The Bahamas Investor

...panies will also receive one-on-one counseling. MITA Group president James Hunt will be the keynote speaker at the event, which moves to Freeport, Grand Bahama, on May 24. US Embassy Charge d’Affaires John Dinkelman will also address seminar attendees in both Nassau and Freeport. The BCCEC hopes the events will encourage Bahamian entrepreneurs to build their businesses by taking advantage of loan opportunities. The organization is keen to develop......

...Hilton has ten brands and more than 3,800 hotels worldwide. “It’s a good time to be part of Hilton worldwide,” added Hughes. “We’ve got great sponsors, some deep pockets for the right investment and we are looking to grow our portfolio throughout the region rapidly.” tblair@dupuch.com......

...e Bahamas Investor brings exclusive coverage of the primary regional event for the hotel and tourism industry. The annual industry event ran April 24-26 at the Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel and Casino in San Juan and it attracted nearly 200 delegates including government ministers and senior executives from around the region.   Follow TheBahamasInvestor.com’s exclusive highlights here. Regional airlift critical to tourism sector success May 3rd 2012......

...risky projects and there’s difficulty finding equity sources, particularly for projects of major scope and complexity. “I think we’ve seen from the insight on our panel that there is not one answer, one financing source, one way to structure a project,” said panel moderator, Jay DiGulio (right), co-founder of Boutique Club International LLC, with offices in New York City. As the president of Boutique Club, he is currently working on several mixed......

...rope we’ve seen many great strides particularly in the UK and in Germany.” By year’s end the tourism company hopes to announce new air arrivals to Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Chile. For its part, The Bahamas officially opened this year its new ultra-modern $30-million Thomas A Robinson National Stadium, a gift from the People’s Republic of China. The stadium is the flagship structure of the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre redevelopment p......

...ric city centre, the relocation of the container port from downtown Nassau freed up prime property for touristic and other commercial developments. tblair@dupuch.com Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and State Minister of Finance Zhivargo Laing unveil the plaque to officially open the new Nassau Container Port at Arawak Cay, May 3. Also pictured from left: Minister of the Environment Earl Deveaux, James Mosko, and Michael Maura Jr, CEO Arawak Port De......

...great cities have this residential component, which we have elements of, but we want to expand,” said Moss. “We are in conversations with a couple of companies and are working on how we can get that done.” cmorris@dupuch.com......

...en significant investment in infrastructure throughout the Family Islands. Forbes called for investment in housing projects in particular to create work for the small firms (firms with less than 10 employees), which make up 80 per cent of the Bahamian construction sector and are struggling the most. “The smaller contractors need a real, vibrant housing programme going on, whether government or private,” he says. “The majority of our industry are s......

...re the Bahamas’ financial services sector for the implementation of the US Foreign Accounting Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) with a two-day conference being held in Nassau April 9-10. Representatives from both the US Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are attending the event being held at the British Colonial Hilton in Nassau. The Complying With FATCA conference is organized by the Ministry in collaboration with the Bahamas Ass......

...g, senior partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers , warned that, with the global community demanding ever higher standards of compliance and transparency, The Bahamas would soon be forced to rethink its business model. “The goal posts continue to move and move towards full transparency. The rapid pace of change is upon us and if we do not react, and react strongly, we might lose business,” he said. Allen said The Bahamas should play to its strengths and......

...time that we intend to train people to take the jobs in The Bahamas. “As a company we are committed to hiring Bahamians to fill all the jobs that we can.” Kenred Dorsett, minister for the environment and housing, has said a commercial oil find would be “economically transformative”. Under the current agreement, BPC would pay out anywhere from 12.5 percent to 25 percent to the government, depending on how much oil is extracted each day, if oil is d......

...k and was organized by BNT, COB, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and Florida International University . It included lectures, a field trip to the Primeval Forest National Park and question and answer sessions with speakers. cmorris@dupuch.com......

...’s incumbent upon Bahamians to develop their own country, rather than have foreigners do it for them,” he said. He urged Bahamians to look at ways to diversify the economy, particularly in sectors such as agriculture and fisheries. According to the Prime Minister, The Bahamas has 30,000 arable acres in Grand Bahama, 50,000 in Abaco and nearly 200,000 in Andros. The land, he said, is comparable to Florida’s farmlands. “We have to look at our countr......

...try to educate it on how to incorporate the Basel guidelines into everyday practices. “We have communicated with the commercial banks in a very strong manner about Basel III. They are aware of it, so they can start making adjustments.” The “Towards Basel III” seminar took place at the British Colonial Hilton , Nassau, and other speakers included the general counsel of the Grand Bahama Port Authority and commerical lawyer Tyrone Fitzgerald, as well......

...financial services providers. “We have a history of a knowledgeable and respected professional base here in The Bahamas. Education initiatives are paramount to being on the cutting edge and ensuring our practitioners are able to respond to the demands of the international community.” Additional speakers at the event, which was themed “Preparing Ourselves in a Global Context with a Regional Focus,” included director of Credit Suisse Trust Ltd Franc......