Washington DC, July 7, 2004.—The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, will provide $5 million to the Institute of Business in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. IFC’s financing will support the construction of a new $10 million campus.

The Institute of Business is a private business school affiliated with the University of the West Indies, an autonomous regional institution backed by and serving 15 Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean, with campuses located in Barbados and Jamaica as well as Trinidad.

The Institute’s new campus will provide modern, well-equipped facilities for its core activities in graduate business education, as well as for short-term training, research, and consulting activities.

“The new facilities will expand local education opportunities, helping meet the growing needs of the country’s business community for highly skilled and responsive professionals in business and management,” said Atul Mehta, IFC’s director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Guy Ellena, IFC’s director for Health and Education, added, “This operation gives IFC a valuable opportunity to assist a commercially independent venture that operates in conjunction with a parent public higher education institution.  It demonstrates the benefits  of a public-private sector partnership.”

Dr. Rolph Balgobin, Executive Director of the Institute of Business,  noted that “the relationship with IFC brings significant opportunity to the Institute of Business through its experience in supporting other, similar initiatives in the developing world.”  Dr. Balgobin added: “The Institute of Business  stands to benefit significantly from the advice of the IFC, built through experience in helping business schools elsewhere to expand their operations.”

The Institute of Business was created in 1989 through a collaboration between the private sector and the University of the West Indies. The Institute offers the Executive Masters of Business Administration and the International Masters of Business Administration, among other graduate programs.

IFC investments in education are an important component of the Corporation's overall strategy.  This project is also part of IFC’s strategy for Trinidad and Tobago, to broaden the country’s access to educational services. IFC's current education sector portfolio totals $47 million. In Latin American and the Caribbean, it includes investments in private universities, elementary and secondary schools, and E-learning companies.

IFC's mission (www.ifc.org) is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. From its founding in 1956 through FY03, IFC has committed more than $37 billion of its own funds and arranged $22 billion in syndications for 2,990 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC's worldwide committed portfolio as of FY03 was $16.7 billion for its own account and $6.6 billion held for participants in loan syndications.