Simon Rakei

Simon Rakei studies the study the modern formation of offshore finance in the Caribbean and the pricing valuation of mineral extractives in Southern Africa. He was trained in Financial Accounting with Honours in Taxation and was signed with EY. He moved from corporate accounting to working as a researcher-organizer with unions and NGOs in South Africa litigating mining companies. Simultaneously, he earned his master’s in Sociology and wrote his thesis on non-sovereign tax havens through a developmental history of the British Virgin Islands. He is currently a joint PhD student in the History and Anthropology departments.

Rakei aims to visit the UK and University of the West Indies archives to develop initial archival and ethnographic scoping exercises in the BVI. He will be following the cast of characters responsible for crafting the International Business Companies Act which exempted foreign companies from tax in the BVI.