Major corporate exits are reshaping Caribbean capital markets. As anchor companies disappear, can regional exchanges remain competitive?

In this Season 4 premiere of Caribbean Business Review, Joseph Cox speaks with Dr. Marlene Street-Forrest about liquidity, regional integration, institutional reform and the future of Caribbean capital formation.

In this episode:

• Why anchor companies matter

• The impact of major corporate delistings

• Liquidity beyond new listings

• Regional capital market integration

• Building institutional architectureAbout the Guest

Dr Marlene Street Forrest is the former Managing Director of the Jamaica Stock Exchange and Managing Director, Street Forrest Business Consultancy Ltd

About Caribbean Business Review

Caribbean Business Review is the region's executive business and economic affairs programme examining markets, policy, investment and strategic risk.

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Despite decades of strategies, declarations and policy commitments, the Caribbean remains heavily dependent on imported food.

Why has progress been so slow, and what will it take to transform the region's food security ambitions into tangible outcomes?

In Episode 21, the Season 3 Finale of Caribbean Business Review, Joseph Cox sits down with Sandiford Edwards, Principal Consultant at Soleil Solutions Consulting Limited, to examine the structural, political and cultural barriers preventing the Caribbean from achieving greater food security and agricultural resilience.

The discussion explores why implementation continues to lag behind policy ambitions, the role of political will, financing, infrastructure and logistics, and how outdated perceptions of agriculture are discouraging a new generation from entering the sector. The conversation also examines the risks posed by aging farming populations, supply chain disruptions, climate-related shocks and growing import dependence.

Topics discussed include:

• Caribbean food security and agricultural resilience
• Food imports and food sovereignty
• Agricultural financing and rural infrastructure
• Political will and policy implementation
• Supply chain resilience and logistics
• Climate change and food systems
• Youth engagement and the future of farming
• Regional cooperation and agricultural competitiveness

Also in this episode:

✈️ CBR Briefing: The Case for a Caribbean Air Passenger Charter

A discussion on involuntary airline downgrades, information asymmetry and whether the Caribbean should establish its own Air Passenger Charter to strengthen passenger rights rather than relying primarily on foreign regulatory frameworks.

This episode is essential listening for policymakers, development practitioners, entrepreneurs, farmers and anyone interested in the future of Caribbean agriculture, food security, economic resilience and regional development.

Caribbean Business Review explores the issues shaping Caribbean economics, business, trade, public policy, innovation and sustainable development.

#FoodSecurity #CaribbeanAgriculture #FoodSovereignty #EconomicDevelopment #CaribbeanBusinessReview

In Episode 20 of Caribbean Business Review, Joseph Cox sits down with Gordon Foote, Founder of bSmarte Consulting Limited, to examine one of the Caribbean's most important strategic challenges: digital transformation.

Why do so many digital initiatives struggle to achieve their intended outcomes? How are global supply chain disruptions, semiconductor shortages, procurement challenges and price volatility affecting technology investments across the region? And could the Caribbean be drifting toward a two-speed digital economy in which digitally enabled organizations accelerate ahead while others struggle to keep pace?

The discussion explores the realities of technology adoption in small developing economies, the importance of digital resilience, and why successful transformation depends as much on leadership, strategy and organizational readiness as it does on technology itself.

Topics discussed include:

• Caribbean digital transformation
• Technology strategy and business competitiveness
• Supply chain disruptions and semiconductor shortages
• Procurement challenges and market volatility
• Digital resilience and business continuity
• Leadership and organizational change
• The digital divide and economic development

Also in this episode, the CBR Briefing examines Fraud, Trust and the Caribbean Economy, exploring how declining trust can quietly increase the cost of doing business, reduce economic efficiency and constrain long-term growth across the region.

Caribbean Business Review is the region's premier platform for discussions on economics, business, public policy, innovation and strategic development.

Keywords: Caribbean business, digital transformation, digital economy, technology strategy, innovation, supply chain management, procurement, business resilience, economic development, Caribbean competitiveness.

What if burnout isn’t simply a personal problem—but a signal that something deeper is happening inside our workplaces?

In Episode 19 of Season 3 of Caribbean Business Review, Joseph Cox speaks with Mrs Cheryl Evans Lym, Head of Secretariat at the Human Resource Management Association of Jamaica, to explore how leadership practices, organisational culture, communication patterns, technology use and workplace norms shape employee wellbeing and productivity.

The conversation examines practical approaches to building healthier, more resilient organisations where performance and human sustainability reinforce rather than undermine one another.

Topics include:
• The hidden organisational cost of burnout
• Why HR professionals may face elevated burnout risk
• Leadership, workplace culture and psychological safety
• Boundary-setting and sustainable productivity
• Why policy alone cannot solve burnout
• Technology’s role in reducing—or deepening—workplace exhaustion
• Building healthier and higher-performing teams

This episode also includes this week’s CBR Briefing:

The Trust Recession — When Confidence Becomes an Economic Bottleneck

The briefing explores whether declining confidence, rising verification costs and concentrated trust are becoming an invisible constraint on Caribbean economic growth, investment and institutional performance.

Plus Market Watch and Global Pulse covering:
Jamaica’s economy and monetary policy, regional energy developments, Caribbean aviation restructuring, inflation pressures, labour market signals and shifting global economic conditions.

Knowledge is Strength, but Information is Power.

Follow Caribbean Business Review for executive-level insights into Caribbean business, economics, finance and strategy.

Caribbean Financial Dispatch:
caribbeanfinancialdispatch.substack.com

Are Caribbean societies becoming psychologically exhausted faster than they are becoming economically productive?

In this episode of Caribbean Business Review, Joseph Cox speaks with renowned Jamaican psychologist Dr. Leachim Semaj about burnout, workplace culture, cognitive overload, and the hidden psychological pressures shaping modern Caribbean labour systems.

The discussion explores how rising economic insecurity, continuous digital connectivity, AI disruption, migration pressures, and evolving workplace expectations may be contributing to a culture of continuous overwork and structural fatigue across the Caribbean.

This episode also includes this week’s CBR Briefing:
“The Burnout Economy: Exhaustion, Relevance and the Caribbean Productivity Paradox.”

Topics explored include:
• Burnout and weak productivity growth
• Fear of displacement and the competition for relevance
• Performative productivity and overwork culture
• Why many workers feel permanently “on” and unable to disconnect
• Remote work and continuous psychological labour
• Leadership culture and employee wellness
• Resilience versus endurance within Caribbean societies
• The hidden economic costs of cognitive overload and burnout

Knowledge is Strength, but Information is Power.

In Episode 17 of Season 3 of Caribbean Business Review, Joseph Cox speaks with Dr. Khadijah Usher, Director of Strategy, Business Development and Regulatory Affairs at Belize Electricity Limited.

The discussion examines how Belize is navigating energy security in an era of geopolitical instability, volatile fuel prices, climate risk, and global supply chain disruption.

The episode explores:
• Belize’s renewable energy transition and evolving energy mix
• Regional interconnection with Mexico as a resilience strategy
• Distributed generation, storage, and energy diversification
• The economics of electricity pricing in small-island systems
• Why resilience may matter more than absolute energy independence
• The impact of global geopolitical shocks on Caribbean energy systems

This episode also includes the CBR Briefing:
“Humanity Is Eating Natural Gas — Climate, Conflict and the Emerging Global Food Security Squeeze.”

The briefing explores how climate change, fertilizer disruption, energy shocks, and geopolitical conflict are combining to create growing food security risks for import-dependent economies, including the Caribbean.

Caribbean Business Review is a regional strategic affairs and economic analysis programme focused on the forces shaping the Caribbean and global economy.

Follow the Caribbean Financial Dispatch:
https://caribbeanfinancialdispatch.substack.com

In this episode of Caribbean Business Review, we sit down with Wayne Chen, President of the Jamaica Employers Federation and President of the Caribbean Employers Confederation, to examine the structural constraints shaping labour markets across the Caribbean.

Despite declining unemployment in several economies, businesses continue to face labour shortages, productivity constraints, and widening skills gaps. At the same time, migration, demographic pressures, and the growing influence of artificial intelligence are reshaping workforce dynamics across the region.

This episode also features the CBR Briefing: “Rigid Labour — Who Pays When Economies Adjust?”
We explore how labour market rigidities, redundancy frameworks, and policy fragmentation determine how adjustment costs are distributed across businesses, workers, consumers, and the wider economy. The discussion draws on recent regional developments, including Trinidad and Tobago’s 2026 redundancy reforms, as a case study of how labour regulation influences business behaviour and economic outcomes.

🔍 In this episode:

• Labour market rigidities and competitiveness in the Caribbean
• Skills gaps and education system alignment

• Migration, demographics, and workforce pressures
• AI and the future of work in small economies
• Redundancy laws and economic adjustment costs
• Policy priorities for labour mobility and productivity

📊 Why this matters

Labour markets sit at the centre of economic adjustment.How policies are designed will determine whether economies adapt efficiently—or absorb prolonged structural constraints.

This is a critical discussion for policymakers, business leaders, and anyone focused on the future of Caribbean economies.

📢 Follow Caribbean Business Review

New episodes weekly featuring data-driven analysis on Caribbean and global economic developments.

In Episode 15 of Season 3 of the Caribbean Business Review, Joseph Cox speaks with Ainsley Brown, Knowledge Advisor at the World Free Zones Organization, on whether the Caribbean’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs) can move from fragmented participation to strategic positioning in global trade.

The discussion explores nearshoring, supply chain realignment, and the region’s role in global value chains—highlighting why the Caribbean is under-scaled, not underperforming, and what must change to attract higher-value investment.

This episode also examines key constraints, including energy reliability, logistics costs, skills gaps, and the need for stronger regional coordination, with insights drawn from markets such as the Dominican Republic.

In the CBR Briefing, we assess whether the Caribbean beauty industry can transition from fragmented activity to a globally competitive export sector.

We also address global shipping disruptions linked to the Strait of Hormuz and the Panama Canal, and what rising logistics costs mean for import-dependent Caribbean economies.

Strategic Takeaways:
• Execution—not design—is the binding constraint
• Competitiveness depends on integrated systems, not incentives
• Skills, resilience, and data will define the next growth phase