Many members of the Anguilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACOCI) met on Thursday January 31 at Deon’s Overlook for the Annual General Meeting and the results of the Business Survey.

Business winners

Executive Director of ACOCI, Calvin Bartlett, reported on some of the events of 2007, saying that the Chamber has come a long way and gained a wealth of experience. He said that visits overseas, and the recognition gained internationally, had benefitted the Chamber and Anguilla as a whole as it had put the island on the global stage. He told members that they are the life line of the Anguilla economy and must address threats to social and economic development.

Luesette Howell

President of ACOCI, John Benjamin, spoke of the success of the island and the difficulties of being at the pinnacle where there is probably more work to do than being at the bottom. He urged members to do their best for their children and grandchildren and to find young people to mentor. He spoke of the current crime trends and urged all to break the silence and report anything they know to the police.

Melinda Goddard

Guest speaker at the AGM was Luesette Howell, Senior Specialist for Employers’ Activities at the sub-regional office for the Caribbean of the International Labour Organization. She spoke of globalization and the need for governments, workers, employers and large and small enterprises to recognize this. She suggested that even though Anguilla is small there is a need to make the best use of the human, financial and material resources to maintain competitiveness and sustainability, globally as well as nationally. She spoke of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) where businesses are preparing to compete in a wider, global environment.

Miss Howell said that the world is changing and therefore businesses must change. “If we do not get our business right, we will be right out of business,” she told the Chamber members. During the next year, she said, ACOCI will need to explore further factors in its expanded role and take stock of their capabilities to contribute to national and regional socio-economic policy formulation. She said that ACOCI representatives have participated in several ILO technical cooperation programmes and that the ILO will continue to help the Chamber and its business members.

Bartlett told members, “In the following year we will continue to communicate with our members, strengthen our alliances, build relationships with other organizations and work to collaborate on projects that will better our region and local economy.” There are three major schemes for 2008. There is A-SEED (Anguilla Start up Enterprise, Economic Development) programme to give support to young entrepreneurs. The second plan is to serve members better with a state-of-the-art interactive website and the third is the continuation and expansion of training for members and all in the business community.

Volunteers who work for ACOCI were recognized and presented with glass plaques. They were Sheryl Lovvorn, Catherine Rieman, Valerie Zaharia, Penny Legg and Melinda Goddard.

A new Board of Driectors was elected to serve for 2007. Members are John Benjamin, Keithly Lake, Marcel Fahie, Vida Lloyd Richardson, Damien Hughes, Louis Bardfield and Carlton Pickering.

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