10 On The Weekend is a weekly (-ish) feature in IMI, the concept of which is simple: Each time, we ask the same ten questions of a different IMI Pro, letting readers get to know the interviewee on a more personal and informal level than they might during the ordinary course of business.
Our guest this week is David Bonellie, VP, Business Operations at World Talents
How do you spend your weekends?
I spend my time doing activities with my wife and daughter. I also try to get in some excersize in over the weekend.
What are your top three business goals this year?
My three goals are to:
- Continue to build on existing partnerships that we have been involved in over the years,
- Look to secure new partnerships that can help grow our business, and
- Explore new markets and potential programs for the product.
What’s your biggest business concern right now?
Inconsistency in the bureaucratic immigration process and the potential for changing legislation without a clear process for grandfathering in existing people who would be impacted by new laws.
Which book is on your nightstand right now?
Family Wealth: The Compact Among Generations by James E. Hughes.
I am reading his entire series on exceptional families and how they think about their heritage, wealth, and legacy for future generations.
How and when did you first get into the investment migration industry?
Working with Ahmad and Christian on IMI content creation was my first official entry into the industry.
This was in 2021, as I remember. It was an amazing way to grasp and understand the industry while researching and analyzing hundreds of immigration and citizenship acts worldwide.
It opened my eyes to the difference between a marketed product and what already existed in the laws, but was not being used as an “official product.”
I was also working on a side hustle business assisting South Africans with European ancestry obtain citizenship. Mostly for British, Irish, Portuguese, and Lithuanian descendants and connecting people with lawyers in the country of their ancestry.
What was your proudest moment as a service provider?
Looking at the industry very differently from “the norm” and being able to showcase this to various institutions and authorities.
The power of skills, experience, and network in the investment migration industry is incredibly underutilised.
Consider a passive investment with no central connections or ties to a country, versus actively using your highly qualified skillset to make a difference in a country.
This approach shows clients there is another way to genuinely connect, while still following the same pathway and achieving the same outcomes as passive routes. This has been a long and arduous process to get right.
Which investment migration market development has surprised you the most in the last year?
The potential launch of the Argentine citizenship program. I think this could catalyze the growth of CBI products from South and Central American countries.
These countries, and especially those from the Mercosur bloc, do not fully grasp the potential “gold mine” they possess due to their passport strength.
They already have very progressive citizenship laws (short naturalisation time in years, immediate or quick citizenship through having a child, or a fast track to PR, etc.).
So a CBI program or an official Golden Visa program with minimal physical presence would not be out of the question.
If you could go ten years back in time, what business decision would you change?
Focus on seizing the opportunity when a door is open because you never know when it might close. Arguably, the changes in citizenship by investment programs or rules within existing programs are no longer available.
I can imagine many clients are having an “if only I had acted sooner” moment regarding many of the routes from ten years ago. As a business,
It would have been key to push incredibly hard before the “doors close”.
What investment migration industry personality do you most admire?
I honestly do not have an opinion here and will remain neutral. So many different personalities are involved in this industry; it really is hard to pick one.
But I do admire all players in the industry actively trying to create new products for the market.
If all goes according to plan, what will you be doing five years from now?
Being incredibly private with my life and owning a Nokia 3310.
