President's Message
30th Anniversary Special: Celebrating Excellence, Building on Progress
This year marks a significant milestone in our organisation's history as we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of AMCHAM T&T.
It's incredible to think that the organisation you see today started as a simple idea among colleagues over a casual breakfast meeting at the U.S. Ambassador's residence. What began with only seven members quickly blossomed into a strong and vibrant organisation consisting of approximately 300 companies that have faithfully represented the interests of the private sector for the past three decades.
As the current President of AMCHAM T&T, I am immensely proud and humbled by this moment. Not only is this a time of celebration, it also gives us a moment to reflect on the many accomplishments that have made AMCHAM T&T such a powerful voice for change and progress in our society.
Thirty years of service and representation meant taking many great risks and embarking on big ideas to enhance the way we do business and subsequently transform our society. It hasn't always been easy, but our advocacy strength comes from the courage we took to take positions on matters we believed in, and that was critical to our members.
This allowed us to move the needle on many important issues in our country that enhanced citizen security and improved overall quality of life. We took on these challenges because we understood we had a role to play in shaping the future of our nation. It’s a responsibility that required us to build more diverse communities whereby we are amplifying the voices of the vulnerable and marginalised to lead more in the spirit of collaboration and inclusivity.
So, where has this collaboration gotten us in the past three decades?
The answers can be found in the culture of safety that now exists and is responsible for transforming the operations of many companies because of our 26 years of HSSE advocacy.
It’s in the passage of key pieces of legislation championed by AMCHAM T&T that proved vital to improving the ease of doing business in Trinidad and Tobago and maintaining law and order in our society.
It’s also in the opportunities we see afforded to women because we took strong measures in support of gender equity in society and gender parity on our Board – another milestone we reached in 2020, and successfully maintained both in 2021 and 2022.
We have also boosted trade and investment opportunities for business through our important trade missions, having just partnered with the U.S. Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago at the Caribbean Trade Mission to facilitate business-to-business meetings with U.S. companies seeking to do business with key industry leaders and government stakeholders in Port of Spain.
We also created THIS, the Tech Hub Islands Summit – our nation’s first major technology conference – at a time when, arguably, digital transformation wasn't yet quite seen as the imperative it is today.
But all of this only tells you what we have done. It doesn’t tell you why. We do it because of our commitment to putting people first in everything that we do. If our work’s underlining outcome didn’t improve the lives and livelihoods of our members and the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, then our work would have no meaning. That is why I must take this time to offer my sincere gratitude and deep appreciation to our loyal members, stakeholders and partners who have shared our vision and helped us to reach this 30th-anniversary milestone. Thank you for your unwavering support and commitment to these shared goals.
Finally, even as we celebrate excellence, we must continue building on progress. The next thirty years will see us increasing our leadership on key issues meant to improve the ease of doing business, protect our planet, and provide as many opportunities as possible for every citizen to achieve success in their lives.
We hope you enjoy this special Anniversary issue of LINKAGE which will tell you a little more about the AMCHAM story through the reflections from some of our former and current leaders and members. Thank you for staying with us over the past three decades and let’s continue working together to shape the hopeful future we each deserve.