By Carlyle Harry
The Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry was Chartered in the State of New York in 1985….The Association is presently celebrating 31 years of service to the small business community (1985- 2016) in New York and other Geographic centers in the U.S. and the Caribbean.
The Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (CACCI), founded in August 1985, is a statewide membership organization, which has developed expertise in providing business assistance to small, start-up and emerging businesses, in areas of business planning, financing, procurement, preparation for certification and business expansion, and export/import opportunities.
In reflecting on the history of the Association, its Founder and President-Roy Hastick( originally from Grenada) expressed a lot of pride over the variety of services and resource-assistance that the Chamber was able to supply to small businesses, especially in their start-up processes.
Mr.Hastick added that the Chamber was also continuing to promote small business development among women and other minority entrepreneurs, especially through “business networking activities”, at local, national and international levels.
SERVICE-DELIVERY
CACCI’s extensive track record of service delivery includes sponsoring over 600 business networking meetings, establishing partnerships with government and private business entities which have enabled the organization to continue the following initiatives:
• Sponsor business development networking power breakfast and business networking seminars and meetings, attracting entrepreneurs and speakers from the public and private sectors, business and community leaders, corporate partners, elected officials, Caribbean-based Heads of State, CACCI members and other domestic and international leaders;
• Manage the Flatbush Caton Market, a 9,000 sq. ft. micro-enterprise incubator, an indoor shopping mall in Flatbush, Brooklyn with over 40 vendors who sell a variety of African and Caribbean artifacts;
• Provide weekly CACCI/SCORE free onsite confidential small business counseling services and technical assistance for CACCI members and the wider small business community;
• Conduct seminars in areas of MWBE, Financial Literacy, and Business Services;
• Strengthen partnerships with CACCI members and with public and private business entities which have contributed to the success of such annual events as: Tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King (January), Participation in Black, Puerto Rican and Asian Legislative Conference (February), Seminar focusing on Certification and Procurement Opportunities for Minority and Women Business Enterprises (MWBE) (March). Other CACCI sponsored events include: Annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Gala; Celebration of Service to the Small Business Community; Doing Business with NYC, NYS and US government agencies; International Conference on Doing Business with the United States and the Caribbean focusing on Export/Import Opportunities; and Salute to Small Business Visionaries. CACCI’s monthly small business breakfast meetings have served as opportunities for members to network and explore business opportunities.
Over the years, CACCI has sponsored numerous trade missions to the Caribbean convened numerous business meetings and held briefing sessions on behalf of several Caribbean Heads of States including: Prime Ministers of Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Barbados, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, Chief Minister of Montserrat and several other government officials and ministers of Haiti.
CACCI has also hosted H.E. Julian Robert Hunte, then President of the 58th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Dr. Edwin Carrington, then Secretary General of CARICOM and a recipient of CACCI’s Roving Ambassador Award, Premiers of Nevis and Chief Minister of Anguilla. CACCI also hosted NYS Governors, NYC Mayors, NYS and NYC Comptrollers, NYC Advocates, NYS Attorney Generals, US Congressional, NYS and NYC Legislators NYS and NYC Commissioners and other business and community leaders.
Trade and Culture Center
CACCI has received considerable support for the development of the first ever Caribbean Trade and Culture Center in the East Flatbush 40th NYC Council district in Brooklyn. In October 2015 NYC’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) announced the selection of a developer to work on the development of the project which will include affordable housing; CACCI’s Trade and Culture Center; re-development of, a museum and community space
and then 