Cut out perks for foreign investors- Doug Wheatley
He informed that when Silicon Valley started in the early 50’s, they had to try their very best to encourage young and qualified people to come by offering them many incentives, however after many years that area made its name and therefore the incentives are no longer necessary to persons to entice them. As a matter of fact, people are flooding the gates of that community because it now has something to offer people, similar to the Virgin Islands (VI).
Silicon Valley is a nickname for the southern portion of the San Francisco Bay area, in California. It is an area of high technological and scientific development and home to many of the world's largest high-tech corporations and thousands of start-up companies. Silicon Valley is a leading hub and start-up ecosystem for high-tech innovation and development, accounting for one-third of all of the venture capital investment in the United States. It was in the Valley that the silicon-based integrated circuit, the microprocessor, and the microcomputer, among other key technologies, were developed. As of 2013, the region employed about a quarter of a million information technology workers.
VI no longer a backwater place
According to Wheatley, when the VI started on its course to development they used the technique called Development By Invitation and asked people to come to the VI offering several incentives such as pioneer status and exemptions.
“The BVI was a little backwater place, not good roads, not a lot of electricity, no potable water…and therefore to get persons to come here we had to offer a lot of incentives and perks to having them to come. We fast forward from those early days to these days and the BVI now should not be in the position where we still have to be offering all sorts of incentives for businesses to come and set up here.
‘A shining star on a hill’
He said if a businessman sees an opportunity in the territory he should come and invest without giving them the perks.
“Because the BVI is now known and it has a reputation and we must be aware that we have something that we can leverage and it’s not poor little BVI, and please come. People will come anyway because the BVI is a shining star on a hill and people will come, investors will come,” he stated.
11 Responses to “Cut out perks for foreign investors- Doug Wheatley”
He quoting the past? I thought he looking out his window today with these remarks!!! He need to get out of the radio booth and drive around and take a look see at what gon on!