For many years the Chamber has been involved in various on-going programs. These include the Junior Achievement program, Business Missions and our annual Chamber awards, which recognises individual and company achievements. An important Business Mission of 2004 was the St. Maarten/Tortola Business Mission. If you have any ideas or information on programs that you feel the Chamber should be involved in, please contact us.
Over the last three years the St Lucia Chamber of Commerce Industry & Agriculture has successfully organised and coordinated business and trade missions to neighbouring islands to facilitate expansion of markets to the local business sector.
Led by the Executive Director of the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture, Brian Louisy, eight local firms returned to St. Lucia on Saturday 4 th September, 2004 from what has been described as a fairly successful Business Mission. The Mission visited two countries, leaving St. Lucia on Sunday August 29 th and returning Saturday September 4 th . August 29 th to 1 st September were spent in St. Maarten, while the afternoon of 1 st September to 4 th September was spent in Tortola , with two day exhibitions taking place in both countries.
Though the Mission was hampered by the serious concerns in St. Maarten over hurricane Frances , participants in the Mission were still able to make some valuable contacts while in this Dutch Caribbean Island . The firms were particularly interested in St. Maarten not just as a market in and of itself with its large number of tourists and high per capita income but also as a gateway to the neighboring islands and economies of Anguilla, St. Kitts, Curacao and Aruba to name a few. St. Maarten is a major shopping centre in the north Caribbean with its duty free shopping regime.
The Business Mission hopes that if this market can be successfully entered, not just for local consumption, but for onward transshipment and redistribution to neighbouring islands a significant amount of business can materialise.
Trade Officer in the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture Grace Herman, who was the principle organiser, had hoped to have some twelve firms participate but a number of unforeseen circumstances led to last minute cancellations and withdrawals. Participating in the Business Mission were Caribbean Awnings Ltd., St. Lucia Coconut Growers, Aunt Linda's and Eden Herbs, Fabs Fantasy Ltd., Solar Dynamics, Natmed, Frootsy Foods. In addition to those participating companies the Mission was able to provide information and give out brochures on behalf of Wild Orchids and Flowers of St. Lucia as well as circulate investment brochures and tourism information on behalf of both the National Development Corporation and the St. Lucia Tourist Board.
The response coming out of Tortola was a bit more enthusiastic as they were unencumbered by the threat of any hurricane and the two day exhibition was heavily visited by Business Persons and the public alike, particularly St. Lucians living in Tortola . While in Tortola the Head of Mission Brian Louisy and Business Advisor from the OECS Export Development Unit, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Project, Melbour Philip who accompanied the Mission paid courtesy calls on the Governor of Tortola and the Chief Minister. Additionally Brian Louisy addressed the Rotary Club of Tortola at the weekly luncheon which resulted in many members of the Rotary Club visiting the Mission subsequently.
The St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture has over the last seven years organized a number of business missions to various Caribbean Destinations to facilitate the participating companies exploring, penetrating and strengthening the position in various markets. This year the Ministry of Commerce supported the Mission , but was unable to have a representative accompany the Mission as planned earlier. A number of the Companies participating in the Mission were supported financially by the OECS Export Development Unit, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Project which has been working with these firms to help improve their competitiveness and export capacity.
The Chamber therefore thanks the Ministry of Commerce for their continued support and partnership in export development as well as the OECS Export Development Unit which has supported its work over the years in many different ways. The Chamber also wishes to advise its members and the wider business community that the Jamaican Business Community has invited St. Lucia to mount a return Mission to that country and interested firms are asked to contact the Chamber at their earliest convenience to indicate their interest in participating in such a Mission.
The Chamber Business Mixer Program was developed by the Chamber Membership Committee to bring members together in an informal setting to meet and network as well as discuss current issues affecting the business community.
Mixers are sometimes sponsored by individual firms and sometimes one or two firms get together to host a mixer. The most successful mixers in terms of member attendance occurs with the First Business Mixer of each Year termed “The Nominees.”
At this Mixer many of the firms which were nominated for Chamber Awards put on a display and the winners feted.
If your firm is interested in hosting a nominee send us an email and we will work with you to make it an absolute success.
The Chamber Encounter Series is the Chambers way of bringing members into a close and intimate dialogue with the Government and public sector institutions with whom they interact. The encounter brings the public and private sector together in a non confrontational atmosphere where the public sector can share their expectations of the private sector and ideas on how the working relationship can improve.
If you have challenges dealing with a particular public sector institution and wish to better understand this institutions mandate, rules, regulations and how you can make their work easier, give us a call or drop us an email and we will try to arrange an “Encounter” for you.
The Chamber Sports Program was developed to establish a program of sports activities for the business community that encourages participation of workers of all ages and sex. This would help enhance the health, mental and physical fitness and improve productivity of participants while building team spirit, corporate identity, and encouraging friendly rivalry within the commercial sector.
The program is built around the commercial football league but also includes dominoes and netball. The Chamber is eager to work with other sports disciplines to broaden the program.
The Junior Achievement Program of St. Luica is a project of the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture and a registered member of the junior Achievement International Member Nations. A Board of Directors manages the project. An Executive Officer with part time staff administers the programme with the assistance of teacher advisors, Business Consultants and Student Advisors.
This non-profit organisation offers a business an economic education program, which gives primary, secondary & vocational and tertiary-level students practical experience of the operation of businesses in the free enterprise system. It aims to promote economic literacy and an understanding of business by providing insight into the values, responsibilities and general operations of the private enterprise system. It provides avenues for the development of individual’s leadership and organisational skills in the operation of a business and by extension the necessary skills to effectively and efficiently facilitate community youth affairs.
This is the newest initiative of the Chamber as it seeks to continue its work in youth entrepreneurship and ensure that its legacy of excellent corporate social responsibility lives on.
The Youth Business Trust was launched on April 12th during the visit of Prince Charles the Duke of Edinburgh at the official residence of the Prime Minister of St. Lucia. The Youth Business Trust offers a co-ordinated, comprehensive programme to assist young persons to develop the skills, attitudes and access resources they need to become successful entrepreneurs. The programme is a private sector initiative
made possible through a partnership with the voluntary sector and together provides start-up capital, business mentoring, networking, advisory and marketing support services to encourage a new generation of young St. Lucian entrepreneurs.
If you wish to support this initiative either financially or otherwise please give us a call or send us an email at
The Chamber, by its very modus operandi, supports the development of small business and its smaller members. The use of a differential pricing structure that approximates an ability to pay the larger members of the Chamber subsidizes the smaller ones.
Through this Smaller Member Support Program the Chamber seeks to offer the smaller members some special opportunities and benefits and we continue to seek ways to do so.
In the first instance smaller members i.e. members in the lowest subscription class are permitted two mass mail outs free of charge annually. The first twenty members who subscribe to the program will be entitled to participate in two training programs at discounted prices during the year. Participants will be permitted to advertise in the Executive Director’s Annual Report at a fraction of the cost of other non participating members.
Please complete the attached form and submit to the Secretariat to sign up and start receiving your benefits.
[This form is under development]
If you have any other ideas which we can implement that will bring benefits to the Smaller Member Support Program give us a call and share them with us.
