Galway entrepreneur and adventurer Enda O’Coineen has announced a €1 million investment in a mixed-use Irish village complex in Haiti.

Kilcullen Kapital Partners, headed by Enda O’Coineen, has coordinated the investment in Haitian Hospitality Investments Ltd with Conchur de Barra. The venture involves the development of the first Irish village complex of shops, restaurants, offices and the Irish Embassy Pub in Port Au Prince, Haiti.

Enda O’Coineen, Executive Chairman of Kilcullen Kapital Partners, said the venture originally began as a philanthropic project to provide a facility for NGOs, locals and business people alike to meet informally.

“This original concept has expanded significantly into the €1 million village complex, which tackles the lack of social infrastructure and provides a home-from-home for aid workers to meet and co-ordinate.

“The country needs entrepreneurs to generate business, invest in local projects and ultimately restart the economy. While charity work is, of course, essential in the short-term, something has to be done to create real long-term employment.”

Mr O’Coineen said the project CEO, Noel Linehan and a core team from Ireland, including Karol Keane, are on site to set a standard in entertainment, hospitality and to train local Haitian staff.

A week-long series of events is taking place to launch the project, including a gathering for the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), a forum for NGOs and aid organisations under the chairmanship of Denis O’Brien.

Irish charity HAVEN, which co-ordinates housing and community development programmes in Haiti, also opened its new offices at the village.

Casually Insane, an Irish dance organisation run by Aisling O’Coineen, also formed part of the opening celebrations. They trained 18 young Haitians from a local orphanage to perform a cross between Haitian Riverdance and Voodoo. Costumes formed a mix of locally produced outfits and imported Irish dancing shoes.

Other investors involved in the project include Conchur de Barra, Michael Carey, Soul of Haiti Chairman, Enda Kelly, Damian Blackburn, Damien Meaney and Dave Magrogan.

“The World Bank ranks 183 countries in terms of difficulty levels for starting a business. Haiti has the unenviable position of ranking 180^th, which highlights the challenges faced with starting a venture there.

“However, early indications from unprecedented local interest are that the village is serving as a social hub for many ex-pats, locals and organisations. From my experience working in post-Communist Prague 20 years ago, the Irish pub can become a central meeting point for professionals, bankers, government advisers and venture investors,” said Mr O’Coineen.