The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A leading realtor yesterday acknowledged he has taken a risk in stepping outside the profession to launch a venture that has $3bn in potential projects “on the table”.

Mario Carey told Tribune Business that the launch of Mario Carey Ventures (MCV) was his ambition to help diversify the economy and counter the ‘brain drain’ that sees two-thirds of university and college-educated Bahamians remain abroad after completing their studies.

Giving such graduates a place to “land” is one of MCV’s prime goals, with the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate MCR Group Bahamas principal asserting that the venture and its projects “will speak for themselves when they are signed, sealed and delivered”.

Declining to provide details, or supporting evidence that would justify the collective $3bn valuation placed on MCV’s ventures, Mr Carey added that he aimed to provide a vehicle/platform for innovative and creative thinking that will prove attractive to both domestic and foreign direct investment (FDI).

A release announcing MCV’s launch said it is focusing on around a dozen possible projects in areas such as technology, affordable housing, diversified farming, digital assets and resort development, with Mr Carey telling Tribune Business in a subsequent interview: “It’s time to get the word out.

“I’m still very active in real estate, but I started MCV during COVID-19 when we were locked down for five months by the Government and couldn’t even show a home. It gave me the opportunity to create a new business concept that I’ve been thinking about for quite a while. It’s landed.

“All the projects I currently have on the table, it could get close to $3bn. It’s a big number, but would employ thousands of Bahamians.” Mr Carey explained that MCV will attract investors and capital to itself, with all the projects generated internally, rather than seeking to finance ventures by others.

He added that it will seek to stimulate domestic investment and FDI, and feature education and mentorship components for young Bahamians. “It touches all these places,” Mr Carey said. “It’s more taking visionary ideas with a global strategy that has nation-building components and will attract capital. It’s my projects, my capital.”

He added that a key element is to attract university-educated Bahamians with degrees to return to their homeland in a role with MCV that is more suited to their qualifications, rather than become “under-utilised” in a narrow-based economy that may not value their education.

“How do you stop the brain drain? Somebody’s got to do something,” Mr Carey told this newspaper. “How do you stop it and attract the Bahamian talent here? Having a tourism-based economy is not the solution. It cannot be. It has to stop. How do you bring that Bahamian with a master’s degree back home and give them a landing spot?

“Their parents have sacrificed everything for them, and they have nothing to come back for because the tourism industry and financial sector is all we have. I think a lot of people see it and they cannot land it. MCV is a place where we will land ideas for the development of the economy and try to change things; the vehicle that allows visionary projects to exist.

“If you interview 99 percent of Bahamians they’ll tell you they are dissatisfied with our government and dissatisfied with the state of our economy. How do you invite the educated Bahamian back and get them engaged? Nobody’s got the answer for it. They just accept the fact they don’t come back.”

Mr Carey conceded that he is stepping outside the comfort of a 40-year real estate career with MCV, and said: “It’s risky but hopefully it will happen. Everybody is asking for details but I don’t have to validate these projects. We’re confident. When these projects are signed, sealed and delivered they’ll speak for themselves.

“The pebble has been dropped in the water and we’ll see where the ripples go. We’ve attracted a lot of attention in a short period of time. I feel that once people know MCV exists my phone will ring. We’ll have some fun with it.”

Mr Carey has hired Mark Shekter, co-founder and chief executive of Think8 Global Institute, as his chief global strategist. Montreal-based Think8 has guided companies in developing leadership, thinking creatively, advancing solutions and driving ideas from thoughts to structured reality.

The firm has worked with start-ups and multinational corporations in sports, entertainment, energy, gaming, finance, retail and new technology. Think8’s methods are taught in university master’s degree programmes and national incubators.

Mr Carey described Mr Shekter as “tough, but brilliant”, while Mr Shekter calls Carey “a true visionary”. The partnership is designed to team international experts with Bahamian citizens and residents.

“I am driven by the desire to raise capital and allocate human resources to monetise innovation and disruptive ideas that would diversify the economy,” Mr Carey said in a statement. “Throughout my career I kept envisioning business opportunities that were outside the real estate space.

“At the same time, I was meeting people from all over the world, and I realised that if I put the right team or teams together, MCV could provide opportunities that would promote nation-building, slow the brain drain and do what we have been talking about forever, diversify the economy.

“I always remember that great Michael Jordan quote: ‘Talent wins games but teamwork and intelligence win championships’. If I wanted to go into the biotech space, for instance, or marine, I had to find people who would embrace the opportunity and share my vision that it had to benefit The Bahamas.”

Marine conservation; real estate funding in the affordable housing market; biotechnology; digital asset maximisation; Family Island development; and preservation and monetisation of marine resources are some of the areas MCV is focusing on.

MCV has also launched its own 501c3 charitable organisation, Bahamian Prosperity Foundation, tapping into US tax deductible contributions for Bahamian causes. Mr Carey cited as an example one of his programmes to provide some 42,000 hot meals to help ease hunger during the COVID-19 pandemic.