Business View Caribbean - August/September 2018

62 63 CAYMAN ENTERPRISE CITY –what he describes as the industries of the future – is fierce. “The government recognized that if it wanted to attract businesses that the whole world is trying to attract, a very com- petitive set of concessions would need to be put together and offered to people who could choose to set up anywhere in the world. That is how our particular package of concessions emerged.” In 2012, Cayman Enterprise City welcomed its first business to its Special Economic Zone, and today, there are 250 companies from over 20 countries situated in three special economiz zones: Cayman Tech City, Cayman Commodities & Derivatives City, and Cayman Maritime & Aviation City, as well as four interim commer- cial buildings located around George Town. They all take advantage of CEC’s concessions package: 100 percent exemption from corpo- rate, income, sales, and capital gains taxes, as well as import duties. Businesses have a 4-6 CHARLIE KIRKCONNELL, CEO CEC Staff Meeting week fast-track set up for operations, and renew- able five-year work/residency visas granted for staff from any county, within five working days. But unlike companies that have traditionally utilized the Cayman’s favorable tax environment - the so-called “registered office” entities that may only have a name on a mailbox in some nonde- script building - Cayman Enterprise City residents must have a genuine physical presence in the Islands and conduct substantial economic activity from their base there. “In fact, prospective clients that are interested in just setting up a registered office here, and not having any sort of physical presence, don’t have a use for our product,” Kirkconnell explains. “Our product is a physical presence product and included in the business licensing process is the lease of commercial real estate within the Special Economic Zones. So, someone who doesn’t need that physical presence doesn’t need Cayman Enterprise City. None of our clients are without a physical presence – all of our clients have an office in the Islands and are conducting economic activity globally from within the jurisdiction.” While another goal of the Special Economic Zones project is to advance the employment of native Caymanians, Kirkconnell concedes that there are still a few kinks to work out. “Given that these are new industries to the Cayman Islands, there is not any sort of critical mass of technically qualified people who can move into jobs like software development, and so on,” he Cayman Tech City sponsored panel discussion led by Jude Scott, CEO of Cayman Finance