While countries such as China and India and Russia have established themselves as feeding grounds for investors, there are hidden markets, like the Caribbean region, that are beginning to be explored. The explorers have found that the rum’s great, the Jolly-Roger pirates are gone, and the living’s easy, but business remains somewhat problematical.

Yolande Wilson, an MBA student at the Columbia Business School’s Institute of International Business, has written a paper that explores Jamaica’s investment potential. Titled Jamaica’s Emerging Economy and Its Increasing International Competitiveness, it covers the problem, and the promise, of investing in Jamaica.

According to the researcher, Jamaica has always been recognised for its tourism potential. Over the last two decades, the country has made a conscious effort to nurture other sectors in order to attract foreign investment. It has deliberately changed its economy from agriculture and manufacturing to a more service-oriented one. The country’s service sector accounts for 70 per cent of its GDP.

Being an emerging economy, Jamaica needs foreign direct investment (FDI) to realise its full potential and enhance its international competitiveness. Currently, it is among the top three countries receiving FDI in the Caribbean Basin. One of the reasons for this is its location, which puts it athwart the major shipping lane for the Panama Canal. It also has two of the largest harbours in the Caribbean, and, of course, is handily situated to North America. Accordingly, nearly thirty international shipping companies have invested there, in one way or another.