CEO (Yida Group)

The Caribbean is a highly attractive destination for foreign direct investment, but with intense competition among countries in the region to secure increased foreign contribution. What, in your opinion, are Antigua & Barbuda’s most significant advantages compared to other countries in the region?

The main advantage is our geographical location. We are on the centre of the Caribbean.
Also, an advantage for Antigua is the new Administration. I think that the leadership of the Prime Minister and his vision for Antigua will take us to become the next economic powerhouse of the region.
Another advantage is the formation of the special economic zone of 2015. So, this will make Antigua very attractive economically speaking. We looked for examples to India, Shanghai, Dubai’s special economic zone and combined all those special economic zones and came up with Antigua and Barbuda special economic zone. So, in the region that sets us apart from anyone else.
We are the only special economic zone in the world that has a citizenship aspect.


Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen a specific effort by this administration to diversify the sources of tourism, with new airlines serving the country, deals with the United Arab Emirates, like the Callaloo Cay project and others such as the Yida Development Project. How does all this variety benefit Antigua and help to attract future investment?

In 2014, the Yida Group project bought 60 hundred acres of land, and that has been the largest property land sale in the history of Antigua and Barbuda. That initial investment was about 70 million US Dollars on land purchase, so since this administration took place the Yida investment has grown to 100 million dollars in Antigua And Barbuda. The special economic zone itself helps to attract foreign direct investment, not only through the CIP angle but also through companies and entities that want to set up in the zone. We also have a special agreement with the Shenzhen economic zone, so they get the benefit from our concessions.

The different categories of sectors that Antigua and Barbuda has to offer in which companies can invest as well as the special economic zone, make the country attractive for direct foreign investment. The main industry is tourism, and we are developing a masterplan with 4 or 5 different hotels, the first is Regent Bay, which is an indigenous brand and it will be the only villa entry level CIP product in Antigua so it is a freehold land and villa. This will become our first choice of product in terms of hotel properties so you buy a villa, and you put a pool in and it will be a hotel unit for the clients.

We initially have signed with the Hard Rock Group, for a four-star hotel Resort, and it will have all the components of what Hard Rock offers; hotel, casino, etc. It will have 600 rooms in total plus two hundred branded villas.
 
We are open to JV partners and other investors.

The group also owns 6.000 acres of two private islands; so, we have Guiana island, where we have signed with Ritz Resort, and it will be a Ritz-Carlton Hotel group and we have Crump island.


What platforms do you use to promote the project?

We do a lot of brochures though CIP unit, we participate in conferences around the world that have a CIP angle; so, we promote the special economic zone and also the different hotels that we have. We are trying to diversify our portfolio offering not just one type of hotel room, so we have from three stars to ultra-luxury on the property itself, and again Hard Rock is the focal point where we have conference centre, casinos, etc.

And to which specific sectors or entities are you reaching out to attract?

We are trying to develop agriculture, education and the medical aspect.

In regards to the medical sector, we will not do necessarily regular healthcare. We are talking to an Italian hospital group that will be doing an off-campus rehab centre in Antigua. So, you have celebrities, sport stars that get injured or want to have medical surgery done and rather than doing it somewhere else, they can do it on a nice sandy hospital property on the beach. So, we are looking at that side of medical tourism aspect of it.


Yida development project has been approved by the CIP. Could you tell us the current situation of investors and partners that have come on board? Are they corporate or private individuals? and How many have come through the CIP?  

We just recently enrolled Regent which is the first entry level product for CIP, and to date we have on contract probably about 50 clients from different countries, such China, West Africa and the Middle East.


In what specific ways do you align the name of Yida development project to the Antigua & Barbuda brand and how do you work with other entities to raise the country’s profile internationally to ensure increased interest into the country to support the Gaston Browne administration in becoming an Economic Powerhouse for the region?

Because this has been branded Antigua and Barbuda special economic zone, it is not necessarily just a Yida product but also a product that the country can actually use as one of the focal points. Recently Dubai promoted Antigua and Barbuda so the special economic zone was one of the representatives there, working alongside the government to promote Antigua and Barbuda and for most of the conferences held around the world, CIP conferences, we are given support and we help them to promote their brand and the country. So, in that regard we work with Callaloo Cay, in the Middle East in the promotion of Antigua and Barbuda and last year for sailing week we were one of the titled sponsors along with Pearns Point.


As Ambassador to the African Union and CEO of the Yida Development Project, what have been your greatest achievements during your career and what are you so far most proud of in relation to the Yida project so far?

My appointment as CEO for the Yida Group his very recent, so I attracted them on island to initially make the investment and one of the biggest achievements was to be part of the biggest land sales in the history of Antigua. Secondly, I would say getting the legislation for our project was a huge accomplishment and as Ambassador I was trying to balance the two and very recently, as Ambassador to the African Union I believe that the African region has been overlooked a lot in terms of investors and foreign direct investment. So, this is my vision, but not yet an achievement, because we are still getting there, is to see more African investors coming forward, because they are always looking for places to invest and most of our clients so far from the African region, especially West Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, have been investing in properties in the UK and Dubai, and with Brexit happening a lot are looking to diversify and sell their properties because they are losing value fast. A lot of investors we have now actually sold their properties in London, so they are taking that cash back and reinvesting it in Antigua or in our projects. So, you have a very sophisticated investor in Africa and many African investors are looking to diversify, however the CIP concept is not the concept they are attracted by because most of the people that buy from us already own either US or UK citizenship.


Readers of Harvard Business Review include some of the most influential business leaders and decision makers in the world. Do you have a final message as a conclusion to this interview?

Antigua is a perfect place for investment and it is the perfect place for diversification.
The Caribbean and specially Antigua is very safe and in terms of CIP and investment, in a matter of two and a half or three years, we have been named the number one for CIP product in the region so we are very open for investment.