Business Development and Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert said he is fully behind the recently formed Bermuda Business Development Corporation (BBDC) and plans to give them a larger grant next year.The purpose of BBDC is to bring resources currently split between Business Bermuda (BB) and the Insurance Development Council (IDC) into a single organisation to help ensure that business development effort on the Island has a common strategic direction.The interim board consists of Caroline Foulger (Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and interim Chair of the BBDC); David Cash (CEO of Endurance and the chairman of Business Bermuda); Allison Towlson (chief operations officer, Ace Bermuda and the chair of the IDC); Shaun Morris (general counsel at Butterfield Group); Steve Castree (CEO of Equinoxe); and Travis Gilbert (director of international business in the Ministry of Business Development and Tourism).“The objectives of the BBDC are to use its resources to sustain existing international business, while actively developing new business on Bermuda to contribute to GDP and jobs,” a statement from the Minister said. “If these objectives are met, the whole island will benefit.”He continued: “I recognise the importance of international business and I plan to give a larger grant to BBDC next year than what BB and IDC had combined as I believe that the BBDC will be able to achieve greater efficiencies and synergy.”The Minister confirmed that the board will function as an independent organisation.The progress made to date has been to appoint an interim CEO initiating the merger of Business Bermuda and the BBDC, securing office accommodation and establishing working parties to examine issues such as:- Recruitment of a permanent CEO.- Permanent board organisation and sub committees.- Membership transition from legacy organisations.The board has had several strategy meetings to assess the challenges of international business and how these may be addressed, the risks to successfully addressing these challenges and the strategy that the BBDC should adopt.“The BBDC is working hard to ensure that business development initiatives are not losing traction during this period of strategy and organisation development,” the statement said.“Important steps have been taken to explore the best way to raise seed capital for the asset management initiative for example while opportunities for the development of the Latin American market are also being explored.“In addition work on the Islamic finance initiative is progressing and discussions have begun with the existing industry insurance-linked securities (ILS) group on the support that BBDC can provide them.”Working with Cyril Whitter (president and CEO of Independent Management Ltd and interim CEO of BBDC), moving forward the Board will:- Continue work on the Asset Management initiative, particularly around the options for obtaining the necessary seed capital;- Explore the potential of the Latin American market, initially through focused research, building upon the work already done by the IDC;- Establish focus groups to create a platform upon which new ideas can be generated and debated;- Build the organisational structure to deliver the strategic priorities, including the search and recruitment of a permanent CEO;- Merge the BBDC and Business Bermuda corporate entities and fold in the IDC;- Establish the future governance arrangements of the BBDCThe Minister added: “This newly formed organisation has the absolute support of Government. The creation of jobs and an increase in GDP contribution can only be a good thing for all of us in Bermuda. My team at the Ministry and I, are fully behind and fully engaged in their efforts and I am extremely confident that this organisation will be successful in their mandate.”