The Caribbean Has 8 Billionaires But None Were Born There

By NAN Staff Writer

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. April 8, 2021: The Caribbean region has 8 billionaires according to the Forbes Billionaire List of 2021. But none were born there, and none are black, News Americas Now has found.

Of the eight, six are all White men while two are Latina women. The richest is South African born record executive and businessman primarily known for co-founding the Zomba Group, Clive Calder.

In the Bahamas, there is Joe Lewis and Brett Blundy.

Lewis, 84, owns the Tavistock Group, with more than 200 assets across 10 countries. The British businessman and investor’s net worth is $5 B, putting him at #574 on the rich list.

Blundy, 61, is the Australian-born former chairman of BB Retail, selling jewelry, lingerie and homewares and is worth $2.1 B. He is the #1,580th richest person on the world, jumping from #1851 last year.

In Bermuda, there is Colombia-born Beatriz Davila de Santo Domingo and Brazilian Vera Rechulski Santo Domingo.

Davila de Santo Domingo, 82, is the widow of Colombian beer baron Julio Mario Santo Domingo, who died in 2011. She is worth $4.1 B and ranks #752 on the Forbes Billionaires list. She controls more than a third of the Santo Domingo family’s Luxembourg-based holding company, through which she owns shares in Anheuser-Busch InBev. Her two sons Alejandro and Andres Santo Domingo own the next-largest stakes; Alejandro took over the family business after Julio Mario’s death.

Rechulski Santo Domingo, 72, is the widow of Julio Mario Santo Domingo Jr., son of Colombian beer baron Julio Mario Santo Domingo, who died in 2009.  She is worth $1.2 B and is at #2,524 and controls about 10% of the Santo Domingo family’s Luxembourg-based holding company, through which she owns shares in Anheuser-Busch InBev.

In the British Virgin Island, there is British-born businessman Richard Branson, 70, who owes his fortune to a conglomerate of businesses bearing the “Virgin” brand name, including Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Galactic. He is now worth $4.9 billion and is the 589th richest person on the world.

The Cayman Islands is now home to two billionaires – Calder and Myron Wentz.

Calder became a billionaire in 2002, when he sold his music company to German mass media corporation Bertlesmann for $2.7 billion. He is now worth $5.5B and is the #502 richest person in the world and the Caribbean’s richest.

Wentz is the US-born founder of USANA, a multilevel marketing company that sells nutritional supplements and skincare products. He is worth $1.6 B and is listed at #1931on the richest list.

And in the Turks & Caicos Islands there is British-born Michael Ashcroft, 75, who has moved from Belize.

Ashcroft’s fortune comes from buying and selling a number of companies, most notably home security giant ADT. He is worth 2.1B and is listed at #1517. The British–Belizean businessman, pollster and politician is a also a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party.

Jamaican-born Canadian Michael Lee Chin is also a billionaire but listed as a Canadian billionaire. He is now worth $1.6B and is listed at #1931 on the Forbes rich list. Lee-Chin, 70, made a fortune investing in financial companies like National Commercial Bank Jamaica and AIC Limited. Under Lee-Chin, the Canada-based wealth management and mutual fund business managed more than $10 billion in assets by 2002.

But the firm was hit hard by the 2008 recession, and Lee-Chin sold AIC to Canadian financial services group Manulife in 2009 for an undisclosed price. He managed to hold onto a valuable 65% stake in National Commercial Bank Jamaica, which now makes up the majority of his wealth.