The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A top realtor yesterday said he felt like “a pioneer” in his efforts to market the Bahamas to the world, as he seeks to build on his recent Chinese visit by now pitching to wealthy Middle East investors.

Mario Carey, head of Mario Carey Realty (MCR), told Tribune Business that he had been informed the Government would do its bit to facilitate such investment by, as it did with China, waiving visa requirements for United Arab Emirates (UAE) citizens.

This move, intended to build on the Government’s visit to Dubai and Abu Dhabi last year, comes as Mr Carey joins a 10-strong private sector delegation assembled by businessman Tony Joudi that is flying out to the UAE today.

Aiming to emulate the success of his recent Chinese visit, Mr Carey told Tribune Business: “I feel like an adventurer, a pioneer, a risk taker, all of that.

“I’m an explorer, and feel smart enough to meet the right people and ask the right questions that’ll attract the business. I’m the first in the real estate profession to do it.”

Mr Carey last year presented to 5,000 high net worth attendees at Shanghai’s Luxury Property Showcase, and said yesterday that this was already starting to pay dividends for himself and his firm.

“Since I’ve been to China, a lot of doors opened up,” he told Tribune Business. “A lot of businessmen have found me, and asked me to represent them in deals here in the Bahamas. It’s a work in progress, nothing is completed, but it’s a work in progress, which is more than I could ask for.”

Besides supporting Mr Joudi and the BISX-listed Sapphire Venture Fund, for which he is the exclusive broker, in its UAE capital raising efforts (see other story on Page 1B), Mr Carey said he also wanted to use the Trade Mission to put the Bahamas on the map in the Middle East literally.

“I will be taking advantage of the opportunity to promote the Bahamas, and the potential for investors to maybe diversify their portfolios in the global marketplace,” he added.

“Plus come to experience the Bahamas and see what everyone experiences. They do have the means to do it, and they don’t know where the Bahamas is, just like China.”

Mr Carey said Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the UAE represented a business and investment opportunity “as big as we present it.

“There’s a lot of wealth there, they know real estate, having just gone through a massive real estate development, building this luxury stuff.”

The Bahamas and Dubai, he added, had plenty in common in this area, as both possessed an ‘Atlantis’ via Kerzner International, plus a One & Only Ocean Club.

Mr Carey said, like his China trip, he also wanted to find out what made Dubai investors tick. The Chinese, he discovered, like to gamble and see a return on their investment.