Barbados-based firms scoop two awards

Two organisations from Barbados were announced winners of the inaugural Island Innovation Awards during this year’s Island Finance Forum, which was held on April 29th.

The finalists and winners were announced in a special ceremony involving representatives from the Clinton Global Initiative, the Earthshot Prize, and members of the esteemed judging panel.

Launched by President Bill Clinton at last year’s Virtual Island Summit, the Island Awards seek to identify and reward island leaders and change-makers across twelve different categories.

As an official nominator for the £1 million Earthshot Prize rewarding projects enacting widespread environmental action, Island Innovation has also put forward several of the winners for consideration.

Hundreds of individuals vied for one of the twelve awards, providing judges with a deep pool of talented individuals and worthy projects to choose from.

Winners of this inaugural Island Innovation Awards hail from 11 different islands around the world, and their projects have had a wide-ranging impact on their own local communities and internationally.

Ronelle King of Life in Leggings: Caribbean Alliance Against Gender-Based Violence was awarded the Future Island Leader Award, recognising Ronelle’s valiant efforts to combat violence against women and girls and transform lives in the Caribbean.

The CARICOM Development Fund was awarded the Green Finance & Investment Award for their development of the Credit Risk Abatement Facility (CRAF), initiated to “Incentivise additional lending for renewable energy and energy efficiency applications among key sectors – and particularly small and medium-size businesses in CARICOM Member States”.

James Ellsmoor, CEO of Island Innovation, commented: “This inaugural Island Innovation Awards has been an amazing showcase of island talent from all across the world, and a huge success that we are very proud of.

Congratulations to all of our excellent finalists and winners, which represent an impressive range of initiatives from around the world.

We received over 330 applications and nominations, which is fantastic, especially considering that it is the first edition of the awards.

Thank you to everyone who attended the ceremony, to our awards partners, the Clinton Global Initiative, and to our esteemed panel of judges”. (PR)