[00:00:00] The goal is simply to create this bank into a $100 million bank. We want to get up to $100 million,
[00:00:06] like what's our group at Demokorov, we're selling to start $100 million, that's the goal.
[00:00:10] And so we want to build that up and we should be looking at how we're going to get it done.
[00:00:14] It's very feasible. Once you sit down and strategize and plan, it is feasible to execute.
[00:00:19] And so you just have to build. The first set will be harder and as you do that right,
[00:00:23] it'll be easier and easier and easier. The Bounce Bank Bank allows more than just
[00:00:27] loans, it allows equity investment, it allows a lot of different opportunities. And so I just want to
[00:00:32] allow us to reach out and try these new things. And so that's how we end up with the relationship
[00:00:36] with the C50 Studios. And so the RRSB might really try to focus on growing different
[00:00:42] revenue streams for the bank but also different innovative forms of financing for our clients.
[00:00:59] Podcasts World, welcome to another episode of The Value, the language of business
[00:01:05] with those of you seeking to build or invest in companies that are scalable and highly valuable.
[00:01:12] Today we're talking about investing in the Bahamas and we are with none other than
[00:01:20] leader, business development consultant, a real Bahamian patriot in the form of the
[00:01:27] managing director of the Bahamas Development Bank, Mr. Nicholas Hicks. Nicholas, how you doing?
[00:01:34] I'm doing excellent, so thank you so much for this opportunity. This will be my first formal
[00:01:40] podcast that I've ever done. Sorry to stress you out with the lights and the headphones and all
[00:01:46] that stuff. No problem, I appreciate it. It's a very blessing opportunity to
[00:01:56] be speaking to an international podcast for my first one. I'm so excited to speak to
[00:02:02] your listeners. I'm excited to just expand the reach and just talk about the Bahamas.
[00:02:09] I want to start with something I read, right? So in June 2022 it was reported that the Bahamas
[00:02:20] Development Bank is hiring a new managing director, somebody who's at the tender age of 31 years old.
[00:02:32] What was that? How did that feel for you, having the input, that level of responsibility? I mean,
[00:02:39] of course there's a level of success and achievements and everything, right? But how
[00:02:43] do you feel to have that level of responsibility put on you at that age?
[00:02:49] You put it like that. It really adds some context. I'm 31, man. I didn't remember being
[00:02:55] that young. I'm 33 now and going through the experience and learning from the bank and
[00:03:01] learning from the industry. There was a lot of pressure and a lot to learn in. I really recommend
[00:03:09] to persons, have mentors, persons to help guide you through the process. I went through being 31,
[00:03:15] government institution trying to build a bank up. It is not easy. And so a big thing for me
[00:03:21] was mentorship. So it was a lot of my shoulders but persons helped guide me through the process.
[00:03:26] So I know it's very early on but I have to say that the mentorship really helped guide me through
[00:03:32] this. For topics like these, I'd love to see how much we could visualize it, right?
[00:03:37] You know, to make it that much more tangible for the listeners and you watch us on YouTube.
[00:03:45] Thank you for subscribing. So if I'm to look at your life as a movie,
[00:03:54] for the three to five years prior to you being hired at that role at the Bahamas Development Bank,
[00:04:02] what am I seeing from your lens? Repeat that question. This is a beautiful question. Let me make
[00:04:07] sure I heard that right. Say it again. So if I'm looking, if I'm watching a movie,
[00:04:12] if I'm looking at it from the form of a movie, I'm looking at your life for the three
[00:04:18] to five years prior to you being hired as the managing director at the Bahamas Development Bank.
[00:04:24] What am I seeing from your lens? Bottle Star Galactica Star Wars is going to be,
[00:04:30] it's an adventure. It's going to be worlds going from different places to others. So
[00:04:35] most persons talk about my experience in the brokerage house company I used to work for and
[00:04:41] where I was dealing with researching developing companies and, oh sorry, assessing companies
[00:04:45] and assessing whether we should put those in the portfolio or not. And then moving to the small
[00:04:50] business development center, we are developing these companies, funding them. The first company
[00:04:55] prepared me for the second but they were so vastly different in responsibilities. One,
[00:05:00] I'm just researching the next one I'm leading at some point 25 staff members. And so across
[00:05:06] different operational positions in the company. So it would be something like Star Trek, something
[00:05:12] where it's just no worlds being found, every experience is something brand new and just happy
[00:05:18] the lessons before that prepare you for the curtain. Some real adventures, some real out of
[00:05:23] this world adventures. Okay, lovely. So in 2023 your high school alma mater, Lamoyne College,
[00:05:33] they named you out of the thousands, thousands of past students. They named you as the emerging
[00:05:43] leader of the year. And you gave a nice speech which I watched and I listened to. And I want
[00:05:51] to touch on three points that you made during that speech. All right? And not so much points
[00:05:58] as they are lessons, one being the value of the follow up being tenacious in your goals.
[00:06:05] Secondly, don't get married to the label of who you are, whether you gave yourself the label
[00:06:11] or whether society gave you that label. And three, networking and the importance of control
[00:06:17] in your own narrative. And thank you for watching the video first. I'm actually really
[00:06:22] impressed. I just, this is interesting. So thank you. I'll start with the networking one. That
[00:06:28] is the most important thing that has helped my career out of everything. Being able to
[00:06:35] approach persons where they should link them or where there is at a restaurant or the library,
[00:06:40] having the confidence to send that email and say, I'd like to have a conversation
[00:06:44] and mastering the skill, not perfecting it. I still have a lot more to learn
[00:06:47] but really becoming, you know, mastering it and just getting better every day and seeing how
[00:06:52] the responses are becoming better and easier. And now you're seeing persons coming to you,
[00:06:56] but that's not where I started. At LaMoyne, they had no connections. I was a Bahamian living in New
[00:07:02] York and not New York City. Sarah Q. It was only one Bahamian and I was what, 19 and he was 30.
[00:07:14] He was older, got the same opportunity as myself. And so I didn't really have any friends. I was,
[00:07:22] we were close and I just started developing my network. And the biggest area I saw the success
[00:07:26] is when I started going to my career services department. And I would go there and again,
[00:07:31] I'm a black and I have a slight accent and you know, I don't have the community around me.
[00:07:38] So I'm a career services. How do I get a job? How do I get America to let me stay here and
[00:07:41] give me an opportunity? And so I go there every day, weeks, months, looking at different resumes
[00:07:48] as in banks. She will show me how to craft it to this company versus that company. She said,
[00:07:54] take that word out because it works for this company. But you put it here, it gives a different
[00:07:58] narrative. And so it was heavily focused on what are you trying to get from this person?
[00:08:03] What are you trying to present to the person? And so he just was, she was awesome and that
[00:08:08] was a magnificent one for me. What was the second one?
[00:08:11] I was, don't get married to the label of who you are.
[00:08:14] Me tell you, don't get married to that label. And you know, it's interesting, but that is
[00:08:17] even for me recently in life, you have to make sure that you understand the
[00:08:24] narrative you're trying to give to the public. And so me, I'm the manager and director of
[00:08:28] the pharmaceutical bank. Should I sit here and say for the rest of my life, I must be a
[00:08:33] managing director. Should I always say the experience of the high pressure work is that
[00:08:38] what I should have for the rest of my life? What if I say, you know, one day I want to
[00:08:43] go sit on the beach and I want to fish and just, you know, that's there's nothing wrong
[00:08:47] with that. What if I want to transition in construction? You know, it just,
[00:08:51] there's a whole concept of that point was not for me to say, not be focused.
[00:08:56] But don't say this is who I am. And you find that happens, especially persons
[00:09:00] very young. I want to be a doctor, I want to be a dentist or I'm going to be a lawyer.
[00:09:06] And they kind of get stuck to that or similarly they'll say, I'm not the doctor place and I'm
[00:09:10] not the numbers person. Instead of saying, you know, right now I'm having chances at that.
[00:09:14] But I do understand the importance of numbers. So I'm going to get better with that
[00:09:17] as I need to. Persons can't get married to these boxes they put themselves into.
[00:09:22] And so that whole concept was just don't put yourself in a box.
[00:09:25] You can do whatever you would like to do. Just put your mind to it.
[00:09:28] I agree. That is something that you see so, so much and especially as the world keeps evolving.
[00:09:36] And then you have technology that could supplant wherever you have deficiencies, right?
[00:09:43] Correct. But I actually want to ask you a question on that.
[00:09:47] Well, on the networking side, how with you we're both in two different countries.
[00:09:52] So how do you, how do you do the networking and how did you even see an opportunity to say,
[00:09:56] I'm a retail person's outside of my career? Man, I've been going hard on LinkedIn probably since 2012.
[00:10:03] I want to say, you know what I did around that time, 2011, 2012, I did a career
[00:10:10] reverse engineer exercise, right? At the time, I was an equity analyst at RBC covering tech,
[00:10:17] media, telecom or whatnot. And I was trying to decide, okay, where does I want to end up
[00:10:22] in my life? Where do I want to, where do I want to see my career going? You know,
[00:10:25] what's funny is that I put at the end of my career, I want to put a, I put consultant
[00:10:30] slash business valuation professional slash, you know, so something similar to what I have.
[00:10:33] Then I was like, now I'm like, hmm, I should have aimed higher.
[00:10:39] But yeah, so I reversed and I reverse engineers. I started at the end of where I wanted to
[00:10:44] end up. And then I was like, okay, so what, what do I need to achieve before that?
[00:10:49] Right. And then I think I put like some sort of senior manager, I put options, right?
[00:10:54] Depend on different parts. So I said it could have been either investment banking,
[00:10:58] it either been equity research, it could have been this pure, pure valuation professional
[00:11:04] services, right? And then I did it till I was back to where I was at RBC.
[00:11:09] All right. So that's what I did. So I said, all right, I'm, if I want to achieve this,
[00:11:14] I mean, everybody has talent, right? Everybody, everybody's educated, right? And if you think,
[00:11:21] and this is a common mistake too, a lot of people think that, okay, I have these skills.
[00:11:25] My skills to just speak for itself only to a certain extent, only to a certain extent,
[00:11:32] right? Because when it comes to actually getting things done, you know, and I'm not talking
[00:11:39] about rivalry, I'm not talking about nepotism or anything like that. I'm talking about networking.
[00:11:46] There's no any right people having, having people know you, right? And I'm not saying it has to be
[00:11:51] transactional either is all relationship, relationship based, right? We're all people.
[00:11:57] Yes, we have different roles, but we're all, we're all people and we like,
[00:12:00] we like to work with people that we like because one big aspect of, okay, should I pick
[00:12:05] Nicholas or should I pick the other guy? If they, if they evenly match skill-wise, they say, okay, well,
[00:12:12] who would I, who would I rather work with? Who do I actually enjoy work with? Who
[00:12:16] would I want to sit on with during a tough, tough, a tough time? Right? If I have a big
[00:12:22] challenge, who do I want to, who do I want to be pulling Europe alongside me? You know,
[00:12:27] so all of those, those intangible things matter so much. And I would, I would even beg to argue,
[00:12:32] they matter more than the technical. Yeah, you sometimes find in my experience, sometimes if
[00:12:39] you don't find a good balance, either option would end up putting me too far on the other side. So
[00:12:44] if you're only a technocrat and you have no social skills or the capacity to go soft skills,
[00:12:50] you're going to have major challenges. If you have all the soft skills, but you have no
[00:12:54] technical skills with it, at some point you're going to be tested and you won't be able,
[00:12:57] you might not be able to answer that call of doing the work. So you have to find that balancing,
[00:13:02] but if you, as for persons like us who are Type A, you really trying to achieve as much as you can,
[00:13:08] you have to find a good balance. And I always recommend you first. Sorry, don't push yourself
[00:13:13] in the ball to say, I don't, I don't network. I don't, I don't like it. I don't want to talk
[00:13:16] to anybody, you know, I rather just stay home whether you like it or not. You should have
[00:13:21] some conversations. And just to really help expand your network so people could trust you,
[00:13:26] people could say, okay, I know this person, you know, this person, I had a good
[00:13:30] conversation with them or I've heard about them, you know. So it just, it just helps
[00:13:34] expand your opportunity. You know what? As you say, and all of that, I just remember,
[00:13:38] you know what? I grew up as a very shy, as a very shy kid, right? Right? And I just throughout
[00:13:46] my life through my career, I had to remove myself, myself also so many boxes. I had to
[00:13:50] remove myself from the box of, okay, I don't like sales. I can't sell.
[00:13:55] Boy, I had to similarly, there's a lot of things I didn't, I said I wouldn't do like I,
[00:14:02] I did one thing interesting enough. I always said I'm not creative. And when it comes to like,
[00:14:08] drawings and art and stuff like that. And so growing up, I always told myself that.
[00:14:13] And because I my hand kind of shakes when I write. And so from young, all my brothers
[00:14:18] were artistic. Me, I didn't have that. But mine showed through a different way.
[00:14:23] When I look at numbers, I've seen really a lot of colors. I just see fun. I see how it's all
[00:14:26] connected together. And then I started doing a little bit of a ceramic coloring and ceramics
[00:14:33] and they come out good. So you know what I said? I'm a creative now. I am only a creative. I'm no
[00:14:38] longer saying I'm not a creative person. Even though my job doesn't require that to be necessary.
[00:14:43] I am. And so yeah, I'm taking my own advice over the last year and I've enjoyed it.
[00:14:48] Hmm. You know, one last box before we move on to the other thing, one last box I really have to
[00:14:54] remove myself out of is that I was petrified of public speaking.
[00:15:01] No, the worst. The worst. How did you get out of it?
[00:15:06] Started up now and before I started up podcast, what happened? I was forced to go and give
[00:15:10] a talk because as I was working at KCL, Capstone Market Brokers. And
[00:15:15] the CEO was asked to give a talk on becoming a vegetable business ideas and funding.
[00:15:22] And he was like, hey, Kev, you know, you, you, you could go handle that.
[00:15:26] And because I partly wanted to challenge myself, I said, all right, fine, let's go.
[00:15:32] You know, so I spent the next two weeks writing a speech for beta.
[00:15:37] And when it, and listen, my speech was like the, so was the keynote, right? My speech.
[00:15:42] My speech is at the end of all this, like two days of speeches and my own was in the last, last
[00:15:47] speech. Nick, that's how it went up there. I stood up. The camera was rolling on me.
[00:15:57] I forgot how my speech started.
[00:16:01] Oh boy. But that has been the hardest. Once you get to that first part, you usually
[00:16:06] can do kind of well and I'll do really well. But that's the spot that.
[00:16:11] So here's what. So then I sat, I sat down where my notes was and then I started
[00:16:17] and then it was one of them. I got so much engagement from it, right? And then
[00:16:23] a year after that actually started a business called becoming vegetable.
[00:16:27] This based on, based on feedback from that speech.
[00:16:30] On my side, so I'll say a Toastmasters 1600. I would say is a club in a Toastmaster club
[00:16:36] in the Bahamas and I had a serious fear of speaking, but I realized and I speak very fast.
[00:16:41] You'll see even in this call, I had to try and slow down, but I speak very fast,
[00:16:45] especially when I'm nervous or very comfortable. I speak very fast.
[00:16:49] And so it's something I had to fix it. Something I had to repair.
[00:16:52] So I messaged my English teacher from high school and I said,
[00:16:57] I'm involved with Toastmasters. So I joined the Toastmasters and I went and
[00:17:02] I had to figure out a way to speak slow. I had to figure out a way to just communicate better.
[00:17:06] And my first speech where they ice break a speech, where you're speaking about just who
[00:17:10] you are introducing yourself to the club. And I was the next speech. I had like a panic.
[00:17:16] A panic attack. I left the room went outside and I'm in the corner like I'm not doing this.
[00:17:21] And one of the guys walked up and he said, Hey, just say your first line. He said,
[00:17:26] don't think about it. He said, walk up there and his focus of saying the first line.
[00:17:32] And literally I said the first line and they gave him trophies to the best speech that day.
[00:17:36] And I got the first speech. I got the best speech and got the trophy and
[00:17:39] my parents were there found me then it helped me my confidence.
[00:17:43] Just realizing focus on a first line. So it's good how you mentioned the first thing
[00:17:48] which we thought was the first line. His advice is just to remember the first line.
[00:17:51] Yep. Yep. You know, I think it's, I don't know, I don't know if it's some sort of
[00:17:57] overachiever slash perfection is something that you know where we get in our heads like,
[00:18:01] okay, this needs to go perfect. It needs to go perfect. And then it's so much pressure on
[00:18:05] itself. You just, you mess if it's like a full start. Correct. And it feels like time stops
[00:18:10] when you get on stage. It feels like the world just kind of stops and they're just staring
[00:18:13] at you and analyzing you. And so it just, it's a lot of pressure. Even now to this day,
[00:18:18] I give a lot of speeches, but there was a speech a year ago where I was dealing with a lot of
[00:18:25] pressure. I had a lot of deadlines. And so I had the speech in my life prepared for the speech
[00:18:31] study and everything. But as soon as I got on that stage, I just couldn't connect the words
[00:18:36] properly. And my speech was five minutes. I spoke for about two. And so, you know,
[00:18:41] I always just fire listen, you know, anyone who's speaking out, it never 100% goes away.
[00:18:48] You know, every environment is different. So you just you learn your process,
[00:18:51] be prepared. And so yeah, even to the person who would regularly sometimes the lot
[00:18:57] for real, for real. All right, I want to get on to the third lesson. I think this is
[00:19:02] actually first lesson you gave in that speech. And I think this, this story won't be,
[00:19:07] right? So this is, this speaks to the value of following up, you know, be
[00:19:13] international in your approach of what, of what are we trying to achieve? All right.
[00:19:17] So I'm going to ask you just tell us how you were able to get that scholarship
[00:19:21] to go to the point in the first place. Oh, good question. So, yeah, you really did
[00:19:27] watch the video. What occurred is that when I was leaving high school and again,
[00:19:33] this is a, I'll be very honest in the conversation. I wasn't 100% high end with
[00:19:39] I wasn't as focused at school as I should have been. And so when I was graduating high school,
[00:19:44] like I got a call, I think it got my parents got a call from some
[00:19:49] person at my school and they said, you know, we shouldn't, I don't think he will
[00:19:53] can go to the college of the Bahamas because he doesn't seem to be in a position where
[00:19:57] he could separate from his friends and he is seen focused if we know you're not
[00:20:02] the best financial position, but if you can afford it, send him off. I was blessed to have
[00:20:07] a scholarship through J to a school in Arkansas in the US and that's junior achievers, right?
[00:20:14] Yes, junior. Yeah, sorry, junior achievers. And so I went to a Klandish Smith college in
[00:20:18] a small college, very, very small college and I did really well. And through that,
[00:20:25] my mother was like, you know, let's stand up, life of a scholarship like we,
[00:20:28] we need all the resources as students. So me again, I'm gonna do what I gotta do.
[00:20:32] I applied to the Jireh scholarship and I'll never forget just constantly contacting them.
[00:20:41] And so what I used to do was I would actually go to the scholarship department and I would just
[00:20:46] hear how things go and you know, any luck, how's my application looking and
[00:20:50] they this lady she said, you know what, I'm a citrida, you keep coming here.
[00:20:54] I'll sit you down. And I remember she said, this is the list of people who are ahead of me.
[00:21:00] It's like maybe 10, 20 on a page and it had like the SAT scores, the BGC SC scores,
[00:21:05] BJC scores, those are those latter two are Bohemian National Exam for grade nine and grade 12.
[00:21:12] And she said, you're not on this first page and she turned it
[00:21:18] and up and she like, you're like here and I'm like, oh man. And it never to this day,
[00:21:23] I never understood why it didn't affect me. When she said, I'm like,
[00:21:27] that's 45 people. I got to beat them. So now I'm showing up even more bringing cookies and sorry
[00:21:32] that's not deputism. I'm doing what I gotta do. I gotta hustle. I gotta hustle. And you know,
[00:21:38] she said at the point, you're not going to get this. There's no chance.
[00:21:42] There's a minute chance that you'll ever very small chance you get this because it's just
[00:21:46] too many people who have two higher GPAs, higher professional national exams,
[00:21:51] and 60 scores. It's just, you're not in the very best position for that. And she's like, I like you,
[00:21:55] but sorry. And so I just kept going, kept calling, kept showing up and learned her children's names.
[00:22:02] I was putting into work, you know, I had to achieve and again, she told me wasn't getting it
[00:22:07] still trying, but it's getting close to the school. So I'm applied to other schools that
[00:22:11] seemed more affordable, got into one was a, I'll do my I-20 form. She called me and said,
[00:22:17] you know, out of all these persons on this list, we were the only person who called,
[00:22:22] who showed up, who contacted us and no one has, no one else has done this. And so she said,
[00:22:28] you have this culture. And so that's how I got the most culture. I already kind of accepted
[00:22:31] it wasn't happening, but I still was showing up. I just couldn't, I don't know why I'll be
[00:22:35] honest. I'm not going to pretend like I had some good vision or I knew she would say, yes,
[00:22:39] I just couldn't accept defeat. And it just felt like I need this, you know,
[00:22:43] be not the richest people. So they support us in that position. And so yeah, tenacity, durability,
[00:22:51] there's a great lesson I could say backwards, but at the time I had no idea they would say,
[00:22:54] yes, I just never gave up.
[00:22:56] It's confidence. One is a dangerous thing, isn't it?
[00:22:58] Yes, it is. Yes, it is. And my mother and my father supported me. I like to think that they
[00:23:05] had a vision that I would get it. If I didn't get it, I mean, they kind of was encouraging
[00:23:09] me to kind of waste my time, but they just they saw that I wanted it and they pushed me.
[00:23:15] And so that's something I have experienced. But now, yes, I partner,
[00:23:21] spy management. That ain't no small thing. I know the process for that wasn't easy.
[00:23:28] But we get pushes, maybe. Hey, me and listeners too, you got to tell us
[00:23:31] how did, tell us a little bit about some of the hurdles with doing such a huge fun and
[00:23:37] impactful fun. How did you get to that point, that confidence level to say I'm gonna,
[00:23:41] I'm not taking no, I'm gonna make this work?
[00:23:43] Yeah. Well, you know, truth be told, I'm not full time there.
[00:23:48] So I'm a partner because I'm a shareholder and it's also like my role there.
[00:23:55] My role there is to one, help them, help bring in investors and two, especially to do the
[00:24:03] valuation due diligence on the deals that come, that come into the fund. And also when it's all
[00:24:09] the time like it is now or coming from kind of trailing off from last year, when it's all
[00:24:15] the time to do the valuations for the auditors and stuff. But you know, as far as also a sister
[00:24:21] company to KCL Cap to Market Brokers, where at my last position there was a VP of investor
[00:24:29] banks indication there. So that's, so it was like a, it was like a marriage role in a sense.
[00:24:39] You know, but yeah man, it was plenty. I can imagine valuations aren't easy, you know,
[00:24:46] and in the market of raising money is not easy at all as a very difficult thing. You know,
[00:24:51] I dug ourselves the time, you know, the wrong cousin comes to me boring asking for $10.
[00:24:57] I'm like, nah, nah, I'm not doing that. So to say $10 million, $2 million, $500
[00:25:04] thousand, they sound so beautiful in romantic because of movies and you know, music,
[00:25:09] we hear a way to do it but that is not easy for someone to say to work towards $10 million
[00:25:14] and say, I'm gonna give you a million dollars and invest it for me. I trust you to give me
[00:25:18] returns. That's not an easy thing. And so like just that side and then valuations that people
[00:25:23] trust being able to say this is what you are worth, where do you use it? A dividend scale model,
[00:25:29] free cash model, comparables, all of those are subjective. And so that itself takes a tremendous
[00:25:34] amount of confidence to say based on all these variable inputs. This is discount rate,
[00:25:39] your cry rate in return. How do you then say I'm confident? I know this is right. I'm pushing
[00:25:45] this forward. All the inputs are what I think are as best. How do you do that?
[00:25:49] Yeah. Listen, to get that qualification, it took so much, listen, I failed so many exams on the way
[00:25:55] to doing that. That took me a lot more years than it should have, but I'm glad to finally
[00:26:04] achieved it. As it is right now, there are no other charity business validators in Trinidad
[00:26:10] and they are handful with any region. So I really, it was something that
[00:26:19] it was something I'm really proud of. It was something that I think took some years and here we've
[00:26:25] from my life. But yeah, happily happy. That's something that I conquered.
[00:26:35] It's not a lot of places who can do valuations. So I learned it through the CFA and then through
[00:26:40] experience at the proper choice when valuations, but I've not found many places you could do very,
[00:26:47] I don't say not strong. It's valuations could be different ways, different techniques and
[00:26:53] it's supposed, it's so difficult to put it in words. I say like 70% of science 30% is like art
[00:26:59] for me, like it's hardcore numbers, hardcore inputs, but then it's like, where is this company going?
[00:27:03] Where is this company been? You know what, I just got a little more, just got a little less.
[00:27:09] This growth rate is a little too exaggerated. I would just reduce that. So I love valuations and
[00:27:16] I think it's a real good art. It's a good bit of science, but it's definitely
[00:27:24] Adi and every day is definitely an art. Yeah, because it's all about the story you want to tell
[00:27:29] and the numbers tell a story. May I ask you, can you publicly speak about the companies you value?
[00:27:37] Is there one that stands out like this company has made it and I did this valuation on this
[00:27:42] as it ever or this major thing happened? So I don't want to say the name of the company,
[00:27:47] but there was a FinTech company that I was valued, I believe it was in 2020. The company was
[00:27:58] in investment negotiations with one of the large regional banks
[00:28:03] and the bank wanted to offer a certain amount and the company came to me for the valuation and
[00:28:10] after it was done and they presented my valuation to the company and said,
[00:28:15] and at the end of the day, the company, the investors actually ended up transaction at that
[00:28:20] valuation. They are very close to the valuation and I did for them. So that sort of defensibility
[00:28:26] that it brings, that was really cool. Oh, that's excellent. So I'm sorry for taking over the
[00:28:34] interview. I was hosting this. Sorry. I just like to learn and it's just so many experiences
[00:28:43] that I apologize. No, same man. Same. Listen, I do the same thing like that. Because when I was
[00:28:48] going through your profile, I'm like, this guy is like a kindred spirit to me because I'm looking
[00:28:52] at what you do, what you do in your private practice, you do business plan development,
[00:28:57] same business development and advisory, same capital releasing, same. I don't do accounting
[00:29:02] and legal services. Do I outsource that? But same. I have some guys. Yes,
[00:29:13] you know, it's such a constant flow of revenue that you could have for that. It just, you know,
[00:29:18] it's so stable but it's not my specialty. So I outsource. Exactly. So listen, as you mentioned,
[00:29:25] capital raising just now and I mean also touched on networking. I've seen that in one of your
[00:29:33] raises, you were able to raise up to 60 million for, I believe it was a phone company, be alive
[00:29:38] without the E. Yeah, man. That was when I was at the brokerage house. Yeah. I was blessed with an
[00:29:44] opportunity to, at the time, be union at one phone service in the vallas and another one was looking
[00:29:50] to enter the market. And so I was blessed to be a part of the crew, the team from one of the
[00:29:55] brokerage houses to get that deal done. And I remember sitting on the table 25, 26, it just
[00:30:02] mesmerized at all of these giants in the room and they're all negotiating and they're seeing words
[00:30:09] that they all understand and I understand, but I don't know what they're talking about.
[00:30:13] They're just putting it together and they're able to understand. So if someone says this thing,
[00:30:19] I have to then say, okay, this is this, they're just there already. And so I'm just like, how
[00:30:23] are these people making these leaks? Or they're all the same page? And so as they understood
[00:30:28] the language, I really, I got to learn the language there and I learned the intentions,
[00:30:32] the phase and I watched someone lose out. I watch us almost lose out. I saw where competitors
[00:30:38] that came together to do the deal. So it was at the end of it, we were competing at
[00:30:44] the other large brokerage house, we all combined for this deal, the partner and deal. And so
[00:30:48] being able to watch that is like so many different things I learned. And the deal was not supposed
[00:30:53] to be 60 million, it was supposed to be 20 or 30. I think it's 30, 20 or 30. Sorry, I hope you
[00:31:00] heard it now, but when the raise opened, it was so popular, it went up to 40. And then it
[00:31:07] parked, we parked it at 60, it would have gone considerably higher. But you know, when you put
[00:31:11] together a good structure deal and in a market that was looking for those type of interest
[00:31:18] rates, being a part of that team was a mesmerizing experience. I learned that that was all a part
[00:31:26] of the corporate finance bug and itch that I got. And they've been able to, you know, stop doing
[00:31:31] the since. Yeah, no deals. Deals have a way of like, I don't know, something about it.
[00:31:38] You know, like in it, I don't know, winning an NBA game or something. I don't know.
[00:31:42] Yeah. Because it started off as called Nukul, right? You know, that's the, they put Hooligan
[00:31:48] Kul, but it was just Nukul. And then it's a no one to have no one know what the name is,
[00:31:52] to have no one in the country know what this is about. Then it started to get around the
[00:31:57] rumors and then you start seeing the competitor as the deals get closer to, you know, on the
[00:32:03] regulatory side, you're then watching the competitors that cut prices and you start
[00:32:07] seeing the strategy more marketing. And you're like, man, I'm really watching something happen.
[00:32:13] And then you saw the prices go from there wasn't a lot of postpaid,
[00:32:18] we had postpaid plans, but they weren't as popular. It was considered something
[00:32:22] businessmen and business women had. And it wasn't just for the retail side. It just
[00:32:27] wasn't just for everybody. But when Stock depending the game, not be alive,
[00:32:32] you saw prices just drop and then it became popular for everyone to have plans.
[00:32:37] But it also taught me things don't go as you plan. One strategy was it's kind of public
[00:32:43] knowledge is just the plan for how you're going to get the market to take the phones
[00:32:49] and seeing how that was done and seeing how you thought this is what happened with
[00:32:53] that this happened, did they get the shit here? Just watching that business happen,
[00:32:56] which is magnificent and a great experience. And I'm glad to see that both companies
[00:33:00] still doing nice man. Nice. What I was happy to see was that you're able to get
[00:33:05] 19 million out of that 60 million from your college alumni.
[00:33:12] No, no, I didn't get 19 million from my college alumni. I got 19 million in the market.
[00:33:18] I went into the open market to raise the funds. And so I had to travel to Grand Bahama.
[00:33:24] I live on Nassau, we province the capital and I had traveled to the islands and
[00:33:30] you had to really be a salesman to explain why you would make more money with this deal
[00:33:36] than where your current deals are. And so through that it was 19 million. I told that my college
[00:33:42] but it wasn't, it was just in my open market. Okay, okay, gotcha. If my college could give
[00:33:49] out 19 million, oh boy. I was like I went to the wrong school. No shit. What's interesting
[00:33:55] my college with my alumni alma mater, they have a $2 million fund now where they allow students to
[00:34:05] in finance to invest and to learn how trading and learn the pros and cons, the strengths and
[00:34:09] weaknesses that didn't exist when I was there. And so I think that's one of the coolest things
[00:34:13] they have. And I wish something like that in the Bahamas could happen. Your stock market,
[00:34:18] how is your stock market? It's improving. It's improving. We have a CEO who has been at the helm,
[00:34:25] I want to say maybe just over two years. My name is Eva Mitchell. She's very focused on
[00:34:35] growing these stock markets and making it a lot more active and having a lot more small businesses
[00:34:41] and investable small businesses join the stock market. So you know even I talk sometimes and
[00:34:47] she'd be like, hey KV, well we are, we work together at RBC. So you know she calls me KV. She
[00:34:53] would like KV. Let me know if you have companies, if you have company clients who are ready for
[00:35:00] the stock exchange and that sort of thing. You know so we dialogue sometimes on those sort of
[00:35:05] things. So yeah definitely I would say it's definitely only growth swing right? So prior to
[00:35:13] that I would say it's a little more stagnant. Not too stagnant but definitely not at the level of
[00:35:19] say Jamaica right? Yeah so Jamaica, much respect to Jamaica they're doing very well when it comes to
[00:35:28] their, they have a stock market and the junior stock market. And it's just you know we try to
[00:35:33] study the market in that industry and how they are handling it in, it's such a it's positive
[00:35:38] and I think the Bahamas is going to focus more on that as well. That's good. Maybe create so I'm
[00:35:43] excited for that to happen a little bit more. That's good, I do want to talk about the domestic
[00:35:49] demand in Bahamas and stuff but first I want to just want to touch on your experience working
[00:35:55] at the accelerator. So that is the access accelerator, the SBDC Small Business Development
[00:36:04] Center project right? So I know you did an interview during the COVID, I think it was just a few months
[00:36:12] into the COVID pandemic but if we were to go back in time at that, at that perilous time,
[00:36:20] at that time of oh my god and we look at the Bahamian economy, what have you seen?
[00:36:27] This was before COVID or during COVID? During COVID. So interesting enough
[00:36:32] SBDC started September 2018 and formally launched and so it was removing a lot of ups and downs,
[00:36:40] we're getting your footing in the market, getting credibility in the market. The things that finally
[00:36:45] on the move, banks are signed on, we have the guarantee agreement and then Hurricane Dorian
[00:36:50] happens at the end of 2019. So that majorly affected Grand Bahama, second capital and Abaco
[00:36:59] was beautiful islands in the world and it was devastated by that hurricane so we had to shift
[00:37:05] from just helping the country to then trying to help them with that and so you go from that
[00:37:09] event happening and then March of 2020, March 15th is when we had the first formal case of COVID
[00:37:16] in the country. What's interesting about it is everything SBDC did at the time was manual,
[00:37:21] mostly manual, yes it's manual so we had advisors on most islands, we had to have a place
[00:37:28] where people could come in to write plans and get assistance with their plans and development
[00:37:31] and around, I'll say November, December 2019 before COVID hit the Bahamas.
[00:37:39] My boss, Ty and Dominia, she's a great visionary, she's like man this COVID is coming
[00:37:44] to the Bahamas, it's not a question, it's not a question, it's coming to be our tourist
[00:37:49] based country, US is coming over here, you see what's happening up there,
[00:37:53] you know China, we had a good relationship with China and so you're just seeing, oh yes it has to
[00:37:59] be here and so we decided to structure where we would take it digital, everything digital
[00:38:05] and so we spent a lot of money digitizing all of our systems, our processes, the process,
[00:38:09] blow everything and it's painstaking but we thought COVID hit January, you know it didn't
[00:38:16] hit January and then February and then you're like man I don't want it to happen
[00:38:21] but I thought it was inevitable and I've spent hundreds of thousands to prepare for something
[00:38:26] like this and so you're like I hope it doesn't but man, I was wrong. March comes and you're like well
[00:38:35] we may have made support decisions and then when March 15 came and COVID came and we all sat
[00:38:42] and buy it and then we shut that off, the other fair we realized okay we have something
[00:38:48] and so we launched it I think a few months later, the online platform but if we didn't prepare ahead
[00:38:54] of time, if we didn't have, if she didn't have that vision and we didn't have the whereabouts
[00:38:59] to follow that and get it done, we would have been very behind the curve so by the time COVID came
[00:39:03] our systems was pretty much online and we were able to do the training online and
[00:39:07] development online and so what the Bahamas looked like, Bahamas is looking bright and
[00:39:12] before Dorian and then Dorian put a major in back and then COVID just on the heels of that
[00:39:18] made it roughly the economy like really well, that's most countries. So what was the name of
[00:39:23] division area again? Is it bigger up? Our name is Davenia Bayne, sorry Davenia Bayne,
[00:39:33] big up Davenia, good job. I'll see you later at some point in time so she's someone to give
[00:39:39] a lot of respect to. I'll be honest and I say these examples because I learned from them and so
[00:39:46] I hope others learn from them and I know it's kind of vulnerable but I remember she is sitting down
[00:39:49] during COVID and she said, man we got to find a way to get the money to the entrepreneurs
[00:39:55] and you got to do it quickly and we're all sitting around like she's like we have bills on
[00:39:59] portal and we can do all of this. I'm like you have an engineer, we don't have a self-engine
[00:40:04] what is she really talking about? She's like yeah and then I mean she's like that's great it's
[00:40:08] going to work. We're looking around like we have nothing that you said and we got to work
[00:40:13] and within two weeks portal developed the smaller financial institutions were on board
[00:40:18] and it was a flowing process for entrepreneurs so it taught me to really like
[00:40:22] you got to take those leaps, you got to take calculated leaps and you know and that was
[00:40:28] a great experience and lesson for me and I see myself doing the same thing relatively now just
[00:40:33] you know taking some of those jumps to get you know up further than others.
[00:40:37] And I've definitely seen you take some visionary moves in your new role. So let's talk about the
[00:40:44] Bahamas Development Bank now all right so June 2022 just as we are getting out of the COVID pandemic
[00:40:51] you're appointed Imaging Director and what and based on the timeline I saw that looked like a
[00:40:57] pretty hot seat. Am I fair? When you say hot seat, what do you mean? It looked like that's
[00:41:05] that seat had quite a few bodies in it over the years. So the bank has been around 50 years
[00:41:12] this year actually right and so you're in a situation where different visions, different managing directors
[00:41:19] but the goal is to see them cross the board help small medium businesses in the country and
[00:41:23] cross the island and so it was I'm sure it was coveted I'm sure people you know there's
[00:41:31] a lot of interest and I was blessed and I said you know humility is blessed with the opportunity
[00:41:38] and so yeah hot seat maybe not I wasn't on that side of the room at the time no but um
[00:41:44] working with SBDC I had a relationship with the Bahamas Development Bank and so I understood
[00:41:51] kind not kind I understood how it worked from in the market what did what was needed
[00:41:56] and so it just married the two okay so I'm looking at the timeline here I see that in 2018
[00:42:05] it says you know you're re-engineering the Bahamas Development Bank
[00:42:10] and by 2020 you had a new Bahamas Development Bank yeah so me starting in 2022 I was blessed
[00:42:19] and I hope I don't say too much but I do give credit to everything that I get to enjoy because
[00:42:26] it's not just me it's always a building off or something and so the bank decided to rebrand itself
[00:42:33] and the rebrand came with a new logo came with new colors and it was hey this is who we are to
[00:42:39] the country in the impact we're going to have and so it just when I came on and I read that
[00:42:44] that rebranding was pretty completed from our initial standpoint now it's let's build our
[00:42:49] policies it's build our procedures let's get this company prepared for the fundraising effort
[00:42:55] that we need to get done so that when not only will we look good to the funders but we also
[00:43:00] know that we can maintain ourselves will be getting it. Gotcha okay so if you're to look
[00:43:09] let's say three to five years down here because you know if you want to do a 10-year goal
[00:43:14] along the tomb goal but I just want to get an idea of what's your vision for Bahamas
[00:43:21] as an investable island both from a foreign direct investment perspective where people come
[00:43:27] and set up shop and and open their business there and you know you hire some local talent some for
[00:43:33] whatever you and from a portfolio investment point of view where all right I'm a I'm a venture
[00:43:40] capitalist I'm an angel investor I'm a family office somewhere in Florida and I want to
[00:43:46] invest in a small business and in Bahamas I want to invest in maybe a fit type company or so and I
[00:43:51] want to take a 20% stake all right so how do we how well how do you on your team how do you
[00:43:58] how do you envision Bahamas looking like economically over the next few years.
[00:44:06] So when you're looking for a portfolio standpoint and so you'll notice I kind of
[00:44:09] answer the last question first it is easy for me but um yeah I think it's the same thing
[00:44:15] the country is is right for investing right now you look across the island
[00:44:21] it's different cultures across the island so Narsau is a city style very busy Grand Bahama
[00:44:26] city style but they have a smaller population but they also have the Port Authority where they
[00:44:31] have different rules than the rest of the Bahamas so if you're a bonded company with
[00:44:36] Grand Bahama Port Authority you can get things cheaper when you bring them in and you can
[00:44:41] then build it manufacturing ship out so there's a major opportunity for manufacturers to say
[00:44:46] I want to move my shop to Grand Bahama and so you will have a cheaper cost in most
[00:44:51] you're very close you can literally see Miami at night sometimes the lights from Grand Bahama
[00:44:58] and so um and so in it's a it's a beautiful island and then you go to Abaco beautiful
[00:45:05] exhumers always wins awards for their beaches so there's an opportunity for the Airbnb market
[00:45:12] there's a population is constantly growing and so constantly see housing is needed you constantly
[00:45:19] see commercial buildings are needed and so from that standpoint it's amazing and tech
[00:45:24] is a I think that our the government of the Bahamas is really pushing and so we really want to
[00:45:29] see more tech projects being done in the Bahamas you can do it right in Grand Bahama you
[00:45:33] can do it right in that so as a financial as our country our second biggest industry was biking
[00:45:39] and is biking and financial services and um that is such a major portion so the Bahamas is a
[00:45:45] specialist when it comes to really understanding financial structures you know ensuring that you
[00:45:49] can park your money here and know that it will be safe returned and then you have a good return
[00:45:55] value so if you're talking from a hotel standpoint there's opportunities for hotels
[00:45:59] across these islands if you look at Airbnb there's opportunities from a tech standpoint
[00:46:03] the Bahamas is big on full sustainability right now you look at what i'm sitting Jamaica did with
[00:46:09] their broiler program beautiful way to handle the broiler program so you the Bahamas developed
[00:46:13] me I bought a program so broiler and if they are entrepreneurs uh investors looking at agriculture
[00:46:19] manufacturing tech not fisheries there's so many opportunities in the country right now
[00:46:25] on the regular I'm just seeing a tremendous tremendous amount of business plans that are so
[00:46:30] strong I remember many years ago I used to see not too many strong plans and now you're saying so much
[00:46:34] innovation in this you know and the people are experienced so right now I would say this is a
[00:46:39] great time for me to invest in Bahamas you get picked the culture you could say you know I want
[00:46:43] the city style I want the smaller style I want a more islandy feel whatever you're looking to
[00:46:49] accomplish we have so many different personalities within the country of course I
[00:46:53] love it man I love it and of course you know grand grand Bahama has all those tax exempt
[00:47:01] you know there's yeah it's just benefiting benefiting if that sorry to interrupt that's fine that's
[00:47:09] fine I mean it comes grand Bahamas such a such a sleeping giant and right now the poor authority
[00:47:15] I'll say some beams the president enrol uh uh dare move on they are just pushing that island and
[00:47:24] with grand Bahama the city very free for the city and it's just I think it's just amazing
[00:47:29] opportunities that could occur you have a cruise line putting a port there now and so
[00:47:35] the surrounding areas you know you need housing and now you need amenities you need fun things to
[00:47:40] do you need restaurants you need an additional where we need car rental services you need gas stations
[00:47:47] and so right now there's just a hospital a bigger hospital we're looking to do so as an investor
[00:47:54] whatever you're looking to do it's just uh it's literally what I do persons come to me
[00:47:59] I want an opportunity I say what do you think for and they'll say I'm looking for this and I'll
[00:48:02] say but this island has these two things this island is that and so it's just the Bahamas
[00:48:06] right now it's a prime place for persons to make some good money how long would you say is that
[00:48:15] all right so that process from an investor raises their hand and say okay I'm interested I want to
[00:48:21] I want to invest I want to invest in a company in New Bahamas or I want to set up I want to
[00:48:26] set up something on grand Bahama I get all those tax incentives because I'm tired of paying tax in
[00:48:31] New York or wherever all right how long does that approval process because I know you have a
[00:48:36] is it the NEC sorry NEC sir was that going to be in the central uh maybe I have a
[00:48:41] video I could name around the department that is the department or the body that's
[00:48:47] that's in charge of approving on investment so we have Bahamas investment authority BIA
[00:48:54] so they are they are an agency within the government that approves and assesses investment
[00:49:00] coming into the Bahamas and so they are they are really energized right now to make sure that
[00:49:05] investments occur so they are they are if there's any investor looking to get something done
[00:49:12] and they are serious and they can reach out to myself or BIA directly and I'll put them in
[00:49:18] touch with them to work need be but right now there's a preference for ensuring their foreign
[00:49:22] direct investment is appreciating and are growing in the Bahamas so the timeline
[00:49:29] well I can't see the exact timeline because every project will be different
[00:49:32] but what I can guarantee is that there'll be a focus on getting that done as soon as possible
[00:49:36] within those uh within that industry fantastic so you mentioned banking and financial services
[00:49:42] so would you say this is more like um deposit taken is it more like lending investment banking
[00:49:51] capital market stuff in the Bahamas and Bank or the market in the country in the country in general
[00:49:57] so generally we don't have as much of a venture capital formal structure who do have wealthy groups
[00:50:06] wealthy families wealthy companies and they are pushing their money into different projects at
[00:50:12] different stages right but we don't have as much as like the development bank at Jamaica
[00:50:16] they have an equity arm that focuses solely on that we have the Bahamas entrepreneurial fund
[00:50:22] it's smaller into Paris and the dbj dbj so has a lot of money in their funds
[00:50:28] and then their programs whether the Bahamas we are where we raise capital is not in the scene
[00:50:35] where you say it happens in the United States and so you see some capitalism
[00:50:39] again you don't have a formal angel investor concept that happens all the time
[00:50:44] but you see it happening but it's not necessarily in the angel investor structure so
[00:50:48] we have private investors we have that trend that happens regularly but are they using the
[00:50:53] private equity structure gpld some are smart some are just putting our funds together
[00:50:59] and we're investing in these companies and so there's a lot of areas fund raising
[00:51:05] on the equity side debt side you're seeing blended seeing a lot of a lot of different
[00:51:09] ways structures are occurring right now okay and it makes sense right not everything you need
[00:51:15] to take from the bigger markets and adopt wholesale because if it doesn't fit it doesn't fit and some
[00:51:20] some structures are better for markets with more people right so you know just as Caribbean
[00:51:28] people we have to be creative and you know look at what we have and tailor tailor take the
[00:51:33] learnings and tailor the products to our markets right but on what about crowdfunding though because
[00:51:41] I know I know there's the arowak x crowdfunding platform so yeah in terms in terms of funding
[00:51:50] private businesses on a I guess on an on a wide basis you know how's that been going
[00:51:57] so I'm not sure if that's a loaded question right there
[00:52:03] but our x is um there was a company that across the first crowdfunding company in the country
[00:52:11] and they really had a huge presence they were really pushing their initiatives things didn't
[00:52:17] really work out as well as we wanted those to work out so they're going through their
[00:52:22] their their challenges but they did for sure create a huge impression on the country
[00:52:28] because everyone knows their needs and glad you mentioned it because you know the basic
[00:52:32] internationally they have that branding tool but you know sometimes they're interested
[00:52:36] in what currency they're planning to so it's not a lesson yeah it's too bad and I hope I hope
[00:52:42] they're able to to dust off and try again even if in a different reincarnation because I think
[00:52:48] crowdfunding in the Caribbean region and I see the the Eastern Caribbean is putting together a
[00:52:53] project on that as well but I think crowdfunding in the Caribbean region is something that could
[00:52:57] really be pivotal for us so something that could really change the game for us right because
[00:53:03] it's not to say that there's a lack of capital in the region it's just there's a lack of
[00:53:08] movement in that capital both within the region and coming into the region so yeah I would
[00:53:14] love to see crowdfunding and I know there's some hurdles to cover on on crowdfunding or whatnot
[00:53:20] but I think once we get it done all right I think it could be very beneficial for us at scale I agree
[00:53:27] so what other sectors you guys are looking at them I see on the website you have agriculture
[00:53:33] fisheries manufacturing tourism we spoke about technology a little bit we didn't touch on
[00:53:39] fintech too much and also yeah transportation so that actually if you're okay with it uh
[00:53:47] I kind of want to jump into the vision question that you mentioned earlier job that's okay yeah
[00:53:52] so so the goal simply is to create this blanket to a hundred million dollar bank you know um
[00:53:59] we want to get up to a hundred million like well what's our group at Demokor we're
[00:54:02] seven to stop a hundred million uh you know that's that's the goal and so we want to build that
[00:54:07] up and we should be looking at how we're going to get it done it's very feasible once you sit down
[00:54:12] and strategize in plan it is feasible to execute and so you just have to build the first set will
[00:54:17] be harder and as you do that right it'll be easier and easier and easier and so my my goal is to
[00:54:23] bounce down bank our act sorry allows more than just loans allows equity investment allows a lot
[00:54:29] of different opportunities and so I just want to allow us to reach out and try these new things
[00:54:34] and so that's how we end up with the relationship at the c-15 studios and so you know orange economy
[00:54:40] is one of the hardest areas to fund yes and so the c-15 studios like focus on that and so we have
[00:54:45] the exclusive relationship with them for the Bahamas and so I mean it's anyone looking to
[00:54:49] get that funding a hundred thousand to a million you have their opportunity and so the
[00:54:54] Bahamas well might really try to focus on growing different revenue streams for bank
[00:55:01] but also different innovative forms of financing for our clients okay so is it that c-15 would
[00:55:10] with vet the dealer analyze the deal and scrub it and structure it and Bahamas development
[00:55:14] bank would provide the funding once c-15 gives the okay is there anything like is it opposite
[00:55:19] way this reverse we do the analysis and we say hey this is client is worth your time
[00:55:25] and interesting because because the reality is as you know not every investor wants to put their
[00:55:31] name up there and have everyone just sending stuff in and so c-15 though they're their name is out there
[00:55:36] how can they analyze every plan across all these countries they're trying to have impact from
[00:55:41] and so we saw that as an opportunity to say hey we can actually fix this week we will handle the
[00:55:45] Bahamas we will send you clients we'll push those to you when and then you could then know
[00:55:49] that the clients who come to you are the best of the best because if we had we had the funds
[00:55:53] we would have funded it ourselves and so it's just building that relationship and so why should
[00:55:58] foreign direct investment only be for large hotels large manufacturing events small business
[00:56:04] should be able to benefit from that as well and you know so that that's the goal on that side
[00:56:10] another option we we started like consulting as well for other companies and using the
[00:56:16] information the skills we have to provide hey this is how you handle this market this
[00:56:21] how you navigate the market and so that's another revenue frame we're doing as well
[00:56:25] and so we're just expanding the bank doing more things and just being more innovative
[00:56:30] and when it comes to the sectors you're mentioning those are our core sectors
[00:56:33] but we work within all sectors and so it doesn't really once is a viable business
[00:56:40] once is legal obviously and you know you're fully under the regulations
[00:56:45] we will take a look at it and see if we can help them and to accomplish their goal
[00:56:49] okay and I see you also executed another partnership in the agriculture sector now with
[00:56:56] the inter-american Institute for Corporation and Agriculture so is it that your strategy
[00:57:02] your sector strategy at least is it that to partner with the I guess the institutions who
[00:57:08] already have experience in the photo linear sector I mean I'm asking the question I'm like
[00:57:12] dark having as you smart idea to do it yeah so it's a good question because not everyone
[00:57:17] not everyone does that and so building relationships so what you find is it could be
[00:57:23] a lot of us doing similar things and we all we all need the same resources so all of us need a
[00:57:30] lawyer all of us need accountant all of us need some amount of risk you know we all need a CEO
[00:57:35] as you realize you know what why build out certain things when I get partnered with you and
[00:57:39] just you know utilize your services or utilize that to strengthen minds and you may need a
[00:57:43] photo of armors but you can't get that so BDB will help you then maybe I have a challenge
[00:57:48] and I need some more investment funds and so then I'll partner with those who do and similar
[00:57:52] technical skills too you could partner with people like the IDB the World Bank I mentioned this
[00:57:58] now the UN Women FAU less food and agriculture organization and all these persons have these
[00:58:04] technical skills and these global reach and resources it only makes sense to really work with
[00:58:10] them and move them to get better and to also use them for so you guys were able to to raise 30 million
[00:58:19] in post IPO debt from the African Export and Port Bank sorry yeah that's the African yeah
[00:58:25] African Export and Port Bank I'm back in I believe it was October slash November 2023
[00:58:34] so we announced the approval of us to for the Balm's government to say take on this debt
[00:58:41] and that they would support it and so we're in the final stages of receiving that well
[00:58:45] of getting our final approval from a brexit for that and so that is something that is constantly
[00:58:49] we're talking about constantly ensuring that it is structured properly and to make sure the
[00:58:54] impact we're on the country is done well and so that is it is an important thing for us
[00:58:59] and so that really she was strong as you know especially you know they're they're moving
[00:59:03] within the Caribbean and so we just make sure that we are keeping our feet to the to the
[00:59:09] pedal pretty much just to make sure that occurs so I expect that to happen relatively soon
[00:59:13] and so every day we're working on that so excited for the show so what's your
[00:59:18] what's the I don't mean if you can't answer this don't answer it right but what's the strategy
[00:59:24] for the for the allocation of those funds right and then you know how you're gonna govern
[00:59:28] that because I mean we you find any media the BDB has 30 million dollars now well guess what
[00:59:36] my project needs funding so does my cousins yeah so one of the first things that we focused on was
[00:59:44] policy changes and strengthening and so you saw all of policies and procedures just to make sure
[00:59:50] that our guidance knows to make sure to be our structure properly because no matter how much
[00:59:54] you want to be there if you're not positioning yourself to be better you won't be better that's
[00:59:58] so that's what we focus on first and that's so we strengthen our credit policy editing a more
[01:00:05] robust matrix or more of a scorecard we look at really what can we do if a loan doesn't
[01:00:12] is not doing as well how do what does that look like and we just you know start to be
[01:00:17] more preventative with things and so it's all about positioning yourself in learning from others
[01:00:23] of the developed very good relationships with some of the development bikes around the
[01:00:27] Caribbean and just talking to them you learn oh this is strategy you say that these are the
[01:00:31] mistakes we made up for and so just that would be focused on for a good period of time
[01:00:36] which is strengthening ourselves and making us so better so if I'm if I'm sitting in a Bahamas
[01:00:42] I'm gonna be him yeah and I ever have a business that I'm working on and I could do
[01:00:48] with the hundred with a hundred thousand dollars and I read that it became your development bank
[01:00:54] the Bahamas development bank sorry just got 30 million I was about to get 30 million
[01:01:00] oh how best should I position myself or how best should I present my business to you
[01:01:08] so that Nicholas is gonna Nicholas and his team is gonna treat me like that lady in
[01:01:13] the scholarship office treated you when you needed that scholarship so and we are starting
[01:01:22] company on existing company you think it right now um you could do for both you could do for both
[01:01:26] because even if it's existed as more if you need a hundred case most likely you're you're still
[01:01:30] early state early ish right but interested not me I've seen companies who've been around
[01:01:35] 20 30 years so sometimes 30,000 40,000 working capital yeah yeah so sometimes
[01:01:42] I give a good example that a good stable company during COVID you know logistics were just bad
[01:01:48] getting things out and shift to was very difficult one person had a situation where
[01:01:54] their shipment for Christmas was supposed to arrive like end of October it didn't arrive
[01:02:01] until the next year April yeah and so yeah selling Santa Claus hats and and Christmas
[01:02:07] kids then and so they had no working capital because they couldn't sell the products to even get
[01:02:13] their next shipment and so they though they were a strong company because of COVID lockdowns
[01:02:18] and muggies not being in group spent and then the logistical issues they missed the entire
[01:02:22] Christmas season and put them in a bad position and they had to sell the Christmas stuff to
[01:02:27] another country looking for those products at half the album and so they put them in as a
[01:02:33] loss and so even get a stable company if you don't put them reserves aside it can be a hard day
[01:02:39] and sometimes even with that just global pandemic or global issues can occur but to
[01:02:44] do your question if you're a startup we need your business plan some person try to bring these
[01:02:50] 120 page business plans some first try break at these three page business plans you need to find
[01:02:56] a good match in the reality is are you duplicating information if you are don't duplicate it
[01:03:01] and so you need to have a robust don't do don't do duplicates if you have two subverses of
[01:03:07] duplicated information in their business plan so you see similar information across it so the plan
[01:03:11] in their mind that is ensuring everyone's aware of this information you duplicate it
[01:03:15] and so now it's just a long plan it feels too birdy it's too much doesn't feel concise
[01:03:20] and so you need to tell your business plan strong projections there's a running joke that
[01:03:25] used to be about me uh when I did my analysis of business plans if you don't waste management
[01:03:30] or any type of you know anything related to trash garbage it's not going to work out for me unless
[01:03:35] your company doesn't need that but most companies have some form of that unless they like a car wash
[01:03:40] or a service-based company that doesn't have a space but if you're a restaurant and you don't have
[01:03:47] waste management I have a concern how are you going to manage that and if you're not
[01:03:51] taking account of the small things then that's me you're not going to take account of the
[01:03:55] large things and so even something simple as a medical center if they use needles that's a
[01:04:00] different waste management cost because it's a special way of dispose that so if you're not
[01:04:05] taking into account those small things then you know you're not in a position to take
[01:04:09] care of the larger so these uh the laugh of me over time be like you all better make sure
[01:04:12] we manage with on that and so you've been very detailed with it and so your plan has to be
[01:04:17] robust it has to be clear and used to explain the risks rewards of your company
[01:04:21] made understand who knows execute this company how you will execute this process
[01:04:24] how you use the money what's the worst case scenario how you survive and so it's a lot of
[01:04:29] information but the truth is persons get frustrated with these type of processes
[01:04:34] but if you're going to buy a house or build a house build a house you have to have a plan
[01:04:39] and your plan has to have timelines attached to it cost and the bank releases money as you
[01:04:44] hit those phases hit those marks until persons get frustrated but if you're building a house
[01:04:48] you need a home if you're building a business you need a plan and so you have to have a robust
[01:04:53] plan the existing company you have to have the historical whether the problem in star
[01:04:58] equals are as most small businesses globally they don't keep historical as well and so
[01:05:03] helping them through that is important but what you need to have is a strong business plan
[01:05:07] their quotes for what you're pricing make sure explain what your business really doing
[01:05:11] the normal KYC stuff business license and stuff like that but if you're looking to come to
[01:05:15] the PDB please put that plan in and let us start the process.
[01:05:19] Alright so in your experience what are some common misconceptions about investing in the
[01:05:25] Bahamas or the even the broader Caribbean region and what factors do you think
[01:05:31] hindering the growth and the activity needed for the region's economic advancement?
[01:05:36] One thing to show is some persons who feel it's a trustworthy market
[01:05:41] information isn't as easily accessible as you can say in the US, the UK, more developed markets
[01:05:46] but your money not all countries are the same the Caribbean and so
[01:05:51] the entire country like the Bahamas for sure you can trust that our process is there
[01:05:55] and so there's the regulation there you know your money will be protected and because
[01:06:00] that's why we were seen as a hated for funding at one point quote-unquote tap-tap even at a
[01:06:06] point in time versus when you put my money there and it'd be safe secure and so coming to the Bahamas
[01:06:10] you will know that you have rights even if you're doing a behavior you're bringing
[01:06:14] for direct investment you have rights you are respected as an investor somebody won't
[01:06:19] just wake up one day and say we're taking this and nationalize this those things will happen so
[01:06:25] that is all a misconception that the money is not safe the money is not protected
[01:06:31] that the information is not clear but there's a great amount of information that can be provided
[01:06:35] that the Bahamas and a lot of these Caribbean countries we have a microscope on us and you know
[01:06:41] they put us on blacklist sometimes and you have these things happen so we have to always be on our
[01:06:45] peace views so that's a very common misconception that versus tag another misconception is that
[01:06:52] our financial markets in the Caribbean as in our people who work at these institutions are not
[01:06:58] savvy as those in those developed markets our financial persons across these countries are
[01:07:05] a legend they know everything in and out we sometimes don't have all the fancy some of the
[01:07:11] software systems so we're doing these we're learning the ins and outs from the ground up
[01:07:15] so when we do evaluation we do an analysis we're coming with not just the software to
[01:07:20] calculate by us but we can break that down exactly how we got to these numbers
[01:07:23] and so you see a lot of value that's so that's a misconception across the Caribbean that we
[01:07:28] may not as much and I have a strong feeling that we are equal
[01:07:32] equal in that it's not a theory that's a fact you know when we travel to other countries and
[01:07:37] rest it moves once we can speak justice equally well we can speak with their markets to risk the
[01:07:42] rewards across it and so that's the second one I need to find a third
[01:07:48] well I don't the third talk me in right now do you see you have a third
[01:07:52] no no you I like what you said about your lack of available information
[01:07:56] because I know you and I had a separate conversation last year August where I was
[01:08:00] actually working on a Caribbean market intelligence platform because I found that
[01:08:06] just just like what you just mentioned in my work in the region and then
[01:08:11] contrasting that with my work internationally I found that especially when it comes to
[01:08:16] market intelligence as it pertains to industries various industries or whatnot
[01:08:21] I find it's very easy to find industry information for companies in Canada US UK what have you
[01:08:28] but to find that for the Caribbean region especially if you're looking at a specific
[01:08:32] industry which is which is quite niche it's very difficult to find and it's very difficult
[01:08:37] to find that sort of forward-looking information as well yeah so at one time doing analysis I used
[01:08:44] to collect information from the US and then compare it over here and it just it wasn't it wasn't
[01:08:50] positive it wasn't positive and even if you do a countrywide discounts and stuff it still was
[01:08:55] not easy so I agree with you like you know but statistical data about
[01:09:01] we have a lot of islands how each one affects the GDP it's not as easy though we have the
[01:09:08] information it's not the same as the US and so they're more developed but I really to me
[01:09:16] where people put it externally outside of the Caribbean isn't to me what it is there's still
[01:09:23] a great information out there yes it's not as much as developed countries but a misconception
[01:09:27] is like there's nothing you know or it can't be trusted the numbers provided from the Bahamas
[01:09:32] especially as an auto company if it's a regulated company you can trust that as gold
[01:09:37] and so you know just that's why the misconception is there for me that
[01:09:41] these larger companies are just as strong when it comes to information and documentation
[01:09:45] agreed agreed yeah I'm looking forward to launching that on platform soon actually
[01:09:51] you know looking very hard very hard at it when you look at the launch at least launching
[01:09:56] like the landing page um within the next week cross fingers hands class and calling to any
[01:10:02] podcast and now there's all water accountability so I'm looking to launch it within the next
[01:10:07] next couple weeks and um yeah we're gonna we have we have the team working on the various reports
[01:10:13] so there's five reports that we are working on right now you know five different sectors so yeah
[01:10:21] congratulations you said two weeks a week I expect them to see that so that's early
[01:10:27] April that's early April and you know I'm launching a podcast Mastering Finance a podcast
[01:10:33] and it's what it's going to be it's not going to be a Bahamian base it's going to be
[01:10:37] global based so we're pushing real information so I'm going to launch in two weeks so
[01:10:42] I'm a whole myself accountable on your podcast to be the first place I've spoken about it
[01:10:46] publicly and so uh I'd like to say I'm glad we're building things and doing things that
[01:10:52] it's not just even any local or regional for our communities so tell me more about that podcast
[01:10:58] what's what it's about I know I think it's fundraising and business development right
[01:11:03] it's so the podcast is focused in seasons we have three seasons first one's entrepreneurship
[01:11:08] entrepreneurship and then we'll have capital markets and then personal finance and so
[01:11:13] a structure like this because I didn't want to do a we didn't want to do my co-host
[01:11:17] Jarell Hall he we didn't want to do it just a weekly podcast we wanted to we wanted to listen up
[01:11:24] our core listeners the person who is doing or is planning to seriously do smart ours is not
[01:11:31] necessarily the person who's thinking well I feel that this is really same you know I want to try
[01:11:37] you know what I want to make more money oh I want to save money I want I'm trying
[01:11:41] you so and so we have topics that I don't navigate the landscape of business um one one
[01:11:47] my favorite topic is what you know before starting business with family it's my new friend
[01:11:53] so you distinguish all this work together it's families work you let's come together but
[01:11:57] what you should know and so we have these guests on who uh have known for a huge multi
[01:12:03] generation multi-million tens of millions of dollars family businesses how do you all
[01:12:08] survive these hurdles and keep the family made strong the brand strong and keep going
[01:12:12] and so we want to do things that are practical want to talk about how do you actually IPO a
[01:12:17] company and though every country has their different securities commissions or the SEC
[01:12:21] everyone's different a general concept is generally the same of you have to be a strong
[01:12:26] company you have to bring value and you have to have certain things in place and so and then
[01:12:31] you have to have an investability and so you can you know you can be able to sell
[01:12:35] that company not just at sale the shareholders at the show let's say the executive management
[01:12:40] and so it's not the same as going to a bank you have to do two things to have the go the
[01:12:45] process you have the golden market and so we're gonna speak and have some companies who have IPO
[01:12:51] and so just how did you get through that process and so it's just it's a our
[01:12:56] podcast is focused on practical how can you achieve it how can it be done
[01:13:03] it's awesome man it's awesome yeah it's always great to be a resource for folks you know where
[01:13:09] folks are looking to your content say okay how do I do this again all right boom and especially
[01:13:14] in within our region where it's hard to just take okay what what podcast is in America or the
[01:13:19] other market say and try to interpret it for yourself right but if you if you have somebody
[01:13:24] from your region so can I talk but you know you said it was a global you said it was a
[01:13:28] global audience yeah so I'm saying that because unless the plan but you obviously the the market
[01:13:33] push will be through the Bahamas and in the region it may I'll tell you my goal my true goal is
[01:13:39] what's his name sorry Berkshire yeah Warren yeah with their AGMs they sometimes let groups come
[01:13:48] there we like to see the AGM experience and you're really when you're a part of your real
[01:13:53] financial grouping sometimes they allow it to happen and so I have a dream of really being able
[01:14:00] to say I'm carrying 10 behemians to Berkshire's AGM I don't know if I could buy the shares but the
[01:14:07] ones goes with the process but I have a goal of saying globally I'm carrying behemians to
[01:14:11] experience this they've never had and so that's that's our local goal that I have from a global
[01:14:17] standpoint I want people to see you said it perfectly and that's that's the cheap tool
[01:14:22] you're getting said it is I want persons to be able to go back and say you know what uh how do
[01:14:27] we navigate the last game of business let me go back and listen to that episode and how they hear it
[01:14:32] from day one when they start their business till they listen again at year two here in the
[01:14:38] same thing there's a different space so they still take lessons from it and so it's just
[01:14:41] a it's a magnificent experience and we've recorded some episodes already I just re-washing them
[01:14:47] like madis is this is excellent information nice learning a lot looking forward to seeing them when
[01:14:53] when can I look forward to them again I'll just show you look at you you're playing right
[01:14:59] the plan is to launch it so then the plan we will be launching it in two weeks
[01:15:03] that's the plan and we will be launching it in two weeks and we just finally have
[01:15:08] four episodes already recorded we have we have the only thing we're finishing is marketing
[01:15:13] plan and so once we have that we launch release every two weeks audio and video
[01:15:21] sort of content our structure to it what you have and just looking forward to providing some value
[01:15:27] where it would be seasons I think it'd be 10 to 12 episodes a season we're still debating
[01:15:32] whether 10 or 12 and then we just we want to leave a snap you know what was it a lot of
[01:15:37] the persons I really respected growing up in finance they always why wrote in the newspaper
[01:15:43] I wrote something and I wrote analysis or interest rates in the bar max I said I'm not though
[01:15:48] I know I'm not the greatest writer that's I'm a really good numbers placing
[01:15:52] and so I'm not sitting there writing dissertations and so just I'm writing my plans my structures
[01:15:58] my strategies I can do those but to say I'm doing analysis of the interest inflation mark no
[01:16:04] this right here is my analysis this is my structure I'm showing the knowledge we are bringing
[01:16:09] with the guests who understand it and this is my step I would like it where five years from now
[01:16:13] someone to listen to 10 years from now and they can listen to get some food from it
[01:16:17] it's that's what we're looking at our commentaries if you don't want to do that basically we don't
[01:16:21] want to oh man uh NFTs are here three episodes on NFTs uh two and two episodes on cryptocurrency
[01:16:29] you know do some things we're gonna talk about we're gonna talk about cryptocurrency
[01:16:32] but it's going to come across in the personal finance as an alternative investment
[01:16:37] it's not just going to be an episode that it's slowly to it and there's no problem with being
[01:16:42] I listen to a lot of business podcasts and they are some of them having with what's new
[01:16:46] with topics and I'm learning I'm watching I'm listening to very weak but that's not the
[01:16:50] goal of this podcast and so we really just trying to write practical information for worse
[01:16:55] all right well as we get ready to wrap I'm gonna give the floor to you if you have any
[01:17:01] anything you want to leave the audience with that you want to make sure that that you get out to them
[01:17:06] yeah open mic open forum open platform it's you but first of all thank you for the opportunity
[01:17:13] to come to podcast this has been long overdue we've been discussing this for a long period of time
[01:17:18] and and so I appreciate you still giving me the platform the ability to use your platform
[01:17:24] to speak on things in the Bahamas I understand we're two different countries so I appreciate that
[01:17:28] I love the ability to talk to your audience as well as to create even our audience as well as
[01:17:34] alongside myself in the Bahamas so I appreciate that second when it comes to the Bahamas in a
[01:17:39] bank this is what we're developing the goal is a hundred million dollar bank in a certain time frame
[01:17:43] I don't think I said time frame but we have a we have I don't call it an aggressive timeline
[01:17:49] I think you're very conservative timeline and we just work through nuances when it comes to
[01:17:53] the Bahamas as an investment there are too many opportunities whether you're looking for debt
[01:17:57] or looking for equity and investments blended finance whether it's hospitality agriculture
[01:18:03] yeah we really are big one food sustainability so the person's new opportunities to
[01:18:09] whether it's leafy greens whether it's any of those who can boil necessity oh beautiful yes
[01:18:16] and so you know Coleman really made sure look at sustainability you're like man the US may close
[01:18:22] their borders or the US may mean we may not be able to get the food in and so now you're the
[01:18:27] panic like oh we can't just take care of ourselves we we actually this is a focus and so it's been
[01:18:32] a huge focus now to actually do that so uh if from an investment standpoint there's a tremendous
[01:18:37] amount of opportunities hospitality housing tech tourism base there's there's a lot of opportunities
[01:18:43] you look at our food spot and that's a huge record breaking uh disney is in south of Utah
[01:18:50] so there's a lot of opportunities there so around Bahamas you have the cruise spot there as well a
[01:18:56] free bus so all these are built these are opportunities to invest here money's are too and make
[01:19:01] tremendous and positive return and to me placingly just want to continue developing companies
[01:19:08] developing putting persons in a position to help their families to grow for generations
[01:19:13] person say to me all the time I did all this work and I didn't get the loan
[01:19:18] my biggest fear for persons is not that you did this work and don't get the loan
[01:19:22] my biggest fear is you did the work we didn't do our work gave you the loan and now your family is
[01:19:29] in a tremendously rough position and debt kills families and so you can end up in this position
[01:19:34] for 20 years 30 years 50 years you see countries go to war they don't need a war itself that has
[01:19:39] hurt them they debt boring heavy amounts of money and so I would like to continue just developing
[01:19:46] companies and helping people's careers and helping their families to generations to come to be able
[01:19:51] to be sustainable I love that you are investing in a country that invested into you oh I'll give
[01:19:59] you a joke with that sorry I should have said this earlier my father got a loan from the
[01:20:05] Bahamas Development Bank in the late 1990s to start his business making teeth and my
[01:20:14] father didn't go to he doesn't know a bachelor's and so he he got this loan started doing this under
[01:20:20] the stairs my mom was doing the numbers and this is how they were able to take care of
[01:20:26] us as children and so being able to see that success and how it helped me being in this
[01:20:32] position now I don't have to worry about the people's pressure me my father's pressuring me
[01:20:37] he's like you better how they helped us you need to 10 fold that 24 that so he's like where the
[01:20:43] body at moved I need to see this I need to see it in the back so the pressure is from internal
[01:20:48] that I need to not I saw the bike helped me and my family so I need to do that 10 fold across
[01:20:55] I love it man podcast world there you have it investing in the Bahamas with Nicholas Hicks
[01:21:03] subscribe to the value at the value.com slash subscribe check us out on youtube
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[01:21:19] we are out