An estate agent who quit the UK three years ago because he wanted to live free from Covid restrictions has created a £24 million property empire on a paradise island dubbed the ‘new Maldives.’
Richard Ashby was earning £200,000 a year selling exclusive apartments in Westminster and Mayfair to rich investors when his world crashed three years ago at the start of the pandemic.
All of his lucrative deals stalled and the 41 year old said he hated being isolated on his own during lockdown in his riverside flat in Chelsea.
He searched the globe for an escape where he could build up a new business and live without Covid rules - and discovered Zanzibar.
The Zanzibar archipelago is a jewel in the Indian Ocean, just 60 miles off Africa's east coast and part of Tanzania.
It has long been popular with safari-loving Brits who stop off for a week in the sun after enjoying the wildlife in the Serengeti or relax after climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest peak. It is also a haven for kite surfers.
With a warm climate and average daytime temperatures of 28-degrees, Zanzibar largely avoided the lockdowns and mask wearing which Ashby was determined to avoid.
It was one of the first places in the world to open its borders to tourists in June 2020.
Mr Ashby said: “I could not live under lockdown for even a week and knew I had to get out of London where the property market lost its mind for six months while everyone adjusted to Covid.
“I first went to the South of France and then when the restrictions there also became unbearable I discovered Zanzibar.
“Zanzibar offered almost complete freedom - no one was wearing masks and we all carried on dancing the night away in bars and nightclubs.
“Covid was never really an issue and I could live the life of total freedom that I had always craved.
“I knew with the gorgeous turquoise waters, virtually no crime and a Government determined to help developers create new luxury holiday homes that I found my little slice of paradise and I started a property company so I would never have to go back to London.”
He teamed up with local developer Floton Africa and together with hus company Byshivo.com they are working on three tropical village villa holiday complexes on the island worth around £24 million.
Prices off-plan for a holiday apartment start at £48,000, rising to £130,000 for the two bedroom chalets and £140,000 for the three beds.
It is a third of the price of other winter sun favourites such as Dubai, the Maldives or the Caribbean, and Brits are coming in their droves.
Around 80% of the chalets in the first project in Paje are already sold as weary sun seekers look to escape the gloom, and investors from London and other locations such as Dubai eye Zanzibar as the next winter sun hot spot.
Mr Ashby said “It is a complete accident that I ended up here. If it was not for Covid I would still be stuck in London selling flats.
“Zanzibar really is paradise with none of the problems you associate with other winter sun destinations - over development in Dubai and crime in some parts of the Caribbean.
“It is almost completely under-developed and there are miles and miles or beachside plots with white sand like dust and the most gorgeous, warm turquoise seas which are crystal clear and are being opened up for development.
“It is like discovering St Tropez as a quaint fishing village in the 1940s before the whole world arrived or Marbella in the 1950s when the Costa del Sol was just a few beach huts outside the main towns.
“We have a blank page here and an enlightened government which is determined to encourage investment and create the next winter sun paradise.”
He said he has no plans to ever return to the UK and views his homeland with rising interest rates, a cost of living crisis and a Covid debt that is crippling the economy with horror.
