Aisha Maina Secures USD 40 Million St Kitts Port Deal And Takes Trade Roadshow From Grenada To Jamaica And Trinidad

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News Americas, ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, Mon. Aug. 4, 2025: Aisha Maina, Managing Director of Aquarian Consult and founder of Gemini Integrated Commodities, has completed an intensive week of engagements, capped by a USD 40 million deal to build a Panamax deep-water port and special economic zone in Basseterre, St. Kitts, that unite policy, private capital and hard infrastructure around a single objective: forging a reliable commercial bridge between Africa and the Caribbean.

At the signing of the USD$ 40m Port deal for St Kitts & Nevis: L-R (Middle): 1. Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew, PM, St. Kitts & Nevis, Hon Minister Samal Duggins, Minister of Agriculture et. Al, St. Kitts and Nevis, Miss Aisha Maina, Managing Director, Aquarian Consult, Mr. Eric Intong, Acting Group Managing Director, Client Relations, Afreximbank and Prof. Benedict Oramah, President, Afreximbank.

The new port will anchor a 10 square kilometre special economic zone designed for agro-processing, light assembly and bonded warehousing. Feasibility studies begin in August, and financial close is targeted for Q1 2026. The facility is expected to create thousands of jobs and attract an additional USD 300 million in private investment. For Saint Kitts & Nevis, a nation of fewer than 60,000 people, the project positions the federation as a logistics hinge between 19 African and 12 Caribbean Commonwealth members. For exporters in West Africa, it removes a costly European detour and delivers end-to-end digital customs visibility.

One Week, Three Strategic Touchpoints

1. Port Signing In Grenada – July 28th
 At the Afreximbank Afri-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum in Grenada, Maina co-signed a USD 40 million Letter of Interest with Afreximbank and the Government of St Kitts & Nevis. Prime Minister Dr Terrance Drew witnessed the signing, while Honourable Samal Duggins, Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources, signed for the island nation. The agreement finances a Panamax-capable deep-water port in Basseterre and a ten-square-kilometre special economic zone for agro-processing and light assembly.

“Africa and the Caribbean need assets, not just aspirations. 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,” Maina said on stage.

Duggins added: “Fresh off the Afri-Caribbean Exchange, I proudly signed a landmark Letter of Interest with Afreximbank. Facility after facility, deal after deal, we are not just talking transformation; we are delivering it. The vision is clear, the progress is real, and the future is now.”

2. Caribbean Investment Forum In Jamaica – July 30th
 From Montego Bay’s main stage, Maina confirmed that feasibility and environmental studies for the Basseterre port will begin in August. She outlined a corridor that cuts Lagos-to-Basseterre sailing times to about seven days, eliminating costly European detours.

“If private sector does not take charge of the process, we will remain where we have been. Retreat or defeat are not options,” she told delegates.

3. Trans-Atlantic Symposium In Trinidad – August 3rd
 Maina closed the week in Port of Spain, delivering the keynote “Why Caribbean and Africa Trade and Investment and Economic Cooperation Matter” at the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Symposium organised by the Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad and Tobago. She connected port logistics, economic-zone clustering and new financing tools to broader goals of youth employment, food security and diversified exports.

Project Snapshot

MetricDetailInitial financeUSD 40 millionBerth capacityOne Panamax berth, expandable to twoConstruction jobs600 direct positionsFollow-on capitalUSD 300 million projected private investmentStudies launchAugust 2025Financial closeQ1 2026First containerQ4 2028

Regional and Global Implications

Shorter transit times – Direct sailings remove European detours and lower freight costs.

Value-addition hub – The special economic zone lets African raw materials be processed closer to North American markets.

Commonwealth relevance – One of the Commonwealth’s smallest states will host a strategic maritime asset linking 19 African and 12 Caribbean members.

Private-capital leadership – Gemini Integrated Commodities co-invests with Afreximbank, placing execution risk on balance-sheet owners rather than policy desks.

Background

Momentum began in March with the Afri-Caribbean Investment Summit in Abuja, followed by a June charter of an Air Peace 777 carrying 120 Nigerian entrepreneurs and policymakers to Basseterre. The Grenada signing, Montego Bay confirmation and Trinidad keynote now merge those earlier steps into a single infrastructure roadmap.

About Aquarian Consult

Aquarian Consult is a Nigeria-based advisory and investment firm specialising in trade facilitation, human-capital development and infrastructure. Through Gemini Integrated Commodities, the company designs and executes projects that connect African markets to global value chains, with a focus on Africa-Caribbean integration.

When The Village Births Fire

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By Dr. Isaac Newton

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. Aug. 4, 2025: There are moments in the life of a nation when it does not simply honor its artists but enshrines them. Antigua and Barbuda has now done exactly that.

In honor of 40 years of renowned Soca band Burning Flames, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda has officially renamed Potters Main Road to The Burning Flames Highway. It is said that all four members of the band will be given a national award along with diplomatic passports.

With the stroke of a Cabinet decision, Potters Main Road has been renamed The Burning Flames Highway. It is no longer just a path of passage; it is now a living monument to a sound that carried a people, a rhythm that redefined identity, and a fire that refused to die.

I was raised in Potters Village, where music was more than background noise. It was our pulse, our poetry, our prayer. The sound of soca and calypso floated across fences, spilled through wooden windows, and made even the stillest moments feel alive. Among us were four local sons whose talent would one day shake the Caribbean and echo across oceans. They were called Burning Flames.

I must confess, with reverent honesty, that my own spiritual convictions have often placed me at odds with certain expressions of Carnival. Some aspects have stirred tensions between sacred values and cultural expression. Yet even within that conflict, I could never ignore the creative brilliance, the sonic mastery, and the deep cultural meaning embedded in the music of Burning Flames.

What they offered was more than entertainment. It was a liberation movement disguised as melody. It was celebration steeped in struggle. It was joy seasoned with survival.

From Workey Workey to Stiley Tight, from Island Girl to Swinging Engine and Janet, their music lit fires in the soul. They transformed porches into dance floors and village squares into arenas of expression. Their sound became the soundtrack of emancipation, where movement and meaning collided in perfect rhythm.

The official recognition they have now received is more than deserved. It is redemptive. Diplomatic passports, national honors, and the naming of a national road are not merely symbolic acts. They are affirmations of cultural dignity. They are acknowledgments that rhythm can be a form of resistance and that melody can memorialize memory.

This is both a triumph for Burning Flames and a victory for the village. It is evidence that greatness can rise from humble soil and that the ordinary can give birth to the extraordinary. It is a reminder that Potters Village did not simply nurture musicians. It raised architects of national joy.

To the sons of sound who carried our hopes in every note and turned rhythm into revolution, I offer not only congratulations but profound gratitude.

Your music made us dance with purpose
Your legacy makes us proud with reason
And your fire still burns across the landscape of our hearts

Long live the music
Long live the memory
Long live the Flames

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Isaac Newton is a global strategist, thought leader, and theologian of transformation. A native of Potters Village, he has studied at Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia University. As a professor, policy analyst, and advisor to leaders across continents, Dr. Newton brings together spiritual wisdom and intellectual brilliance to inspire meaningful change and honor the deep roots of cultural legacy.