Jeff
T
Hadeed
The Antigua & Barbuda Citizenship by Investment Unit’s (CIU) new Chairman of the Board is Jeff Hadeed, a versatile entrepreneur born in Trinidad & Tobago but who grew up in Antigua & Barbuda. After studying in the US, Jeff managed a family business in St Maarten before studying fashion design in Italy. He returned to Antigua & Barbuda to manage the family’s garment manufacturing company and became the owner of the Big Banana Holding Co, a well-known bar and restaurant group. Over his career, Jeff has opened multiple restaurants, including The Beach, The Larder and MAIA at South Point. He started North Coast Marine, a boat sales company, an Italian fashion boutique, “Milano”, as well as becoming the developer of South Point Antigua - a 23-suite condo hotel project in English Harbour. He has also managed properties for Giorgio Armani and served as Antigua & Barbuda’s Consul General and non-resident Ambassador to Italy.
Can you share some insights about your background and how you became involved in so many fields? I would say that I like to create. I also have so many ideas for the development of Antigua & Barbuda, and I want to do them all. I see business as my creative outlet, and that is what drives me to start many new projects. Excelling in diverse fields can be challenging. What motivates your entrepreneurial spirit and enables you to succeed? Again, being creative and a
perfectionist, I always want to see things developed in excellence in every detail. In addition, as a perfectionist, I am somewhat of a controller, so I am involved in the development of all aspects of my businesses. Therefore I am also prepared to work long and hard to get what I want the way I want. What will all your experience bring to the table as Chairman of the Board at the Citizenship by Investment Unit? I am of the view that the CIU, while being a Government department and, to a great extent, a regulatory
body at the core, it is also a business and a competitive one at that. My goal is to bring private sector thinking and approach to the Unit’s operations – emphasising a customer service focus and a performance-driven attitude to operations and marketing. This also means developing all aspects of the business, especially the HR component, which is critical to the Unit’s success. From your perspective, what are the key strengths of the citizenship by investment programme in Antigua?