Faces in the Crowd: Tessa Jacques

As director general of Haiti’s Center for the Facilitation of Investments (CFI), a position she assumed in May 2017, Tessa Jacques is in charge of promoting foreign investment in the country, as a means of boosting the economy by creating employment and generating wealth, as well as fostering local entrepreneurship.

In an interview in April, Jacques espoused Haiti’s advantages as a business process outsourcing destination, saying: “We have a skilled labor force, and fairly competitive wages compared to the North American market. We are also multilingual, as [our] talent has the potential to speak French, English, Spanish, Creole, Dutch, and other languages”.

Prior to taking on her current role at the CFI, Jacques held the position of public affairs coordinator for the Haitian American Chamber of Commerce, a role she took on after returning to her native country following the devastating 2010 earthquake.

Jacques studied international business at Palm Beach Atlantic University.