Education University of Hamburg | ||
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Born 24 February 1945 (age 72)
Hamburg, Germany ( 1945-02-24 ) Occupation philanthropist, businessman, island consultant | ||
Farhad Vladi is a German business man, philanthropist and international island consultant based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is the founder and president of Vladi Private Islands. He is considered the biggest international island broker.
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Education
Vladi was born and raised in Germany. His father was Iranian and mother was German. After receiving his master's degree from University of Hamburg in 1967, he earned PhD in Economics from University of Vienna.
Career
When he had completed his Masters, one day he read a report in the news paper of an Island being sold for 5000 Marks in the Seychelles. The report was fake. However, he travelled to the Seychelles to purchase an island for himself for 5000 Marks. Upon arriving there he found out that he was not able to afford the island he wished to purchase. He returned home and started looking for a buyer for the same island. He started sending letters to affluent businessman with the details of the island. He found a buyer and sold the island, the Cousine Island in 1971. After selling the island, he founded Vladi Private Islands to sell and rent private islands.
After selling 50 islands, Vladi set up a North American office in Canada in 1976. Later he opened an office in New Zealand.
In 2012, he bought Bowen House, the building on the corner of Lambton Quay where New Zealand First, the Green Party and the Māori Party had their offices, for $62 million. In 2014, Halifax port authority named him the honorary port ambassador of the Halifax port.
Vladi owns Forsyth Island in New Zealand As of 2016, his company has sold 2650 islands around the world.
Vladi also owns two travel stores in Hamburg and Nova Scotia and has published three books: Luxury Private Islands, The World of Private Islands, Cool Private Island Resorts – The World’s 101 Best Islands and Swiss & Alpine Islands. He also owns Dr. Götze Land & Karte, a geographical bookstore in Hamburg and maps & ducks, also a geographical bookstore in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Vladi has assembled an archive covering over 12,000 islands all over the world. He has been accepted as an expert witness on private island matters in the Courts of the United States and Canada and has also appraised islands for the Irish Government.
Philanthropy
Vladi is involved in many charitable organizations. He is a board member at the World Future Council. He is also involved with the charity MapAction, a non-governmental organisation that specializes in providing mapping for humanitarian emergencies. With the help of several prominent businessmen and the German television personality Jörg Pilawa, Vladi went on to found the charity’s German chapter and was named as Map Action’s First Ambassador.
Vladi is the curator of Justus Frantz’s Philharmonia of Nations and Honorary Governor of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, a publicly owned institution in Halifax, Nova Scotia.