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continues to lag behind policy ambitions, the role of political will, financing, infrastructure and logistics, and how outdated perceptions of agriculture are discouraging a new generation from entering the sector.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 foreignregulatory 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.

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 technologyinvestments 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 tech nology 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-termgrowth 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.

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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.

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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.

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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

The Caribbean is no longer dealing with high energy prices alone—it is confronting a shift from price shock to access constraint.

In this episode of the Caribbean Business Review, Joseph Cox speaks with Dr. Dax Driver, former CEO of the Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago, on the region’s structural energy vulnerabilities, the evolving LNG landscape, and the policy choices required to build long-term resilience.

The episode also features this week’s CBR Briefing – From Price Shock to Access Constraint: The Caribbean’s Energy Reality, which examines how global oil and LNG disruptions are being transmitted into Caribbean economies through freight, insurance, and logistics. With a widening gap between benchmark oil prices and delivered fuel costs, the discussion highlights rising inflationary pressure, fiscal strain, and growing risks to energy access across the Region.

From Trinidad and Tobago’s role in regional energy security to the limits of LNG as a transition fuel, this conversation explores the intersection of energy markets, geopolitics, and economic stability in small, import-dependent economies.

In this episode of the Caribbean Business Review, we examine Jamaica’s evolving labour market and the structural reforms now underway.

In conversation with Pearnel Charles Jr., Minister of Labour and Social Security, the discussion moves beyond headline unemployment figures to interrogate deeper system dynamics—skills mismatches, labour shortages, and the growing role of informality and gig work.

As unemployment declines, employers continue to report difficulty finding workers. This episode explores whether the constraint is no longer job creation—but productivity, workforce readiness, and system alignment.

We also examine the introduction of unemployment insurance, the modernisation of social protection systems, and the challenges of formalisation in an economy where a significant share of workers operate outside the formal structure.

At its core, the conversation asks a fundamental question:
Is Jamaica transforming its labour system—or incrementally upgrading an already constrained structure?

Key Themes

• Labour market tightening and structural mismatches
• Productivity as the binding constraint on growth
• Unemployment insurance and income stabilisation
• Informality, gig work, and workforce formalisation
• Social protection reform and demographic pressures
• Workforce readiness, mindset, and competitiveness

CBR Briefing: The War Gap — When Oil Prices Stop Reflecting Reality

In this week’s CBR Briefing, we examine a critical shift in global energy markets.

Oil is no longer priced as a single system. A growing divergence between financial benchmarks and physical crude markets is creating what we define as the “War Gap”—a widening gap between market expectations and real-world delivery costs.

For the Caribbean, this is not theoretical. It is being transmitted directly into energy costs, inflation, and economic stability.

The implication is clear:
the constraint is no longer price—but access, as logistics, insurance, and system fragmentation embed a structural geopolitical trade tax into the economy.

Why This Matters

Caribbean economies operate within globally priced energy systems and externally driven labour dynamics. As both systems come under pressure, the region faces a dual challenge: improving internal productivity while navigating rising external constraints.

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Insightful talk on Caribbean economics, business & strategy.

Global conflict is no longer just influencing prices—it is beginning to reshape access.

In this episode of the Caribbean Business Review, Thomas Samuel, Economist and Trade Advisor at the Ministry of Commerce in Saint Lucia, examines how rising insurance premiums, shipping disruptions, and geopolitical tensions are creating what he describes as a “geopolitical trade tax” on Caribbean economies.

For small island developing states, the risk is no longer limited to cost. It is increasingly defined by availability, allocation, and access—as global supply chains adjust to conflict, fragmentation, and heightened uncertainty.

We explore:
• The rise of war-risk insurance and its impact on shipping costs
• How global conflict is distorting access to essential goods
• Why traditional multilateral frameworks are under strain
• The implications for Caribbean inflation, trade, and economic stability
• Strategic responses—from diversification and hedging to regional coordination

🧭 CBR Briefing: The CARICOM Conundrum — When Authority Breaks DownThis episode also features a CBR Briefing examining governance risk within CARICOM.

As leadership legitimacy becomes contested, the issue is no longer procedural—it is institutional.

In a consensus-based system, authority is not derived from appointment alone—it is derived from acceptance. And once that acceptance is fractured, the implications extend beyond governance into financial alignment, external credibility, and execution capacity.

At a time of rising external pressures—from energy shocks to reconstruction demands—the question becomes not simply whether decisions stand, but whether the system itself can function under contested authority.

🔍 Why This MattersThe Caribbean is entering a period where:
• Trade access may become increasingly constrained
• External shocks behave like persistent structural costs
• Institutional coherence becomes a strategic necessity

This episode provides a clear, data-driven assessment of the risks—and the policy responses now required to navigate an increasingly fragmented global system.

🎙️ About the ShowThe Caribbean Business Review delivers insight on Caribbean economics, business, and strategy—connecting global developments to regional realities.