17 Próspera: The Hong Kong of the Caribbean with Chief Developm…

Próspera is a budding platform city on the Honduran Island of Roatán operating under the Zone for Employment and Economic Development (ZEDE) framework. The city aims to provide a place where entrepreneurs and businesses can work freely and efficiently. In this episode, Jackson sits down with co-Founder and Chief Development Officer of Próspera, Gabriel Delgado, about the project. They talk about the city’s goals, the ZEDE system, the considerations that come with being in Honduras, the stage Próspera is at right now, and the government rhetoric surrounding the project.None of our neighborhoods are as tropical as Roatán quite yet. If you know one, refer them to us! You’ll also get our email newsletter packed with Cabin news and ways to get involved with the community.  In this episode, we discussed Próspera’s delicate, if not special, relationship with the Honduran government, Gabe's role as the chief development officer, building sustainable development, cultivating international trust, and also how Próspera serves as a platform city.[00:01:08] On a personal note, I visited Honduras several times over a decade ago while I was living in Guatemala. I remembered Roatan as a hidden gem, a beautiful jungle island with crystal clear water and a vibrant coral reef. It's where I learned how to throw a Frisbee, and I really am fond of my time there. Today, it's still relatively sparsely populated with only 50,000 people spread across 32 square miles. I applaud Próspera’s ambition, thoughtfulness, and progress thus far. I hope that they, and others who choose to develop new cities, always continue to do so in a way that is sustainable and equitable for the people and the ecosystems with which they collaborate. You can learn more about Próspera by checking out www.próspera.hn and by following them on socials at @ProsperaGlobal. All right, time for the episode.[00:02:01] All right, Gabriel Delgado, welcome to Campfire.[00:02:04] Gabriel Delgado:
Thank you very much. Call me Gabe, please, and I'm super excited to be here.[00:02:08] Jackson Steger:
We're really excited to have you. For context, we've been talking about different kinds of startup cities, the many flavors that they take. One of our recent guests, Zach Caceres, described Próspera as a platform city, and so, excited to talk about all things related to that. But before we get into specific definitions and lenses through which you can discuss Próspera, I want to just give you the floor to tell our audience, this is first time really discussing it in detail, what is Próspera, where is it, and if you're wildly successful in your ambitions, what does the world look like in the next 50 years?[00:02:45] Gabriel Delgado:
Wow, sounds good. So, I'm the co-founder and chief development officer of Próspera. I'm originally from Guatemala, which is a country right next door to Honduras where the project is taking place. It's on an amazing island, called Roatan, which it's hard to understand about Roatan. It's beautiful. It's mountainous. It's large. It's just slightly bigger than the original island of Hong Kong. So, let me tell you two things. One, what really makes me passionate about the project and what it is we're setting out to do, and I think you also said something about what does the world look in 50 years if we're wildly successful.[00:03:18] So, what makes me be and feel very passionate about this is I think that the world has been, in some areas, incredibly successful and has advanced very rapidly, especially in the digital space. But I think in the world of Adams, the world has taken a turn for a cautious perspective of how to deal with the world and to deal with innovation and to deal with solving the world's most pressing problems. And that is called cost basic stagnation in the world of Adams. I recently read a book that some of your audience may have read, maybe you read, called ‘Where Is My Flying Car?’. And I just love that book so much. The thing that hit me really hard was, hell yeah, I want my flying car. Where is it?[00:03:58] And the beauty of Próspera, you call this a platform city, and that's exactly what we are. We're a platform. And we want to bring the guys/gals that want to innovate and push really hard against these problems, solve them by providing them with an environment that's very conducive to innovation, where external obstacles brought up by regulation that's overly overbearing, if you want, is out of the way. You can take risk, you can challenge the status quo of things, and you can bring a ton of value, just a ton of value, in a manner that maybe we haven't seen in a long, long time. They're very innovative places around the world. I'm not saying they're not, but I think that we have a very important role, especially in the Western Hemisphere, to do that. And that's super exciting to me. Super exciting to me. I really enjoy meeting all the entrepreneurs that are coming, the ones with very well-formed ideas, the ones that have already started, and the ones that are just starting.