Elias Nassief: A role model in local industry Nassief: A family of Lebanese origin who settled in Dominica in the 1930s and has made a major economic contribution to the island from the mid 20th century. The patriarch of the family, Elias Nassief (1900-1987), arrived in Dominica in 1930 from Suriname. Although he had originally intended to settle in one of the French islands, he took a liking to Dominica and established a small retail-trading outlet in Roseau where his wife and older children joined him. Their younger children were born here. As his retail business expanded, Nassief was able to develop his interest in agriculture and agro-processing. With most large estates derelict, agriculture stagnant and land prices low in the 1940s, Nassief was able to buy Belfast estate on the west coast in the early 1940s and Geneva estate at Grand Bay on the south coast in 1949. He reactivated the estates expanding coconut cultivation with the intention of producing and exporting coconut oil and making by-products from coconut fiber. Some controversy arose at Grand Bay in the early 1950s from his attempts to regularise land boundaries and deal with the squatting that had developed on the estate. In 1965 he established Dominica Coconut Products with a small processing plant at Belfast. This grew under the management of his son, Phillip, to become the most successful local manufacturing company ever. Starting with a basic range of laundry and toilet soaps, DCP obtained licenses to produce international brand names and to be exclusive providers to certain cruise lines and companies such as those of Donald Trump. The number of shareholders in DCP rose to over 1000 by the time the company was sold to Colgate Palmolive in 1995. During the political disturbances of the 1970s, Nassief interests at Grand Bay and Roseau were attacked and destroyed and the government acquired Geneva estate in 1974. Besides maintaining retail businesses, the descendants of Elias Nassief have branched out into other areas of commerce including the purchase, rehabilitation an d expansion of the Fort Young Hotel, tourism promotion, insurance, real estate, duty free, vehicular sales and servicing as well as serving on government statutory boards and corporations.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 13:42:31 +0000
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