Teo A Babun

Early life

Babun's grandparents were born in Bethlehem. His father became a major financial supporter of the Cuban Revolution. Though born in Cuba, Babun has spent most of his childhood and life as a Cuban exile in the United States. Babun's father was tried in a 1960 Communist show trial, intended to confiscate all of his property and belongings. Before the verdict was read in his trial, he escaped to Miami with his wife and the Cuban government expelled the rest of the family to the United States when Babun was 11 years old. They were deported on June 1, 1960 via the Ignacio Agramonte International Airport. Their family home became a residence for Raul Castro, future president of Cuba after the retirement of Fidel Castro. The Cuban Government confiscated the Babun family holdings and properties consisting of a cement plant, farms, maritime, lumber/timber, minerals and other interests after their escape.

Education

Babun lived in Florida until he attended university at Michigan Technological University (MTU), graduating in 1972 with bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and business engineering administration. In 1981 he received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the university, and in 2002 he received an Honorary Doctorate in Letters from Miami International Seminary. He also later received a PhD from non-accredited Vision International University. In 2007 was inducted into the Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering Academy at MTU.

2000 return visit to Cuba

Babun would not return to visit Cuba until October 2000, when he was as an "official observant" to open-air Evangelical Celebrations instituted after the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1999. Following this visit Babun was asked by government officials not to return to Cuba, due to the reaction of the public to his evangelical work while there. In 2015 Babun was allowed to return following President Barack Obama's announcement of a desire to normalize relations with Cuba.

Business career

Babun began his professional career manufacturing electrical components in Wisconsin and Connecticut. He founded General Electro-Components in 1980, serving as president and CEO. While there he invented the TO-5 transistor package, then the world's smallest solenoid. In 1987 he moved back to South Florida in order to work for his father's company, Bahamas Line shipping company. In 1990 Babun founded the Cuba Investment Fund, in order to accumulate investment funds and strategies for when the United States lifts the economic embargo they have levied on the island.

Babun is the founder and head of BG Consultants, located in Miami. He is also the founder and managing partner of the Miami consulting firm Cuba-Caribbean Development Co, a division of his Babun Group Consulting that advises companies on the potential of a future free market in Cuba. In his role with the for-profit company he has advocated for a change in Cuban-US economic relations. Babun's clients have included Baskin Robbins and Royal Caribbean Cruises.

In 1992 he founded the Babun Shipping Corporation in Miami under his holding company T. Babun Co. He was also the founder of Cuba Claims Registry Assistance LLP, a property registry for Cuban exiles to establish claims upon land that was confiscated.

Philanthropy

In 2001 Babun was appointed vice-president of the United Way of Miami-Dade. He is also a director of the charity Outreach Aid to the Americas (OAA), which sends aid from the US to evangelical churches and organizations throughout the Americas. It also provides business development products to encourage small business creation. As a spokesperson for the organization, he has advocated for religious freedoms. Babun has advocated for Christian business ownership as one of the keys to creating the conditions necessary for increasing religious freedoms.

Babun is also the Executive Director of AmericasRelief, an initiative of Outreach Aid to the Americas, Inc, and founder of the Port Resiliency Program. He was also Deacon and Chairman of the Long Range Planning Committee of University Baptist Church in Coral Gables, Florida and founder of the charity of Young Life of Greater Miami.

Publishing

Babun is the author of The Business Guide to Cuba, which covers the concept of economic opportunities in the frontier market of Cuba. The Sun-Sentinel stated that for "foreign companies - and to U.S. entrepreneurs who want the lay of the land ahead of normalized relations - Babun's book provides precious detail for strategic planning".

He also co-authored the book The Cuban Revolution: The Years of Promise with Victor Andres Triay in 2005. He discussed the book in detail on the television program World History on Book TV on April 3, 2006, including a review of the photographs of the Cuban Revolution owned by Babun's father used as the primary focus of the book. José Manuel García reviewed the book in the Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, calling the book "an exceptionally significant contribution to Cuban history through the power of photography". Babun has also self-published the book Dealing with Your Personal Crisis, which presents Christian coping methods for those enduring personal traumas.

In addition to his books, Babun has been a contributor to newspapers including the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post.