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Colina Financial Advisors Ltd. (CFAL) donated $25,000 to five local charities and organizations today to commemorate 25 years as a leading Bahamian investment management and pension administration firm. Each beneficiary organization, which included the R.E.A.C.H. Bahamas Foundation, Bahamas Children’s Emergency Hostel, Bahamas Harvest Church Angel Foundation, Bahamas Feeding Network, and the Bahamas Youth Climate Conference, will receive $5,000 toward its community commitments. The distribution of these financial gifts is one in a year-long series of events celebrating the 25th corporate anniversary of the company under the theme “Celebrating our Past, Embracing our Future.”
Anthony Ferguson, President of CFAL, recalled the origins of the firm, which he started along with co-founding principals, Kenwood Kerr, and Larry Gibson. “When we started twenty-five years ago, the investment world was fairly new. Most people were catering to the international offshore community. We saw an opportunity to provide the same investment advice that was being shared with the international clients with the local market. At that time, insurance companies were dominating the investment scene, but doing so very poorly and at an extremely high price.”
“We wanted to help people prepare for their futures without being dependent on their families, the government, and NIB,” he continued. “We wanted to provide good investment services and timely reports at a reasonable price. We also wanted CFAL to be a research-driven shop – one of the overriding themes that governs how we work and how we invest our clients’ assets, which continues to this day.”
In 1997, Ferguson, Kerr, and Gibson launched CFAL with a team of five employees. Today, CFAL has a staff of forty team members, manages over $2 billion in assets, and is firmly established as the local leader in institutional and personal investment and pension administration services. Its service portfolio also includes corporate advisory, stock brokerage, savings and investing solutions, mutual funds, and private wealth services.
Regarding the growth of the investment sector since the inception of the firm, Ferguson notes that, “The investment landscape in The Bahamas is certainly much broader now. We’ve seen the investment class increase with investment vehicles like Arawak Port development (with over 12,000 investors) and other companies going public, so we’ve seen the capital markets deepen. I think there’s a lot of work to be done but we’re on the right path. With the regulation and implementation of enhanced pension and savings plan legislation, it will grow even more.”
Pamela Ferguson, VP of Investments, explained why making these significant donations were important to the CFAL team on this occasion. “The financial world is built on trust and at CFAL, we take extraordinary pride in maintaining the highest standards of integrity and transparency while helping our fellow Bahamians. We’ve been extremely fortunate to have been able to do this for twenty-five years. We’ve had clients who took a chance on us at the very beginning and are still with us. We have a lot to be grateful for, and we believe in sharing our blessings.”
CFAL has donated over $1 million to local charities and organizations to date.
Mrs. Ferguson added that “We believe that the business community should support social progress, and the organizations that we’ve selected for these donations are among so many that are helping our society to move forward – through fostering innovative ideas, providing education, and providing much needed support services. We look forward to continuing to grow as an integral part of the investment and business communities while ensuring that the benefits of our work are passed on to our clients, shareholders, and others we can serve for generations to come.”
Photo: Lester Ferguson (second from left), Executive Director of the Bahamas Feeding Network, and Philip Smith, BFN Board Member, collect a $5,000 donation cheque from Pamela Ferguson, VP of Investments and Sophia Thurston, VP of Pension Administration and Operations at CFAL. CFAL donated five cheques valued at $5,000 each to local charities today in celebration of its twenty-fifth corporate anniversary.
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