have good renewable energy potential, often underused. Renewable energy solutions can be commercially appealing, resulting in significant cost savings.

However, the availability of financing is one of the barriers to increased investment in clean energy for islands. In many regions, barriers remain in terms of awareness of energy efficiency opportunities and accessing commercial financing for energy efficiency investments.

Island Finance Forum 2022

Session Recordings

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Island Finance Forum 2023

Island Finance Forum 2022

Meet the Experts

The experts related to this content track will be announced soon. We are continually adding more speakers and sessions. If you would like to nominate a speaker click here.

Prime Minister, Government of Vanuatu

Hon. Bob Loughman Weibur

A member of the Vanua’aku Pati, he was first elected to Parliament as MP for Tanna in the general election on 6 July 2004. He was re-elected in 2008 and 2012. In March 2013, following a change in government, new Prime Minister Moana Carcasses appointed him Minister for Education.Like other members of the Vanua’aku Pati, he crossed the floor on 15 May 2014 to help bring down the Carcasses government. New Prime Minister Joe Natuman maintained Loughman at his post as Minister for Education. He lost office on 11 June 2015 when the Natuman government was ousted in a motion of no confidence.
Since 2018 he is the leader of the Vanua’aku Pati.

Since 20 April 2020, Loughman has been in office as Prime Minister of Vanuatu.

Chief Executive, New Zealand Green Investment Finance

Craig Weise

Craig Weise has over 25 years of experience in private capital markets, both in the US and NZ, grounded in financial services, law, and investment banking.

He most recently held multi-faceted executive roles for the Treasury, managing teams focused on investment stewardship, commercial and investment performance monitoring, and shareholder representation across the New Zealand government’s direct investment and managed portfolios, representing over NZD$100 billion in assets. Immediately prior to his time at Treasury, Craig was a principal at Armillary Private Capital, ultimately active as its Managing Director, Investment Banking.

Craig holds an Honours Degree in Economics from Randolph-Macon College, Virginia, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia. He is also a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, a Certified Investment Fund Director and a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors.

Senior Advisor, GET.invest

Ilham Talab

Ilham Talab is based in Brussels as a Technical Advisor at GET.invest, a European program supported by the EU, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria, that aims at mobilising investment in renewable energy projects and companies. Over the past 9 years, she was involved in renewable energy roles covering Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific Islands supporting enterprises, designing trainings & policy advisory initiatives and using data for decisions.

Chief Minister, St Helena Government

Julie Thomas

In October 2021, St Helena made a historical transformation, implementing a Ministerial form of Government. Julie is currently serving as the first ever Chief Minister for Saint Helena Government and her role encompasses the management of all government directorates within government. Julie has direct political responsibility and accountability for all policies and services delivered by directorates in their portfolio. This includes direct financial responsibility and accountability for all policies and services delivered and the effective use of public funds spent in their portfolio directorate.
In addition to this role, Julie is also the Minister for Education, Skills & Employment and strives to be a role model for the aspiring youth of the Island. She is a successful business woman in the retail sector and has spent the majority of her life working within the private sector and commercial field. This exposure has given her the determination required to encourage the Government of St Helena to introduce and strengthen policies that provides a firm foundation that enables private sector development.

Julie is a firm believer of protecting natural ecosystems and ensuring that natural resources our used sustainably to guarantee enjoyment of these resources for generations to come. She has been an influential advocate for the sustainable development of our island for many years, and strongly supports St Helena Island being designated a Category VI, Marine Protected Area.

Julie has had a diverse working career to include exposure within the airfield operations, banking, business advisory services to name but a few. However, at the heart of all her aspirations communication remains key. She recognises the importance of communication and the power it has in changing mind-sets and gaining support, which is key when taking into account our ever-changing world and our collective desire to move towards a more blue and green agenda.

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Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator

GOLD SPONSOR

The Accelerator is an entrepreneurial engine that catalyzes and accelerates priority initiatives toward a Climate-Smart Zone, delivering resilience, social development, and broad-based economic growth for the Caribbean.

Our central objective is to help transform the region’s economy by fast-tracking sound public and private investment opportunities that support climate action and economic growth through sustainable development.

Drawing on the deep experience of our nations and institutions, a group of twenty-seven visionary Caribbean Governments, alongside some of the largest global companies, financial institutions, and foundations have joined The Accelerator to make the Caribbean a beacon of climate-smart development.

Invest Puerto Rico

SILVER SPONSOR

InvestPR works to elevate Puerto Rico as a world-class business destination. The organization is a public-private partnership created by law and incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit. It is governed by an eleven-member Board of Directors appointed by the Governor of Puerto Rico and is comprised of three public sector representatives and eight private sector representatives.

Our mission is to promote Puerto Rico as a competitive investment jurisdiction to attract new business and capital investment to the island. Our vision is to be a transformational and results-oriented accelerator of economic development in Puerto Rico.

InvestPR works with diverse stakeholders to position Puerto Rico as a destination for investment. To this effect, we collaborate with Puerto Rico’s Department of Economic Development and Commerce, government agencies, trade organizations, industry partners, and academia, among others. We help companies get established on the island by assisting them to navigate incentives, connecting them to resources for real estate selection and access to talent, and providing introductions to key stakeholders like sector experts and industry associations.

Caribbean Biodiversity Fund

SILVER SPONSOR

Established in 2012, the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF) is the realization of a bold vision to create reliable, long-term funding for conservation and sustainable development in the Caribbean region. The CBF and a group of National Conservation Trust Fund form the Caribbean Sustainable Finance Architecture, which, among other objectives, supports and incentivizes targeted Caribbean nations to meet the goals of the Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI), national conservation priorities, and targets under other international and regional commitments.

Meta Carbon

BRONZE SPONSOR

Meta Carbon was founded in 2021 with a mission to use blockchain to bring transparency and fun to carbon offsetting. Our team of carbon, brand, advertising, and blockchain experts can design a creative offsetting strategy that connects your brand with climate change action that authentically resonates with your audience.

BuzzMaker

BRONZE SPONSOR

BuzzMaker is an award-winning global political and public affairs consultancy. BuzzMaker has operated at the highest levels of campaigns in 30 countries, territories and regions around the world. Our references include several sitting and former Prime Ministers, Presidents, Opposition Leaders and major international brands.

We have deep experience providing government relations, public affairs, public relations, communications and advertising campaigns in dozens of small island developing states. In total, we've worked in 16 islands in the Atlantic and Caribbean and, beyond our island work, we've worked on every continent in the world. If you're looking to advocate for a policy change, advance an issue position, understand and engage with government and civil society stakeholders or win an election, we'd love to help.

Waitt Institute

BRONZE SPONSOR

The Waitt Institute creates and implements sustainable ocean plans in partnership with committed governments and local stakeholders. They currently have partnerships with the governments of the Azores, Barbuda, Bermuda, Curaçao, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Maldives, and Tonga. The Waitt Institute is a founding member and the organizing body of the Blue Prosperity Coalition, a network of NGO's, academic institutions, foundations, and other organizations working together to assist committed governments to protect the environment and improve the economy at the same time.

STRATEGIC AND MEDIA PARTNERS

IFC Media

MEDIA PARTNER

IFC Media is the leading publishing house for the global wealth management industry. Representing international finance centres across the globe while creating a comprehensive archive of commentary, analysis and technical articles. IFC Media publications include the flagship IFC Review annual, the annual IFC Economic Report and regional reviews such as the Caribbean Review.

Supplementing our hard copy publications is ifcreview.com, which houses the monthly IFC Review E-Journal and the IFC Review digital library and archive. Created as an online resource for wealth management professionals, ifcreview.com combines reference materials with highly technical articles and thought-provoking commentary from industry leading contributors. With continually updated coverage from over 30 international finance centres and daily news bulletins, ifcreview.com is a one-stop-shop for wealth management professionals right across the globe.

IFC Media delivers an integrated knowledge base for the world’s leading IFCs and their wealth management professionals.

@SRIEvent

MEDIA PARTNER

Launched in March 2013, @SriEvent has been globally the first and is so far the sole Twitter handle exclusively devoted to telling the stories of events on sustainable finance. @SriEvent stands among the world’s top social media influencers on #sustainablefinance and more broadly sustainability issues, and partners with distinguished organizations/events in the sustainable finance field at international level.

@SriEvent specializes in creating, searching and aggregating, valorizing and promoting Twitter-based contents for events on sustainable finance. #SriAgenda, #Livetweeting, #TwitterChat, #TwitterInterview are the main services provided by @SriEvent in the framework of a modular and customizable offer.

In May 2019 @SriEvent launched its first local chapter @SriEvent_It focused on the Italian landscape. @SriEvent is also present on Linkedin (since 2020) and Instagram (since 2021).

@SriEvent is part of a network of Twitter handles launched by @andytuit, a story-tweeter, blogger, journalist, writer, adjunct professor on sustainable finance, member of Managers For Future Pioneer Team, with 20+ years of experience in the field.

Global Ethical Finance Initiative

MEDIA PARTNER

The Global Ethical Finance Initiative is a non-profit based in Scotland with a global footprint. We are dedicated to enabling finance to deliver positive change and help achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Through our www.pathtocop26.com campaign, we are committed to making finance work for COP26, and COP26 work for finance. As a Scottish-based organisation, we are particularly excited to welcome the world to Glasgow this year. Her Majesty’s Government, Scottish Government, the UN and Island Innovation are signatories alongside financial institutions such as Aberdeen Standard Investments, Baillie Gifford, Federated Hermes, ING, NatWest Group and Royal London. Our events have a reputation for driving action through frank, honest debate amongst a global coalition across financial services. Previous keynote addresses have included: Gordon Brown, Dame Susan Rice, Sir Roger Gifford, Achim Steiner, Archbishop Justin Welby and Nicola Sturgeon.

Fintech Finance

MEDIA PARTNER

At Fintech Finance, we aim to produce the slickest episodes, interviews and event coverage, looking at the complete range of topics within financial services, from branches to blockchain. We travel extensively across borders to find the most interesting and undiscovered features, be it in Manchester or Mongolia. All of our video coverage gets written up into our extensive magazine library that consists of “The Fintech Magazine,” “The Paytech Magazine,” and “The Insurtech Magazine.”
…basically, we travel around the world, chat to the best and brightest people in Fintech while making the most entertaining, exciting and insightful content in the industry!

ImpactAlpha

MEDIA PARTNER

ImpactAlpha is a subscription-based, multi-channel digital media platform that is redefining business journalism around social and environmental value. Our audience and our beat are “Agents of Impact” working in impact investing, sustainable finance, ESG and entrepreneurship to accelerate a more just, equitable and sustainable world. Subscribe today at impactalpha.com

The Royal Gazette

MEDIA PARTNER

Founded in 1828, The Royal Gazette is Bermuda’s only daily newspaper, publishing every day except Sunday and public holidays. With daily print readership of more than 30,000 and more than 20,000 daily website users, The Royal Gazette has the deepest and broadest reach of any Bermuda news organisation.
The Royal Gazette also produces Navigate Bermuda, an e-newsletter which tells stories from across the broad tapestry of the island’s rich and varied business landscape, through relevant content that shows how the contrasts in markets are the islands strengths. Navigate Bermuda is a multiplatform commercial content engine across web, social, print and event marketing.

We Are Guernsey

MEDIA PARTNER

Guernsey Finance is a joint industry and government initiative established to promote Guernsey's financial services sector internationally, under the brand WE ARE GUERNSEY.
The agency conducts marketing, communications and business development on behalf of its members from Guernsey and overseas, with representatives also employed in our key markets globally.
Guernsey is strongly committed to the sustainable finance agenda as both a member of United Nation’s Finance Centres for Sustainability Global Network, the Network for Greening the Financial System and the UN’s Sustainable Insurance Forum. Guernsey Green Finance, established in 2018, is Guernsey’s sustainable finance initiative. Guernsey Green Finance’s objective is to leverage Guernsey’s expertise to help lead in routing capital to climate finance. Our approach has been to develop knowledge, services, tools and products to connect finance professionals to the climate change agenda.

The Fintech Times

MEDIA PARTNER

The Fintech Times is a bold new media company daring to ask the tough questions about the rise of Fintech. We report on the latest and brightest ideas from the Fintech ecosystem as an authoritative and trusted voice. We focus on high-quality content and distribute it to our network helping our partners to achieve their goals.
Fintech as a definition started trending in recent years as the future of financial services, and of money itself. For those already in the know, this is not news.
Fintech isn’t a business sector; it’s dozens of sectors. Everything from high street banks, investment companies, money transfer, FX, fintech is re-engineering these sectors into their next generation.
And there are new kinds of businesses emerging: crowdfunding, peer2peer platforms, crypto currencies, AI and robo-advice... sectors that are digitally native, they didn’t exist before the internet.
Fintech is about new companies, and new technologies for old companies. It’s about inventors and visionaries, and everyday people creating something new. It’s about your bank, your phone, and your job. And it’s about the future.
Future, before it happens.
For the latest complimentary digital issue of The Fintech Times, please go to: https://thefintechtimes.com/publication

Loop News

MEDIA PARTNER

Loop News is the number one source for Caribbean-wide, local and global content. We provide the best coverage of news, sports, entertainment, lifestyle, business, community and events.
With our dedicated team of journalists working locally in each market, we strive to bring all the breaking and most up-to-date coverage from a team you can trust.
Loop News launched in April 2014 and quickly grew to have teams in six markets across the Caribbean: Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Haiti, Cayman and St Lucia. And in 2020 we launched the newest website in the Loop family – Loop Caribbean!
We became the Caribbean’s number one news app in the Google Play store and Apple App store within two months of launch, and with more than 1 million downloads, Loop News is still the number 1 today!

Who should attend the Island Finance Forum?

The forum is the first of its kind, and totally free! You can learn from world-leading experts from diverse backgrounds about the latest projects being deployed in island communities, with applications far beyond. Each session will be interactive with opportunities to ask questions and make connections. This year we are expanding to have even more features!

How do I participate?

All are welcome to participate in the forum – feel free to invite friends and colleagues. Participants can take part in every session, or simply choose the sessions most relevant to them and are all encouraged to join the social media conversation.

Will the forum be recorded?

The forum will be broadcast LIVE, taking place over multiple days in various timezones. Ideally, we want guests to join live as there will be opportunities to ask questions and interact with fellow attendees. However, all sessions will be recorded and made available online a few weeks after the forum.

Can I speak or recommend a topic?

We are continually adding more speakers and sessions! If you would like to nominate a speaker click here.

Can I sponsor the event?

We have limited opportunities for sponsors of specific sessions or the event as a whole. If you are interested in sponsoring the event please .

Can we organize a local streaming?

We are exploring opportunities to screen parts of the summits on islands around the world to ensure local communities can take part. If you would like to organize a screening on your island please get in touch.

Join the conversation:

#IFF2022