Prominent Antiguan looking to invest in the local community

Now that the dust has settled, following his controversial sacking in 2016, the former general manager of the world’s busiest airport has returned home to explore a business interest.
Antiguan-born Miguel Southwell has also expressed a level of optimism despite the ordeal.
Last May, Southwell was fired as general manager of the Hartsfield Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, GA, after two years on the job.
His dismissal was a direct action taken by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
In his first media outing, on OBSERVER media, since the sacking, Southwell said he has received a settlement which he is very pleased with and is ready to move on.
“I look on those things in a very positive light. I started my own company since and, too, you have to check your record. The mayor has been in office for seven years; he is on his fourth CEO for the airport. I feel very proud of what we have done,” he said.
Southwell said during his two-year tenure, the Hartsfield Jackson International Airport operated at optimal level, boasting of a 101 million-passenger volume, and has also lifted the morale of the hundreds of staff employed there.
The former general manager is now the owner of his own business, Bracom Aviation, which represents a number of clients in the airport space.
“I am representing companies that do public-private partnerships whether you want to build a hotel or warehouse at the airport, how do you get through that. I have had more work, quite frankly, than I can handle,” Southwell said.
Another business venture that the Antiguan native is pursing is to build a 25-room hotel in his hometown of English Harbour.
He views this as his way of giving back to the community.
Southwell also said the idea is 17 years in the making.
“As a matter of fact, we are here right now trying to get the plans done and hopefully it does not take more than a couple of years or so to go through the processes to get it done so that people can put food on their table,” the former GM said.
Engineers are currently drafting the plans for the proposed development, which will be built by Roberts Construction.
It is hoped that the construction will be completed within two years.