CIG signs deal paving way for ‘digital economy’

| 14/08/2018 | 31 Comments

Cayman News Service(CNS): Commerce Minister Joey Hew has said that a partnership with TechCayman, a new venture from the business leaders of Health City, could make the Cayman Islands the “Silicon Valley” of the Caribbean. Speaking at a press conference last week to announce the deal, Hew spoke about the creation of a digital economy in Cayman. However, exactly what is in the deal and what the initiative entails was not spelled out, as officials from the company indicated that they did not want the agreement to be public.

Hew said the technology industry is both “profitable and rapidly growing” and opens a world of possibilities and fit with government’s goals to diverse the economy.

Described as a means to create a hub in Cayman for tech-related digital start-ups, such as software developers or online services, the initiative is led by local businessman Gene Thompson and US-based technology entrepreneur Samir Mitra, who was one of the people involved in the creation of Java programming.

Mitra said he wanted to encourage local people to begin building a digital sector here by offering to help start-ups with business and legal advise but to also provide education for Caymanians who want to learn about software development and related fields.

No campus or physical building has been planned yet, and like Cayman Enterprise City, the start-ups within this digital hub will be using existing business space. But officials said that it was not the same as the CEC, that the concessions were different and it was not a rental project. The minister, however, said it came out of the success of CEC.

Hew said the agreement related to work permit concessions and changes to legislation that would enable the creation of new technology related businesses.

Mitra said the platform, or hub, required more legislation but he commended government for the intellectual property rights legislation introduced by the previous minister, Wayne Panton, which he said had paved the way for this imitative.

He said these laws laid the foundation for a platform such as this. But to really get things going, he spoke about hack-a-thons, meet-up events, coding camps, incubation centres, with demo and meeting places where ideas about the potential digital industry can be hatched. However, Mitra said that did not exist in Cayman yet so the talent had to be developed.

“The technology industry is a huge mega trend,” he said, adding that TechCayman would ignite the passion for the sector. He said it would be a digital innovation platform which would require bringing in data assets as a first ingredient, but the next is attracting top international talent to come and set-up here and “infuse them with local talent”. He said the goal would be to encourage the people involved in the sector to not just put their money here but to bring their businesses here too.

Gene Thompson, who is a local partner in the venture along with Harri Chandi, said that they were creating something that was going to be very meaningful to the country.

“It’s a great opportunity to change the economy,” he said, as he suggested that technology could become the fourth potential pillar of the local economy behind the medical tourism, in which he is also involved at Health City in East End.

When CNS asked at the media briefing if the deal would be made public, Thompson said he did not want to see that happen because it contained a confidentiality agreement, but Hew said that the government was going through the legalities of releasing a redacted version. CNS has since submitted an FOI request for the document.

See the press briefing in full on CIGTV

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Category: Business, ICT

Comments (31)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Time and time again, successive Cayman Islands Cabinets have given undisclosed backroom de-risking concessions to select eager beavers, without capital guarantees or performance standards, and not been sophisticated enough to anticipate the scams and headlines that followed. The performance record is so bad that they should not be entrusted to make deals with our money at any level without full disclosure and staged approval by the voting public.

  2. Anonymous says:

    The secrecy is unnecessary…every other enterprise zone on the planet is out there advertising the concessions they have publicly in order to attract business…but not in Cayman, they obviously feel that Caymanians/Expats here will get pi$$ed off about something in there and hence keep it quiet…dumb and dumber.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    Just another special interest that pays no fees to CIG. First was Kirkconnell’s with CEC now Mr Gene with Tech City. It is only us suckers with regulated businesses that continue to pay ROC/CIMA and WP Fees. I am going to apply for my own special interest zone.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    Next comes the belated revelation of a half-baked concession package conceding normal revenue from CIG coffers to Thompson, giving him an unfair lockup on an industry which will be reliant on imported expertise anyway. Let’s hope that’s the extent of the damage and not CIG blindly agreeing to pay to lay down a multi-terabit submarine communications trunk line from some point of civilization that already has the leg up on us in every category.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Meanwhile, the Country is still producing illiterate generations of children.

    Bring the people up-to-the-times first.

    Don’t put the cart before the horse.

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    • MM says:

      What would be the point of training Caymanians for such positions when one of the primary incentives is reduced work permit fees?

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  6. Anonymous says:

    Wow. It seems fellow Caymanians spend half their lives moaning about no employment opportunities and then the other half being negative about something designed to grow employment and prosperity. Go figure… I say “Go Gene & Co. Well done, thanks for actually doing something and I hope it’s successful”

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    • Einstein says:

      Anonymous 6:48, you seem to identify yourself as a Caymanian, which I do not believe. Any thinking person will realize there is nothing in this “agreement” for Caymanians. What positions will be available? The answer is “None”, other than a few janitorial and maintenance positions. Get real! This is just another money-making scheme for the select few that run things in the Caymans.

  7. Anonymous says:

    CNS, Cayman Compass please FOI this urgently. You guys know the ins and outs of how to do it. We citizens don’t. The fact that it is being kept “secret” stinks. WTF is going on here?

    CNS: As it says at the end of the article, we have made an FOI request. There is no fast track; we have to go through the system.

  8. Anonymous says:

    Once again,as with the port, CIG will move forward without full disclosure to the Caymanian people for their input. Because they do not want us to know the full extent of the concessions and other details. They will have excuses why they can’t. But the truth is they know, if we knew we would not let it happen.

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  9. Anonymous says:

    Hon Minister Rivers is responsible for IP…..radio silence from her Ministry.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    Why so secretive? One tech zone can’t even get off the ground. Someone must be quite charismatic to get someone to start up (get it?) another scheme. CEC is successful because it’s another Ugland House.

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    • West Bay Premier says:

      Do we see how this world /Islands has changed over the years ? And what is happening in the CIs , now that the people has gotten more technical . Now wants to make Cayman the tech capital. Lord help us if that ever gets out of hand .

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  11. Anonymous says:

    Smell danger. Be honest. Think cyber attacks and data theft which isnt even a real thing here like most all other countries. Think folks we need love not luxury and tech. We need human and humane advances not illusions through veils of hypocracy.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Huh? How much an hour will be paid for this love?

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    • Tired of the duckry says:

      We need less comments like this and more comments that articulate coherent thoughts. Wtf are you even trying to say? FOH with this rambling BS.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Who cares, he gets his point across. He or she may have idea that would be publishable even if it hard to read at first. This is exaclty what is wrong with “modern” education, you think good grammar equates to good ideas. This forum is not a pony show for the elites to show off their credentials. This forum is good because it includes all opinions. None of the other cayman websites have the balls to do that which is why it is the most popular. You just might learn that diversity of thought is sometimes messy and all you are really showing is your intolerance to learn a new perspective because its not in the font or idioms of your choice.

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      • Not Tired says:

        We need less comments like THIS and more comments that articulate coherent thoughts.

  12. Anonymous says:

    This will fizzle out when they get a sample of the quality of the workforce.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Your problem will be that the cream of Cayman’s youth will be more interested in this than your old-economy business (no matter how profitable it is) and so you are going to have to be a better manager to train (apprenticeships & succession planning) and motivate (modern HR best practice) your staff. Stop whining and do your job as owner/manager right. Businesses that treat Caymanians well have always been able to get good Caymanian employees. The rest of una paying international poverty wages expecting a yes massa mentality because you hold the work permit? No, I have better choices than to work for you. Always have and always will, even if it means I take my work ethic and intelligence (which leads to trained skills and now experience) overseas. So, since you have to employ Caymanians in Cayman (rightly) you’re going to have to up your game or get outcompeted by the businesses/industries that do.

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      • Anonymous says:

        I can’t stand hiring Caymanians. My managers waste so much time with all their entitled attitudes. I also have a business in the US and I would never hire a Cayman in the US given all the good talent I can hire in Miami. I’ve made a pact with myself to not hire any more people from the Caribbean for my hotels. Trump hit it on the nail how much your people have screwed over Americans over decades. Only true blue American from now on. Good luck, when I sell off my stakes here in Cayman it will be fun to watch this place erode because you wont be able to find many more suckers to invest in your dilapidated infrastructure. How much of the millions did I invest in this place that was skimmed by corruption.The word is out my friends, you wont get old money anymore. Only new and dumb money from the tech sectors.

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  13. Anonymous says:

    imitative?

  14. Anonymous says:

    Cayman Enterprsise City will be upset Charlie K will feel slighted while Gene T will feel like he’s won.

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    • Anonymous says:

      If you only knew

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      • Anonymous says:

        This is a classic battle between the entitled class of Cayman who have been given everything they desire by successive governments. Moses, Joey, Tara, Alden, McKeeva all falling over themselves to appease their masters. Ironic that no details on concessions have been released by the government to date.

  15. Anonymous says:

    Now all we need is a valley…if we had another mount trashmore the other side of the road, that would do it.

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