Sue-Ann Wayow
RICHIE SOOKHAI is once again the President of the Chaguanas Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CCIC).
Sookhai was elected on Wednesday along with a new board. He is the successor to former president Vishnu Charran. He was also Charran’s predecessor.
Upon his re-election, Sookhai said, “The president along with this newly elected board will certainly seek to revitalise the chamber and bring much-needed change to Chaguanas at a crucial time when many businesses are facing the brunt of the economic downturn due to the Covid pandemic.”
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Sookhai and his new team will be looking to implement new strategies with a focus on small and micro enterprise (SME) development, with the understanding that there is a need to become more technologically advanced.
The chamber will also assist SMEs in becoming more compliant which will allow them to access much-needed funding and grants provided by the banking and Government sectors. One of the board’s key objectives will be to work towards facilitating a financial institution to assist SMEs in accessing low-cost financing.
Sookhai added that the chamber was also particularly concerned by the rising crime and the alarming increase in domestic violence.
Other board members include: Vice President Baldath Maharaj, Secretary Dr Vaalmikki Arjoon, Treasurer Karena Sukhu, Public Relations Officer Kyron Regis, Assistant Secretary Daniel Austin, Kevin Ramgoolie, Sunil Moonasar and Sajjad Hamid.
Charran told AZPNews.com he was happy to serve for four years and he was confident that the new and talented team would make the CCIC stronger and more vibrant as they present fresh ideas to the chamber.
He would take an advisory role to the team especially to Sookhai.
He said, “It was a very exciting, informative time for me. I was able to network with a lot of people and really learn about the business community in Chaguanas. What we wanted to focus on which I am sure the new team is going to continue is really the development of the small and medium businesses. Chaguanas has a lot of those and we had planned an online training programme which I am sure will be carried out.”
Charran said given that there was a striving agricultural sector in Chaguanas, persons were being encouraged to get into the export market especially for those in the pepper industry and that the CCIC also wanted to encourage agro-processing and manufacturing.
