One month after announcing its presence on the island, GIBC Digital hosted Minister of State for Grand Bahama in the Office of the Prime Minister Kwasi Thompson, and other officials to a tour of its offices in the Jasmine Corporate Centre June 4.

With its official opening scheduled for the end of June, GIBC Digital has committed to hiring some 50 people, and an initial investment of $2.5 million.

GIBC Digital is one the first companies to benefit from the Commercial Enterprise Act in Grand Bahama. It has been granted approval and this enabled it to set-up offices quickly.

Minister Thompson said: “Grand Bahama should be pleased and proud that a global technology company has chosen not only to set up an office, but to invest in the lives of our people, and to be a part of this important technology initiative.”

Greg Wood, chief executive officer of GIBC Digital, said he is pleased that his company will realize the vision of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and his government, in making Grand Bahama a tech hub.

His company, he said, is “a digital-transformation facilitator”.

“That means we help organizations automate their manual processes to reduce cost and errors, use their data to make better decisions faster, and prevent cyber security threats. In short, we make our clients more successful by transforming how they do what they do in a digital world.”

Founded in 2011, they have offices in New York, Boston, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tampa and Stamford and currently employ 70 people. There are also plans to open offices in Largos, Dublin and Toronto before the end of 2018.

In phase one of the opening of the Grand Bahama office, he said: “Our office in Freeport will open with the hiring of 50 Bahamians from the local community, who we will train and deploy to do local and regional work in automation, cyber security, and data intelligence.”

“This skilled workforce will provide the foundation for phase two of our project: creating a digital-transformation training centre, where companies will send their employees to learn the latest in cyber, data intelligence, management, and automation. We intend to commit significant company resources to realize this vision.

“Phase three of our journey will culminate in the creation of a state-of-the-art Data and Artificial Intelligence Centre here in Grand Bahama run entirely by Bahamians, who will be responsible for everything from management, to operations, to delivery of our services, and we plan to work with schools like MIT and Cornell to bring together the expertise needed to create cutting edge capabilities right here in Freeport.”

Also present during the tour were permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Harcourt Brown; Grand Bahama Port Authority president, Ian Rolle; President of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce, Mick Holding, as well as other senior government and Port Authority officials.