As The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce celebrates Chamber week, the over two century old institution – a land mark on Shirley Street – is reasserting its relevance in the Bahamian community with a new look and a new attitude.
In his address to members, Winston Rolle, president of the private sector organisation expressed his desire to recreate the image of the chamber both inwardly and outwardly, so that it would provide increased value to the local business community.
According to Mr Rolle, who is now in his second term as president following elections at the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, the chamber is currently undertaking several initiatives some of which are already experiencing some success. He described the launching of the website in early March as one of the more successful ones receiving close to 10,000 hits since its inception.
At the AGM the chamber president outlined other initiatives in progress including a mentoring programme, which was expected to provide assistance to new business owners particularly in the Family islands. Plans were also revealed to re-establish the business directory and host expert sessions allowing chamber members to dialogue with experts in varying fields. The president added that plans for the expert sessions were already underway the first of which is planned for July with Central Bank economist, John Rolle.
Looking at future opportunities for the chamber, Mr Rolle announced ongoing initiatives to establish the chamber as a secretariat to give the private sector body a stronger voice. The private sector body is also attempting to forge closer ties with the government and has embarked on a meeting with Cabinet scheduled to be held as early as this month. The chamber president revealed a verbal commitment by Prime Minister Perry Christie to hold the landmark meeting.
The chamber president also announced a commitment by the Minister of Financial Services and Investments Allyson Maynard-Gibson to forge closer ties with the private sector through regular meetings with the chamber, to ensure that once the planned investment initiatives announced by the government came on stream, the necessary support services would be in place. This, he noted, would strengthen the viability of these projects and provide trickle down effects throughout the economy.
As a non-profit organisation, the chamber also shared the cry of most in this class ﾖ insufficient funding ﾖ however in addition to this the chamber also had well thought out plans for taking advantage of the available funding. One such initiative is to set up an international business section, which according to the president would allow the organisation to take advantage of funding from the international sources. He also announced plans by the organisation to access seed money from various international assistance organisations to undertake studies within The Bahamas. The first of these studies is expected to be on selecting an alternative tax regime that would be best suited to the unique economy of The Bahamas.
In addition to grandiose plans, the chamber president also had success stories to report at the AGM: the establishment of two branch chambers in North and South Andros last month and a 39 per cent increase in its membership base from 230 in March 2003 to 320 at present.
Martella Matthews, The Guardian
