3 weeks ago
7
On his way out the door at Proven, investment banker and entrepreneur Christopher Williams has found a new challenge.
He has set up a new company called Spark FDI Limited, which will operate as a private-sector promotion agency aimed at driving foreign investments to Jamaica, just as the government-run Jamaica Promotions agency does.
“I will establish the first private sector investment promotion agency, my own version of Jamaica Promotions, but for profit,” said Williams in an interview with the Financial Gleaner.
Jamaica Promotions, better known as Jampro, is the government’s marketing arm which seeks out investors to pump funds into growth sectors. Spark FDI will act as an investment promoter, and not a financial services firm, a differentiation Williams was keen to stress, given the nature of the business that Proven is engaged in.
“We will be setting up shop up north and marketing all the attractive capital investment opportunities in Jamaica to accredited investors,” he said.
Williams currently heads Proven Management Limited as its CEO and co-founder. He retires in two months but will remain on the company’s board and retain his shareholding in the group he co-founded in 2010. Proven Management is the privately held management company for the publicly traded Proven Group Limited, which operates financial businesses, is listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, and has a net worth of US$110 million amid total assets of US$1.1 billion.
“I am fully invested in Proven and I wouldn’t want any panic there,” he said, regarding his new venture, which will seek out investors to pump funds in the region, as opposed to Proven, which invests in regional ventures but is largely funded internally or from capital raised on the local market.
Spark FDI will launch after Williams retires from his operational role at Proven in January 2025. The agency will target wealthy investors to bring capital to Jamaica’s burgeoning business landscape. And, since the company will act as a promoter, it will plug into the broker network to execute the deals.
“When an opportunity and an institution is selected, then funds will be transferred directly to the financial institution selected by the accredited investor,” Williams said.
Through Spark FDI, he wants to tap more effectively into the diaspora to drive business for Jamaica.
“It is time that the relationship between Jamaica and our amazing diaspora expand beyond visits, barrels, food, parties, remittances,” he said.
The company will focus on several key sectors, including real estate, tourism, energy and financial services. By promoting these sectors to international investors, Spark FDI aims to attract capital inflows and stimulate economic activity.
“Jamaican capital investment opportunities are now safe, liquid, easily convertible to US dollar and, most importantly, return on investment attractive,” said Williams.
Led by CEO Chantal Simpson, Spark FDI will serve as a bridge between local businesses and international investors. The company will identify promising Jamaican ventures and connect them with suitable investors.
“The size of the deals is largely dependent on the needs of the companies in Jamaica. We realised that there is definitely a shortage of capital in Jamaica to fund the myriad of promising opportunities that exist,” said Simpson, an attorney who has worked with gaming and lottery company Supreme Ventures Limited and other corporations in the past.
Simpson said in an interview with the Financial Gleaner that Spark FDI has found a gap in the market, particularly in terms of capital availability for local businesses, and aims to fill this void by connecting Jamaican companies with global investors.
“We aim to connect overseas investors with companies in Jamaica, addressing the capital shortage and enabling deals ranging from US$300,000 to US$300 million,” she said, adding that the company will market opportunities in both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
Foreign direct investments into Jamaica hit a high of US$928 million in 2016, but dipped to US$319 million in 2022, in the after-effects of the pandemic, then recovered slightly to US$376 million in 2023, Bank of Jamaica data shows.
Like Williams, the Spark FDI CEO advised that the company would not engage in direct financial services but will act as a referral agency, establishing partnerships with local brokerage houses to manage transactions.
“The local companies will be represented by their local brokerage house and they will manage all aspects of the transactions. We have established referral agreements with most local brokers. We are not a financial services firm. We are a FDI promotion agency,” Simpson asserted.
Spark FDI is a privately funded start-up.
“There’s no intention to raise capital at this moment. The founder has fully capitalised the company,” Simpson said.
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