Investing with a conscience
FEW property developers can thank the financial crisis for leading them to their next business idea. Omari Bowers and Andrew Skeene are a rare exception. They could see that banks were pulling back on their lending since they specialised in arranging bridging finance loans for property developments. When they asked why, the genesis of Global Forestry Investments was born. That was in 2008. “They told us they were investing in land overseas as this was the next big market,” says Bowers, who met Skeene through a mutual friend in 2007.
That market was natural resources – particularly timber and farmland –?and it instantly appealed. “Banks were buying land in Africa and Brazil, all fertile areas, because diets were changing in emerging markets,” explains Skeene.
The next step was to see this change for themselves. That sent them on a journey that covered the Middle East and China. What they found tallied with their research. “I went to three regions in China,” explains Bowers. “Everything revolved around food. I went to a 25 course meal, it was meat and more meat.”
They had the demand, the next step was to find the supply, which led them to Brazil. They decided to test the market and acted as a broker to a deal for 1,000 hectares of farmland in southern Brazil.
This turned out to be a crucial step: “We learnt that the banking system in Brazil is crazy, contracts are complicated and you definitely need a solicitor who is bi-lingual,” says Skeene.
After navigating these hurdles they made a profit and realised they could do this for investors in the UK. With their own funds, they joined forces with a UK trust to develop a product that would invest in farmland and forests in Brazil. The product will be available from the 1 August and the minimum investment is £5,000, which will buy you 100 trees.
Although the company was set up with a firm profit motive, Bowers and Skeene were altered by their experiences in Brazil: “I saw a guy juggling on a highway to try and get money from the drivers then I looked over and saw his family huddling at the side of the road,” Bowers recalls. This sparked a plan to invest 10 per cent of their profits in a sports and performing arts academy to help the locals enhance their natural talents.
The company employs 30, with 10 in Brazil looking after the plantation. Both men live
by the maxim that hard work will get you anywhere: “Your career takes up 70 per cent of your life, so be sure to do something that you love doing,” says Skeene.
Without the crisis, Bowers and Skeene would not have become involved in the great commodity boom. They also wouldn’t have come into contact with Brazil, a country for which they both have palpable affection.
CV | OMARI BOWERS AND ANDREW SKEENE
OB Age: 33
AS Age: 32
OB Lives: Bromley, with 8-year old son
AS Lives: Hertfordshire
Hobbies: Skeene once had a trial for Crystal Palace, while Bowers played for both Charlton Athletic and Wimbledon. Both still play football for local teams.
For more details go to: www.
globalforestryinvestments.com