“Start as You Intend to Go on,” says CEIBA Investments Portfolio Manager, Sebastiaan Berger

Part IX features interviews with investors in Cuba’s tourism sector, one of its largest income-generating industries. International border closures combined with additional U.S. sanctions affected the sector. The effects of COVID lockdowns were catastrophic to the entire travel industry. For Cuba, reliant on a steady inflow of tourists and managing a pandemic, this was devastating to its economy. This chapter is an interview with one of the most successful long-term investors on the Island, Sebastiaan Berger, Portfolio Manager of CEIBA Investments. Since 1996, he has been involved in foreign investment in Cuba. This conversation, our first, occurred in November 2019. Mr. Berger shares the story of his first visit to Cuba, how the company became involved in its strategic partnership with Meliá Hotels International, and the progress of the three hotel projects his company shares with Meliá and their Cuban partners. The pandemic, the collapse of tourism, and the outbreak of the Ukrainian war impacted these projects. However, construction has continued with a scheduled opening in early 2023. We later updated our interview in January 2022. The question asked was, “Why would a successful investor invest in what we perceive as a high-risk environment?” Mr. Berger’s answer is interesting.