Miami, FL - In January 2014, David Mullings presented at the Jamaica Stock Exchange’s annual conference in Kingston, Jamaica and laid out the vision for how to get Overseas Jamaicans, numbering some 3 million and sending back more than US$3 billion per year in remittances, to invest back home.
He expected someone in the room to launch a company that would make it easier for people like him to invest back in Jamaica and other Caribbean islands but no one took on the challenge.
On May 7, 2024, 10 years later, Mullings’ Blue Mahoe Capital, Inc., a special purpose vehicle setup to build affordable homes in Jamaica and Barbados, made history by becoming one of the first US-based companies to have an offering qualified to raise capital from retail investors in the USA and invest in the Caribbean. Run through the online platform Silicon Prairie, Blue Mahoe Capital’s campaign was enabled by Regulation Crowdfunding, or Reg CF, a Securities and Exchange Commission rule that allows companies to raise a maximum of $5 million through equity crowdfunding over a 12-month period, enabled by the JOBS Act, legislation passed under President Obama and then Vice President Biden, and designed to make it easier for startups and early-stage companies to raise capital from their supporters.
“There is still no ETF or mutual fund to give retail investors exposure to the opportunities present in the Caribbean and no one can launch one due to lack of a custodian so the only option is a company investing there that is listed on a major US stock exchange” said Mullings.
“I’ve been convinced that this was the path to give Caribbean-Americans and friends of the Caribbean the access they desired so we worked backwards to see how others had gotten listed and decided that the direct listing path was the most viable option for us” he continued.
He appeared on Bloomberg TV in January 2020 to share his vision but then the pandemic hit and turned the world upside down. With time to study those who had successfully accomplished direct listings and others who had used the JOBS Act to execute Reg CF and Reg A offerings, he wrote a detailed plan and then got strategic advice from Jamaican-Canadian billionaire Michael Lee-Chin. He then built a small team to help guide the vision and now they are ready for the marathon.
“No one had tried to go after Caribbean-American retail investors because most investment professionals despise them. They feel that they are stupid money and a pain to deal with due to their lack of financial understanding. I had the chance to do digital marketing for a large mutual fund company and cut my teeth in financial services in Jamaica designing then marketing financial services products to retail investors. Retail investors are great if you know how to speak to them in a way that they understand and then you give them access. Now we move at Bolt speed” said Mullings.
Moong the Caribbean Forward
With shares priced at $10 each and the minimum investment being only $500, Blue Mahoe Capital is focused on building 700 affordable houses in Old Harbour, Jamaica via a partnership with the developers of Whim Estates.
The offering has already racked up $169,000 in commitments within 48 hours of going live and Mullings is confident that they will secure the funding they need to deliver the homes as well as eventually qualify for listing on the NASDAQ to become the first listed company outside the Caribbean that is giving access to countries like Jamaica, Barbados, The Bahamas and Guyana.
Learn more at www.IslandForward.com
