Jaak Rannik (Vice President of Rannik Group), grandson of one of the creators of Rannik Group (a major shipping company in the DR, especially in the Haina Port) in Pesos Pesados.
Usually when when white people from successful Dominican businesses are interviewed in Pesos Pesados, the origin of their families in the DR is from either colonial times, after the country was created but before Trujillo or after Trujillo. That is not the case here.
His grandfather was from Estonia and became a refugee in Sweden. There he saw in a magazine an advertisement which was placed by the Trujillo government asking for people that were professionals/experts or with experience in several fields to either further develop them in the DR or create them from scratch in the DR. He immigrated in 1947 and took him forever from leaving Europe and arriving in the DR, as he had to take boats that went from Europe to Venezuela, thrn another from Venezuela to Puerto Rico, and then another from Puerto Rico to Santo Domingo. I think after going through the boat trip from Europe to Venezuela, most people would had decided that it wasn't their plan but Venezuela was their new permanent home. lol
The company he worked for was founded before the Trujillo years (1919) by a Scottish immigrant in San Pedro de Macorís. Once Trujillo was assassinated, the Scot thought his time in the DR had come to an end. He decides to close his business in the DR, but the grandfather of Jaak got together with some other people and despite they had no money, they offered to buy the company rather than see it closed and they were out of a job. It was agreed, but because he had no money he went to Puerto Rico and got the necessary financing from a bank. Once the company was bought it got renamed Rannik.
During the Civil War of the 1960's his father, his grandmother, etc were sent to Miami for further safety. His grandfather was constantly flying back to the DR to keep working on the Dominican company. During the time around the Vietnam War they intended to simply stsy in the USA and sell the Dominican business, but in the end that didn't happen. The company continue to grow until what it is today.
PS. Jaak was born in the USA in the 1970's because his mother (American) decided to give birth in that country to be close to her family.