At a recent interactive session with select business editors, Executive Director, Business Development at Optiva Capital Partners, Africa’s leading investment immigration firm, Ambassador Amaka Okeke, spoke extensively about the transformative power of second citizenship, real-life client success stories, and Optiva’s holistic approach to wealth retention and global access solutions. Also, she offered not just facts and figures, but heartfelt stories of transformation – from clients who found freedom and safety through second citizenship to entrepreneurs who expanded their businesses globally with Optiva’s guidance. Excerpts
Many Africans still ask: why is a second passport necessary? Can you break down the benefits in the simplest terms for our readers?
The benefits of a second passport cannot be over-emphasized – one, greater global mobility, the freedom, flexibility to travel freely, to live, work, do businesses in different countries, that is a game-changer, and visa-free access on arrival saves you time applying for visa applications, and this is priceless to business owners. The second is access to quality healthcare. Health is wealth rings true. The access to timely, quality, affordable, and in most cases, free healthcare facility cannot be over-emphasised as well. Our clients are empowered to prioritise their well-being without thinking of financial burdens, thinking about limitations. The third is access to quality education and reduced university fees. Primary and secondary education are free for citizens and residents, and for the university fees, you are paying as a domestic student rather than as an international student because the dream of parents is for their children to go to the best schools. The fourth benefit is family legacy. These passports are passed down across generations, guaranteeing better future for their families. Fifth is Tax benefits, it saves you millions of dollars because you are exempted from income tax, inheritance tax, capital gains, and so you can use your money for a lot more things. Then there is also wealth retention. Clients want to retain their wealth. Over the years we have seen billionaires and millionaires whose wealth have evaporated due to bad/poorly conceived investments, fluctuations in currency that have affected a lot of businesses. Our well-crafted investment opportunities help clients to navigate diversification of assets across currencies, asset classes, and across jurisdictions. There are also job opportunities, new markets are opened to our clients if you obtain a second passport because you talk about expanding your business globally, to different countries and earn in foreign currencies. A second passport helps you achieve all of these
Health emergencies, and there is no time for visa. Second passport gives you unlimited options for countries of treatment. You may not even have the visa for the countries that best treat that ailment. Also, most countries are now frowning at going for medical treatment with visitors’ visas, so you will need a medical visa even if you have a visitor’s visa or you may be barred from entering the country next time.
Beyond visa-free travel, what are the lesser-known advantages of holding a second citizenship or permanent residency?
Most people always talk about the visa-free access that a second passport gives them but forget global acceptance. What is the profiling of your passport, recognition worldwide, when you submit your passport at airports? You have people stranded in one country or the other because their passport doesn’t allow them to cross when they have lay-over flights. Online there was this publication about a woman who was stranded for twenty-one hours at an airport. People in front of her presented their passports and they were allowed to pass but she was not allowed to enter the country because her country’s passport doesn’t give her access to multiple countries.
In terms of crisis or emergency plans, the United Nations is only mandated to lift citizens and residents of a foreign country. So where will your family be if you are basing your whole plans on visas which are by the way, temporary. So in times of crisis and emergencies, with a second passport, you are exempted from visa restrictions.
Can a second passport also serve as an investment strategy, not just a lifestyle decision?
Yes. Optiva Capital Partners is a wealth retention and investment advisory company. We understand the need to invest. Wise investors diversify across jurisdiction, currencies, and asset classes and a second passport positions you to invest in a foreign country, take advantage of the opportunities of that country. So, yes it’s a strategy to invest and earn returns on your investment, to ensure that your money keeps working for you, not just a lifestyle.
Could you share a few success stories where investment immigration completely changed the trajectory of a family or entrepreneur?
This is an interesting question. October this year marked my twelfth year with Optiva Capital Partners. Over the years I have seen how a second passport transformed lives, individuals, families. Couple of years ago, we lost a client, may his soul rest in peace, and this affected his family. However, we had processed their permanent residency before then. The wife and children were able to travel to Canada. Imagine what would have happened, but today the dreams of the deceased lives because his children are currently attending some of the best schools in the world while enjoying free education and access to quality healthcare. This shows that whether you live, die or become disabled, your dreams for your family will be actualized.
There is also the case of our client, who, by obtaining a second passport opened a Multi-billion Dollar tile factory in the Middle East, where he employs nationals from different countries, and he repatriates foreign exchange to Nigeria. So when you talk about wealth retention, growth and development of our country, bringing in foreign exchange back to Nigeria, it is by being global.
We have another client that fell sick and she needed urgent medical attention. The good thing was that she had a second passport and could travel immediately. When she came back, she was crying because it dawned on her that if at that point she needed to start looking for a visa to travel, she may have lost her life. So, the experiences are life changing because it has impacted a lot of people in many different ways.
What are the most common aspirations of Nigerians and Africans who approach Optiva for a second passport?
The most common aspiration is that clients want to be global, they want to travel for vacations with their families, they want to travel for quality medical attention, so they need a second passport. Global access is one common aspiration for clients. Another aspiration is that they want their money to be working for them, they don’t want to be broke, be bankrupt, or lose their wealth. So they want structures that will earn them foreign currency, because they are paying bills, paying school fees in foreign currency, so the bulk of their money should be in the currency of their liability, so they want structures that enable them earn in the currency in which they incur liabilities. So we have passive income streams set up already. We have international real estate, we have investment immigration, investing in different countries and based on your investment you are accorded a second passport. Second passport is one arm, but investment is the main deal, that is what clients come here for.
How do you tailor solutions to match the unique needs of each client, given that no two families are alike?
Optiva Capital Partners is a wealth retention company, we provide bespoke solutions, not one size fits all. Clients come with unique needs and based on their evolving needs, their family structure, we are able to recommend solutions. Some clients may say I want to travel but I don’t want to relocate because my businesses are here and I am making so much money so I don’t want to hear anything about relocation. Now, what do you offer them – programs that give citizenship by investment. Citizenship by investment is a legal process of obtaining citizenship, a second passport by investing in the host country. There is no residency requirement. You are right here, you did the investment and you get a second passport over time. Those clients are given programs like the options in the Caribbeans, Grenada, Antiqua, Saint Kitts and Lucia, Dominica, and also Turkey.
Clients also come here and say, oh I would like my spouse to relocate, I would like my kids to take advantage of schooling in the core west or both of us want to relocate – the option is residency by investment. We now offer them the core west – USA, Canada, some parts of Europe like Portugal, Greece. So we have all these options available for clients based on our interaction, and we then recommend options that suit the family.
Apart from investment immigration, Optiva offers wealth retention and insurance solutions. How do these services tie into your broader mission?
The mission of Optiva Capital is simply to improve lives by protecting, growing, and optimizing our clients’ wealth. When you talk about wealth retention and insurance, it is about safeguarding your wealth, the value of your wealth safeguarded against depreciation. Our wealth retention packages are opportunities that ensure you earn returns in your investment in whatever country we invest your funds in. When you talk about growing, your money has to grow over time because we offer solutions for different countries. When you talk about enhancing, it simply means diversification across assets and jurisdictions. When you talk of optimization, your money has to work for you because how long can you survive without working. When you retire you need to ensure that your money keeps working over time.
Do you see Optiva becoming a one-stop global advisory firm for African families?
Yes, you can say that again because that question runs into our dream for the future because we are integrating what we do because we have evolved from a global access company to now become a one-stop shop where we offer wealth retention services which include access, real estate which is one of the best ways for wealth retention, but the timing for real estate acquisition is key.
