InvestCayman, touted as the promotional agency to draw investors to the Cayman Islands, has been quietly dismantled by government without any official announcement.
It looks unlikely that any other entity will takes its place, as Ministry of Investment, Innovation and Social Development Chief Officer Tamara Ebanks, responding to Cayman Compass queries, said the entity has been ‘fully integrated’ into the ministry.
InvestCayman, launched in 2021 under Deputy Premier and Investment Minister André Ebanks, was announced with much pomp as the official promotion agency responsible for attracting and facilitating foreign direct investment to Cayman.
However, the decision to dismantle it was not equally publicised.
Ebanks, in Finance Committee in December after queries from Deputy Opposition Leader Joey Hew, had confirmed the demise of the unit.
When questioned on the issue by the Compass, the ministry said Monday that its “investment strategy has evolved, focusing our efforts and resources on facilitating local investment opportunities for significant projects, particularly those in the social development sphere”.
InvestCayman, it said, was originally established to “attract desirable direct investment, building equity that the country can leverage over the long term”.
Tamara Ebanks added that in response to the eGovernment Unit outgrowing its original space in late 2023, “an operational decision was made to relocate that Unit to the under utilised square footage of the Invest Cayman Office”.
This move, she said, allowed the InvestCayman team to transition into the vacated space, fully integrating into the ministry.
Online presence erased
Every online presence of InvestCayman has been removed and its official website no longer exists.
Even the official statement from the ministry announcing the launch of InvestCayman has been scrubbed online.
InvestCayman director Jane Scaletta declined comment when contacted by the Cayman Compass about the sudden closure. She instead directed queries to the ministry.
Scaletta had recently announced, via social media, that she had been employed with Cayman Islands Sotheby’s International Realty part-time. She remains a government employee.
She is also the president of the recently launched Cayman Motoring Federation.
Ebanks said all team members from InvestCayman not on secondment are now directly employed by the ministry “bolstered by the Ministry’s Investment team supported by three existing officers”.
Those who were on secondment at InvestCayman, she said, have returned to their respective ministries.
“As we move forward, we are enthusiastic about repositioning the well-intended work initiated by Invest Cayman, finding innovative solutions to address issues affecting our community. Together, we are focused on developing outcomes that benefit all members of our society,” she said.
The public needs answers
However, Deputy Opposition Leader Joey Hew has questioned the rationale for the decision to close down the machinery set up to bring business to Cayman.
“There was no explanation during the budget debates on the decision to do away with the department. The Minister should advise the public as to what has changed and what government’s plans are for this critical market segment,” Hew said in emailed comments to the Compass Friday.
Hew said InvestCayman was started as a dedicated government department that encouraged and supported investment into the Cayman Islands.
“It was an essential element of helping diversify our economy. The Government’s current Strategic Policy Statement acknowledged this. It noted that in the coming years, InvestCayman would work to ‘Increase the positive sentiments of the Cayman Islands as a Global Business Jurisdiction’. This would indicate that the Government and the Minister supported InvestCayman and its work,” he said.
Instead, he said, InvestCayman “has become a victim of this Government’s erratic budget process and has been disbanded”.
He said André Ebanks had indicated during Finance Committee that the InvestCayman functions had been rolled into the ministry and all staff had been re-assigned within the ministry or government.
Nothing since then has been shared with the public on the strategy going forward.
He pointed out that not only “was the department axed”, but the InvestCayman website and social media pages have also been taken down.
The post below from the Cayman Islands Government Office UK is one of the few mentions of InvestCayman that remains discoverable from a general internet search.
According to the post, InvestCayman’s primary mandate was to “stimulate, support and develop world-class and sustainable diversified projects, developments, and enterprises, intended to deliver strong social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits to the Cayman Islands and its people”.
What now?
Hew questioned what had changed.
“Is it now the Government’s and the Minister’s policy that new types of inward investment are no longer welcomed or needed? How will we encourage the diversification of the economy? How much more do we expect we can rely on the same industries created some 50 years ago?” he said.
Last year, InvestCayman issued a request for proposal for full-service marketing in which it described itself as “the Government’s single front door for significant investment in the Cayman Islands”.
It said InvestCayman had been designed around a “triple win” or “win-win-win” approach.
“The Investor, the Government and the People of the Cayman Islands should all benefit from each implemented investment,” it said, adding that InvestCayman would improve Cayman’s reputation internationally through strategic communications, brand management, and the delivery of world-class service to client investors.
It also said it aimed to make it easier to do business in the Cayman Islands and keep the jurisdiction competitive by monitoring and reporting on international trends, client feedback and InvestCayman’s performance.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect Jane Scaletta’s current employment details.
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