Michel Martelly visits Wall Street Journal's New York headquarters

Public and private investment partnerships, domestic or foreign, have been at the top of Martelly's agenda. He has realized the shambles of the country's infrastructure have rendered it in the eyes of the world ". . . as a basket case . . . whose only hope lay in attracting charitable aid."

Martelly says this perception is not applicable anymore. He obliquely chastises the international donor community, whose highlighting of Haiti's problems makes Haiti a charity case to be patronized, incapable of rising up. The alternative he says is to ". . . sell what we have that's great . . . so we can get funds and change Haiti."

CEO Douglas Clayton, a Leonard Capital fund manager, agrees dwelling on Haiti's problems is thwarting its growth. He adds aid donors play up Haiti's weaknesses to keep funds flowing in, and real forward movement remains unnoticed.

But Haiti is on the upswing. The International Money Fund reported the country's economy ". . . among the fastest growing in the Caribbean" (+4.3% in 2013). Foreign investment has been on the rise from $29 million in 2009 to almost $220 million currently, according to Martelly.

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