BY GEORGINA KEKEA
WITH the dawn of election-day for Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), Jay Bartlett, Director of Hatanga Limited stands unopposed as Chairperson of SICCI.
Mr Bartlett, often described as a young visionary leader, has been the SICCI Board Chair since 2015 and has been an effective advocator and voice for the private sector ever since he took up leadership roles in SICCI.
SICCI is holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) today, with the election of new board members as an important part of today’s session. For election of board members, 12 nominations have been received by SICCI office with a fair good number of both genders now set to go before members in the AGM.
For the Vice President posts, the combat now is between Julie Haro, Managing Director Premiere Group of Companies and David Rupokets, Managing Director Capital Construction PTY Ltd.
For Board member positions, nominees are Belinda Botha of Dive Munda, Lyn Fa’arodo of Bank South Pacific (BSP), Craig Gibsone of Guadalcanal Plains Palm Oil Limited (GPPOL), Joseph Huta of South Pacific Oil, Samantha Maeke of Pacific Horticultural Marketing Access (PHAMA), Sohaib Mahmood of ANZ Bank, Anna Masioa of United Risk Services Ltd, Sir Bruce Saunders of AJ & G Blum Ltd and Frank Wickham of National Fisheries Development (NFD) Ltd.
Meanwhile, unopposed Chairperson, Bartlett says his vision for SICCI is for it to be an effective advocator and voice for its members and the wider community.
Also for SICCI to continue to strengthen and develop its relationship between the government and local business and all other local, regional and international stakeholders that SICCI engage with.
“Internally I’d like to continue to build on the achievement we have made to date with the leadership team and office to ensure that we as an organisation are committed to meeting and exceeding member’s expectations and to ensure the viability and sustainability of SICCI in the medium to long term.”
SICCI has well over 200 members and is the peak representative organisation for the private sector in Solomon Islands. 60 percent of its membership is made up of Small Medium enterprises employing less than 20 employees. It also has a number of affiliations to other national private sector organisations.
SICCI has an office that oversee the administrative work for the private sector with Dennis Meone as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). All members of SICCI are being called on to attend the AGM today at Heritage Park Hotel.
