Texas Trip Addressed Tech and Port Opportunities for Grand Bahama

#Bahamas, January 29, 2018 – Grand Bahama – Minister of State for Grand Bahama, Senator Kwasi Thompson says that the recent investment and business opportunity trip to Texas, led by Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Hubert Minnis, speaks to the fact that the Prime Minister of The Bahamas is committed to reviving Grand Bahama.

Senator Thompson noted the purpose of the trip was to principally market Grand Bahama.  This, according to Minister Thompson, proves that the country’s leader is still focused on promoting Grand Bahama and helping to revive its economy.

“The Prime Minister has always been focused on Grand Bahama and on promoting the island of Grand Bahama,” noted Senator Thompson.

During the trip Minister Thompson noted that the delegation met with the Governor of Texas, the Texas Chamber of Commerce, with investors, business executives, as well as with a group of Bahamian diaspora.  One of the features of the trip was a meeting the delegation held with a number of executives from tech companies, including Google, Del, HP, Gearbox and a number of other companies, including reps from Silicon Valley.

“We were able to give them a good, detailed presentation about the benefits of doing business in Grand Bahama,” said Minister Thompson.  “I believe that we accomplished that purpose, which was to begin to strengthen relationships with those tech companies.

“It was important for us to get the message out that Grand Bahama was opened for business.  It is important to get the message out that we want to invite these companies to come to the Bahamas, but more importantly, we’re doing this because we want to be able to create more opportunities for Bahamians.  “That has to be the key focus, which is to create the environment that provides an opportunity for Bahamians.”

The meeting with Tech executives falls in line with Minister Thompson’s push to make Grand Bahama the Tech Hub for The Bahamas.  Minister Thompson said that many of the Tech Executives in Texas said that they had heard of Grand Bahama’s first technology Summit, and they spoke highly of the reports they had received. Minister Thompson says this bodes well for the second Tech Summit set for Grand Bahama this year.

Minister Thompson said that another major meeting in Texas, which can have direct investment opportunity for Grand Bahama, was the meeting they had with executives of the Port of Houston.

“They made a very detailed presentation to us and we began the dialogue of how we here in Freeport, with our Container Port and the GB Shipyard, could partner with them to have mutual exchange, which we hope would lead to more opportunities here in Grand Bahama,” said Minister Thompson.

While in Houston, the Bahamian delegation was able to meet with Bahamians living in Texas, and were pleased to find out that there were a number of Bahamians living in the Houston area who were interested in doing projects in Grand Bahama.

“The trip overall, we believe was a success. But the real success will come in the results. We are hopeful that we will see some positive results from this trip.”

Minister Thompson noted that followup with the companies and individuals whom they met in Texas, has already begun.  Although he says, it’s still at the early stages.”

By: Andrew Coakley (BIS)

Photo caption: Minister of State for Grand Bahama in the Office of The Prime Minister, Senator Kwasi Thompson said the business and investment trip to Texas led by Prime Minister, Dr. the Hon. Hubert Minnis was primarily to promote Grand Bahama as a great place in which to invest.

(BIS Photo/Lisa Davis)