Category Archives: FDI

Cuba looks like a profitable investment destination, and the Caribbean country is in search of foreign funding to become the new nucleus for global trade.

Home to more than 11 million consumers, it is only 198 nautical miles from the Port of Havana to the Port of Miami, and European businesses have already set up home on the island. But is it still risky business?
Cuba’s communist government first opened to international firms in the 1990’s during the financial crisis instigated by the collapse of the Soviet Union. So far the results have been mixed, with approximately 60% of the foreign investment projects closing down. While the 2011 market-oriented reforms were meant to create a more productive economy, Cuba’s growth from 2011 – 2013 averaged at only approximately 2.3% per year, and dropped to a 1.3% expansion in 2014. Barack Obama’s visit to Cuba last month was the first time a US president visited since Calvin Coolidge in 1928, with many hoping that the island nation’s virtually non-existent foreign business investments would get a kick start.

In today’s competitive globally-focused commercial landscape, having a stable, business-friendly platform has never been more important, and the Channel Island of Jersey is finding it consistently ticks the right boxes across a broad range of business sectors.

Locate Jersey, part of the Economic Development Department within the Government of Jersey, is the body responsible for promoting, attracting and retaining inward investment for Jersey by focusing efforts on economic growth and supporting high value individuals and their families who are looking to relocate.

Key players spot advantages of collaborating with local investors

The Greenlandic venture company, Greenland Venture, has expanded its activities in recent years. It no longer limits itself to investing in national companies but is now also collaborating with international companies that are interested in investing in Greenland and Greenlandic businesses. Last year, Greenland Venture signed a high-profile contract that increased its stake and investment in True North Gems Greenland, which has just now opened Greenland’s very first ruby mine at the Aappaluttoq deposit south of Nuuk.

One of the biggest recent developments in auto industry site selection took place in the summer of 2014 when BMW announced plans to build a $1 billion manufacturing facility in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. When the plant comes online in 2019, it is expected to churn out some 150,000 units per year.

The announcement came less than two years after Audi had announced its own plant in Mexico, a $1.3 billion facility San Jose Chiapa, where the Q5 luxury SUV will be produced this year. These dual announcements were significant for several key reasons. First, the high-profile decisions of BMW and Audi showed a strong vote of confidence in the ability of Mexico to produce high-end luxury automobiles. For a while, Mexico was considered primarily as a low-cost destination for manufacturers to crank out compact and sub-compact cars. The two luxury, German automakers quickly dispelled that myth, both citing faith in the capabilities of the Mexican workforce and its established heritage in the auto sector.

A few miles across the English Channel from France and Belgium you’ll find the South East of England, one of the country’s most attractive and prosperous regions. It’s also home to Basingstoke, an economic powerhouse that punches well above its weight, surrounded by beautiful English countryside but still within an easy hour’s reach of London.

Over a century after Thomas Burberry, founder of iconic fashion brand Burberry, opened the doors to his first store, this once market town saw the sixties and seventies remap its core to help accommodate the London overspill, resulting in its rise as a place of economic importance in the UK with many world known brands like The AA, AXA Wealth, De La Rue, Sony, Fujitsu and Motorola making it their home.