Roundtable: Financing a Blue-Green Recovery for the Caribbean

James Ellsmoor is the Founder & CEO of Island Innovation, a communications agency focused on the need of island communities. He has a passion for sustainable development and renewable energy, particularly applications for rural and isolated communities. Last year he ran the inaugural Virtual Island Summit, which brought together 4,000 participants from Scotland to Samoa to share stories about their communities. James has always used technology to advance his mission, allowing him to live and work anywhere and manage a team spread over 4 continents. Island Innovation focuses on bringing together NGOs, the private sector, universities and government with projects covering topics including lithium extraction, climate change and public policy.

Christian Peter is the Practice Manager for the Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy`s Global Platform Unit at the World Bank. He has more than 25 years of experience working on environmental, natural resource and community forest management issues. Since joining the World Bank in 1998, he has held various headquarter and field-based operational positions as Environmental and Natural Resources Management Specialist in the Africa and Latin America and Caribbean Regions. Prior to his current position, he was the Coordinator of ENB’s China Program in the East Asia and Pacific Region.
Christian holds a MSc in Forest Science and Management from the Georg-August University Göttingen/Germany.

Timar is a well-rounded financial professional who has over six years’ experience in the financial
sector with experience spanning insurance, public sector, business analysis, research, structuring
and investment banking. In his current role Timar advises on and lead the execution of all
Capital Markets transactions from origination to completion; Lead negotiations with local,
regional, and overseas clients and partners in the structuring of transactions; and monitor and
analyse trends in the financial services industry for territories/ countries covered. As a graduate
of Vauxhall High School, Timar became the first student from a Non-Traditional High School to
be awarded the coveted Jamaica Scholarship, Prime Minter’s Youth Award for Excellence in
Academics and the 2014 Jamaica Rhodes Scholarship. He holds a BSc. in Actuarial Science from
the University of the West Indies and completed his MSc in Applied Statistics and MBA at the
University of Oxford. Timar is passionate about national progress and takes a keen interest in
Education and Youth development. He currently serves as the President of the Vauxhall Past
Students’ Association and is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers
Community in Kingston.

Gözde Kurusoy is Director of Banking and Finance at MPC Renewable Energies, subsidiary of MPC Capital, a German asset and investment manager in the fields of real estate, shipping and infrastructure, which manages over €6.0bn in alternative investments.
Gözde has over 10 years’ experience in banking sector and project finance and 4 years of that has been specifically in debt financing of large-scale renewable energy projects in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Gözde holds a Bachelor degree in Economics and Administrative Sciences from Middle East Technical University in Turkey.

Dr. Angus Friday leads the Waitt Institute’s work in helping nations design sustainable blue economies to support long-term ocean and community health and wellbeing. He is an accomplished blue economy leader and practitioner, having served as the World Bank’s Ocean Representative and having worked with the Dutch Government and FAO in establishing the Global Blue Growth Network. Dr. Friday also played a leading role in developing the Blue Grenada Program which included the development of a Blue Growth Master Plan and the establishment of the Blue Innovation Institute; all of which contributed to the World Bank’s “First Fiscal Resilience and Blue Growth Development Policy Credit” with $30 million in concessional financing for Grenada under IDA-18.
As a diplomat, he served as Grenada’s Ambassador to the United States, Mexico and Canada and also as Grenada’s Ambassador to the United Nations. A qualified medical doctor with an MBA, Dr. Friday brings a wide perspective on the interconnected nature of business, health, and international economic policy.