Cayman Enterprise City Update
Forty-three companies have already signed up with Cayman Enterprise City and another 132 companies are expressing interest, the company has announced.
“Since our recent soft launch in February last year, we are pleased to report that we have already got 43 international companies to sign up with Cayman Enterprise City, that have either moved into the Zone or are in the licencing process and will be relocating here. Our business development team also has another 132 international companies in our sales pipeline that we are working with to bring to Cayman and into the Zone. These are primarily companies from North America with the majority coming from the technology, new media and commodities sectors,” said Hilary Cahill, Vice President for Marketing.
“The CEC staff have had their heads down doing nothing but focusing on bringing in new business and we need to do a better job in 2013 of communicating to the local community. We are about to embark on a huge website upgrade, adding new sections where we can list local service providers for our clients and potential clients, which will bring them a welcomed source of new business,” she said.
Ms Cahill said that it was too early to report how much this progress had improved the local economy.
“It’s very early days and it would be impossible for anyone to accurately estimate the impact at this at this stage; however our Client Services team that assists the companies with their relocation has been working around the clock facilitating their moves to Cayman and into the zone. We are pleased that we have been able to work with and impact a wide range of local companies by referring business to them, so they can provide services to the CEC and our zone clients. Every company that moves to Cayman to come into the CEC zone needs housing for their owners and staff, they need vehicles, shippers, movers, telecoms services, office supplies and equipment, local health plans, local pension plans and local courier services.”
She noted that local recruitment companies and banks were benefiting the surge from the companies that have applied to operate in the Cayman Islands.
“They often need local recruitment services so we refer them to companies such as Baraud, Stepping Stones and Affinity. Every zone company and their employees need bank accounts set up and we are delighted to refer business to Caledonian, HSBC and Cayman National, to mention a few.
During the start of CEC, Ms Cahill promised that the impact of these companies in the Cayman Islands will be a game changer.
“Cayman has a highly successful financial services industry and tourism sector; now CEC will greatly diversity the economy by creating a new knowledge-based third pillar. It will attract large international brands and Fortune 500 companies to Cayman within the fields of IT, Media and Biotechnology, which have not previously been enticed to establish businesses here. The campus will also include a Commodities and Derivatives Exchange. CEC’s cluster of five diverse, yet complimentary industries, will be a global first,” the email read.
Ms Cahill also noted that with the feasibility studies and exploration trips the local economy was receiving benefit from these activities.
“What is interesting is that many of the potential zone companies are impacting the economy even prior to signing up with CEC as a percentage of them come down on inspection trips before making their final decision. We have had groups in from Latin America, North America, two from China and some from Europe. Some use our national flag carrier Cayman Airways to get here from the US – they stay at local hotels and condos, they rent cars, eat out at local restaurants whilst here and some have spent considerable sums in local duty free stores whilst here. Many will set up meetings with the Cayman offices of Maples and Calder and KPMG to get legal and tax advice prior to making their final decision, so yes CEC is already impacting the economy,” she stated.
“When a company has a physical presence in Cayman, rather than just a brass plate, they can potentially bring much of their day-to-day corporate legal needs to local Cayman companies, which is work that has historically gone to the onshore companies in places like London or New York,” she added.
Ms Cahill reiterated CEC’s intention to develop its own campus.
“It is absolutely our intention to develop the new campus as planned and we are currently finalising the Master Plan. The sales cycle (the time from getting a new interested lead to the time they physically move into the zone) in fairness has taken longer than we anticipated. It is after all a huge decision for any company to make – they need to get legal and tax advice on structuring their global entities before they make a physical move to Cayman and this can sometimes take months.
“We are now developing critical mass and have three interim zone buildings open including the HSBC Building, Breezy Castle and the Grand Pavilion. As more new zone companies move down to Cayman and our space needs grow, we will take on more interim accommodation, whilst the main campus is under construction. We have already been meeting with more building owners in central George Town to shortlist the next buildings we wish to turn into zone buildings. This has been welcomed by local Caymanian building owners who are concerned that a lot of tenants have moved out of George Town and parts of their buildings sit empty.”
Ms Cahill said that in the past global brands may have considered setting up in Cayman but the framework was too complicated.
“CEC’s framework makes it easy for them to do business here. They cannot do business in the local domestic economy and therefore cannot compete with Caymanian businesses. Those within the zone can only do international business overseas from the zone,” she emphasised.
