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In a bold move to deepen economic ties between Africa and the Caribbean, Nigerian entrepreneur Aisha Maina has secured a $40 million financing agreement for a new deep-water port and special economic zone in St. Kitts & Nevis, with a broader roadmap to channel African exports directly into Caribbean markets.
Maina, Managing Director of Abuja-based Aquarian Consult and founder of Gemini Integrated Commodities, signed the landmark deal at the Afreximbank Afri-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum held in Grenada on July 28.
The agreement, co-signed by Afreximbank and the Government of St. Kitts & Nevis, will fund the construction of a Panamax-capable port in Basseterre and the development of a 10-square-kilometre special economic zone for agro-processing, light assembly, and bonded warehousing.
Feasibility and environmental studies are set to begin in August, with financial close projected for Q1 2026. The facility is expected to catalyse at least \$300 million in follow-on private investment and create over 600 construction jobs initially, with thousands more in long-term operations.
“Africa and the Caribbean need assets, not just aspirations,” Maina said at the signing event. “With this port we move from promise to throughput, from talk to tonnage. It is the physical backbone of a trade bridge that has been too long in the making.”
The deal is a cornerstone of Maina’s trans-Caribbean trade mission, which also saw her speak at the Caribbean Investment Forum in Montego Bay, Jamaica on July 30, and headline the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Symposium in Port of Spain, Trinidad on August 3. At both events, she emphasized the urgency of private-sector leadership in bridging the logistical and financial gaps that have long hampered direct Africa–Caribbean commerce.
The project promises to slash Lagos–Basseterre sailing times to under seven days, eliminating the current need for costly and time-consuming European detours. Maina told delegates in Jamaica that “retreat or defeat are not options,” urging business and policy stakeholders to align around infrastructure-led trade cooperation.
For St. Kitts & Nevis, a twin-island federation of fewer than 60,000 people, the development marks a transformative step toward becoming a logistics hub for 19 African and 12 Caribbean Commonwealth member states. Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources, Samal Duggins, who signed the agreement on behalf of the island, described the project as a tangible result of the growing Afri-Caribbean alliance.
“Facility after facility, deal after deal, we are not just talking transformation; we are delivering it,” Duggins said.
The initiative builds on months of groundwork, including a March Afri-Caribbean Investment Summit in Abuja and a June charter of a private Air Peace flight that brought 120 Nigerian investors and policymakers to Basseterre. With momentum accelerating, Maina’s Gemini Integrated Commodities and Afreximbank now stand as co-investors in what could become a flagship model for Africa–Caribbean trade infrastructure.
Through Gemini and Aquarian Consult, Maina has long advocated for connecting African markets to global value chains via practical, capital-backed projects. This latest venture not only delivers on that vision but signals a new phase of implementation over ideology in South-South cooperation.
