 Hello and welcome to TD30, a production of the Government Information Service and NTN. I am your host, Kendall Eugene, and with me today is the CEO of Export St. Lucia, Ms. Sunita Daniel. Today, we are discussing an activity under the Independence Calendar, the Grand St. Lucia Business Expo. Welcome, Ms. Daniel, to the show. Welcome. Thank you, Mr. Eugene. Thank you for being here with us. Let's start with some background info on the expo itself. Individuals who may not have been pre-Z to what the Business Expo is all about. Can you explain to them? Well, we had the inaugural Business Expo last year as part of the 44th anniversary of independence for St. Lucia. What we really wanted to do and what the directive we got from the Office of the Prime Minister was for us to get a space where local businesses could come out and showcase what they have on offer. But also give them a chance to retail their products. So that's basically the objective behind the Business Expo that we held last year. All right. So it was basically to bring out the businesses that we have, businesses that are clients of Export St. Lucia or... Export St. Lucia, the Ministry of Commerce, all our businesses, the small businesses within St. Lucia. And how many, if you remember, were a part of the expo? It's a small number, about 75, when you look at them in comparison to the number of businesses we have registered in St. Lucia, we try in the thousands. We were able to accommodate 75 last year, but this year we're hoping to do a little more. Okay. Where was it held? It was held in Constitution Park under William Peter Boulevard. So those two areas were allocated specifically for the Business Expo and the vendors who in the William Peter Boulevard will set up and give them a space at the Derrick-Walkard Square, which they were also very happy for. From your experience, do you think we have enough information on the local space, especially of our local businesses or about the local businesses? I think we've been trying a lot to highlight the local businesses in St. Lucia. However, there's always room for improvement. There are always areas we can do better in. And so I think the Business Expo allows us to do that. That's one of the avenues to which we can do that. Unfortunately, with the Business Expo, we're not able to target all businesses. And so definitely as we go along, we will be looking at other ways to highlight the successes and the businesses of the St. Lucia entrepreneurs. Now with the Expo, are we going to use it as a channel to bridge that gap of information deficiency, or is it just to promote the business? The Expo is really to promote the businesses. What we're trying to do this year is also to incorporate what you just spoke about. And so there will be some educational activities taking part this year at this year's 45th celebration. But the main objective is really for promotion of St. Lucia's small businesses. Let the rest of the world know that these businesses exist. But a few people did not know about some of them and what they offered. And so that is just another way of promoting. You mentioned that there are in the thousands, that when you said a small number and then you mentioned 75, I thought about 75, it's a big number for me. Do we have a list that probably we can go to and pick out the members for the businesses available or through Expo's businesses that are available via directory to the general public? All businesses are supposed to be registered with the Ministry of Commerce. Export St. Lucia is a statutory agency under the Ministry of Commerce. And so they're the parent ministry. So all businesses, if anybody is interested in knowing who is registered as a business and so on, they could find out from the Ministry of Commerce. How would one become a part of the Expo, what would I have to do? We have put some expressions of interest out. They would be exhibited both on our website and the Ministry of Commerce's website. And so people can go ahead and look at the requirements and fill in the form. So far we've done that from last week. So far the expressions have been overwhelming, a little more than we expected to be honest. So people can go ahead, the deadline for registering to be part of the Expo is actually tomorrow the 31st of January. Hearing the word expressions, if somebody is a little confused as to what exactly does it mean, what would you describe it as? It's just your name, your business name, what do you do, just basic information so we can make a determination as to whether you would be fit to be part of the Expo this year. Okay. If my business is fairly new, for example, maybe six or even 12 months old, would I be considered or would I be there for the years of experience to be a part of the Expo? Not necessarily. So there are some businesses under the Youth Economy Agency who we've seen expressions form. And so those businesses we anticipate should have a fairly good chance and they're very young under a year. So it's really about whether the business has been registered, what good or service that they're offering and that will help us determine whether they would be legible for the Expo. The Expo last year was held in the William Peter Boulevard. We're in our second year with it. Were there any challenges that you and your team faced in executing last year's business Expo? We used the William Peter Boulevard and Constitution Park. So some of the challenges that we experienced, I'm quite a few technical issues but those were rectified very early. I think for us is really the space allocation. The number of persons who are interested in participating in the Expo far exceeds the amount of the number of businesses that we can take on Constitution Park and the William Peter Boulevard. So for us that presented quite a bit of a challenge. The other thing for us too is in terms of our exhibitors being a little more friendly towards the or being more engaging with the visiting public, these are things that we are working on this year. We are very good manufacturers but not necessarily the best salespeople and to sell your products and you have to have some level of confidence that what you're offering to the world is actually world class which it is. But to be able to say it is one of the things we've seen. People the challenges, have you thought any way of revising or revisiting the issues that you have seen or the challenges that you have seen? The space constraint, we are going to be accommodating 90 businesses this year which is a lot more but which is still a lot lower than the expressions that we're getting. So that's something we need to look at how where we can get a much larger space to host the expo but that's we have made a few changes logistically in terms of how to accommodate more businesses so it will be a different setup in the Boulevard and Constitution Park. In terms of encouraging our businesses to sell and sales that's some we've been having some training with them as to how to do that and be able to speak confidently about your product or service. And we've seen a lot of examples of that in the last activity that Expo Solution was a part of seeing all the businesses basically being able to promote and speak about their product and sell it as well. We were quite pleased to see at our Arc Business Expo we did make our rounds to ensure that what they were taught was being put into practice and we are quite pleased to see them actually selling their product and speaking quite confidently about the product that they have on offer. Excellent. We'll take a quick break and when we return we will have more with Ms. Funita Daniel she is the CEO of Expo Solution coming soon as the grand business expo under the calendar of events for our 45th celebration of independence. We'll be right back. Back to TV 30 today we are discussing the Solution Business Expo under the calendar of events for the 45th celebration of independence with us the CEO of Expo Solution Ms. Funita Daniel again thank you for being our guest on TV 30. Thank you. We left speaking about the improvements of the business and the entrepreneurs the business owners and of course what delighted you as a CEO of you seeing the putting in all what they learned they are now putting into practice and it's coming out and being all practical with it. What can I expect from the business expo this year as somebody visiting for the first time? One of the things we also learned last year was from the general public was that they would have preferred the days to be different. So we held the business expo on a Thursday and a Friday last year this year we've changed that up to Friday and Saturday and so if you're coming to the business expo as a first-timer you should expect to see get a lot of excitement on the venue. I think you've visited us before Mr. Eugene and so you would see the level of excitement of our manufacturers of our small businesses the quality of products that you would see. This year we are putting in a few new aspects to it so we have some villages that we are incorporating villages so you would now have a health and wellness village where you can go get a massage get your head on get some makeup done so a health and wellness and you'd also see quite a bit of health and wellness products and services. We have a services aspect so we normally attribute small businesses or exports with just the physical product to being shipped out of St. Lucia. This year we're actually looking at services because services also an export and that's one of the recommendations we got last year is that we should have a booth with services where service providers can come in and you could see what they have on offer so we have that and then we have the manufacturers who will be there and the creatives so there these are four distinct villages you can go in and get a different vibe and a different feeling in each of them so we anticipate that it should be one that is very exciting we're very proud of our manufacturers they've actually very good and very good products and very good services and I've said it before I've seen many others in many other countries and nothing really is preventing St. Lucia from being the number one in terms of the products that we have to offer and the services that we have to offer. We've heard many international agencies mentioned St. Lucia we've heard the name of St. Lucia CMOS for example in a couple of TV series as well many times on Netflix so clearly we are hitting a mark somewhere. What now should the businesses expect from the expo? The businesses were very happy and we are very thankful to them for trusting us last year with the business expo and at the end of it they were all happy in terms of the sales that they generated so I was particularly pleased and to see the enthusiasm from our small businesses who would come back and say I sold everything all by the second day in the morning Miss Daniel I need to go back I need to get more product because everything has sold off so we really want to thank the St. Lucia public themselves for supporting because had they not supported a lot of their retail sales would not have taken place and so the businesses can expect to see a lot more in terms of our the patrons to the expo this year we are bringing in buyers international buyers to the expo so we have buyers from as far as Dubai coming in just for the expo so they could see the products that have that St. Lucia have on offer we have buyers originally who would also be attending the expo that will give them a chance to come in and see those 90 businesses firsthand and be able to sign contracts or be able to make some business deals with them so that's a new thing for us this business expo the last one was shared quite extensively on social media on our social media and so when those buyers saw it they reached out to us and said we'd like to actually be there physically to see it and so I can confirm that quite a few of them will be coming from the region and for sure from Dubai why is that important to have buyers internationally regionally as well coming in not just to support but be a part of the independence experience it's very important for us because when we go out to the markets there are only a limited number of products that we can actually bring with us to showcase and they keep on asking us about more about what else do you have an offer and so we normally have to send on brochures and paper and so on but this time they could actually come in and have a direct conversation with the manufacturers see the people who are actually manufacturing the products those who are providing the service they can learn a lot more than we could ever see about the product because it's the people who are making the product or the service who have the passion for it and who can send the message across much more and much better than we can do and so far as it is very important to have them here we know that having buyers at an expo is also critical for its success ultimately the aim of the expo is for promotion not only to the solution society but for export that these products can then be exported and so we're looking forward to actually having contracts signed at that expo excellent now at the expo just before the businesses come in are there any particular business that the expo is looking to promoting for example agro processing female owned young entrepreneurs or we just looking at a holistic approach at the promotion we are looking at a holistic approach to businesses so you will see a mix of women owned female owned businesses but also very importantly youth owned businesses and we've been seeing a lot of those from the youth economy agency and also young men owned businesses we know that we have particular issues with young men in our society currently and so I think they need to be celebrated when those who do well and who own their own businesses can also be highlighted so you'll be seeing a bit of those you'll be seeing also the established manufacturers but also up and coming manufacturing so it's a mix of businesses and and persons who will be showcased at the expo now you will very excited on your voice changed a little bit when you see young men right owning businesses how important is it for our society to encourage young men to at least try to own a piece of your own and that's why I'm very excited about the youth economy agency and the kind of support that it gives to our young men our young people but also young men we know that we have a particularly vulnerable group of young men in our society and I think that business and owning their own business gives them a sense of pride and gives them a sense of achievement and something to look forward to so I actually think that Saint Lucia is on the right path in terms of encouraging those young men to go into their own businesses and showcase those businesses I think we need to go a little bit further in terms of vulnerable young men and allowing them to have that space where they can put their own creativity on display so it may be in the arts it may be in business it may be but they do have a number of skills that they can actually exhibit just like young women do and actually help them channel those energies into something that would actually make money for them and the last expo we saw a few young women promoting their business the massage therapists were there the hairdressers were there even the cooks the chefs were there but what are some of the businesses that are young men a part of that you are proud of they're part of the IT led business and so we see that with those who are a little more educated than the others so we see them going into the IT field we see them extensively in the creative industries a lot of our performers are some of the young men but even for those who have not gone through a formal education system there are those of them who do CMOS products a lot of them who are engaged in CMOS production and we've seen that in the community of you fought for example quite a bit of young men are actually engaged in CMOS production a few of them are also engaged in teas and craft and so these are some of those we particularly want to highlight at the expo so people can see that young men are actually engaged in very productive activity in our society also excellent we'll take a break and when we get back more with Mr. Daniel the CEO of export solution we're discussing the solution business expo part of the 45th celebration of independence we write back suicidal thoughts like other mental health challenges can affect anyone it can be you your colleague family member or neighbor everyone has a role to play in preventing suicide know the warning signs if you or someone you know is in crisis or emotional distress call the suicide hotline at 203 remember help is available this is a message from the employee assistance program department of the public service contact us at 468 2269 or 468 2260 welcome back to TV 30 a production of the government information service and NTN I am your host Kendall Eugene and with me my guest Mr. Daniel the CEO of export solution discussing the solution business export if you were there last year I'm sure that some of you all did not just attend it to enjoy the services of the businesses that were present but some of the performances that were live on stage will we be seeing this again this year or is that scrapped definitely and we'll also be seeing an umptub set of entertainment taking place so on the Friday evening for example we have confirmed kind of a calypso jam on Friday afternoon so you should be able to see some the best calypso's hair the best calypso's from 1979 to 1999 I've been a gold excellent whatever was the best song it may not necessarily have been calypso but the song for each year which would have been what everybody was raving about in that year you'd see a live performance of those maybe from those who originally sang it or from the band on the Saturday afternoon we encourage everybody to come down to town on Saturday afternoon and we will have a jam band also performing but we also have artists other artists so we have reggae artists coming I we will say a little later who those are reggae artists we have soca artists and definitely what is authentically St. Lucia and the denry segment artists we'll also be on stage we should be seeing a bit of a fashion because what's exports and exports and Lucia without a bit of export the runway in there so you should be seeing a little bit of fashion and actually a very good show for the entire family to enjoy from the Saturday afternoon all right with the cocktail of entertainment and business that's right show me this expo nice and what time on both days is supposed to be so Friday the 16th we begin at 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. so we have the entire day and then on Saturday we begin at 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. okay and sharp sharp now let's just go back a little bit I want to find out if let's say for example I am a business owner small business owner what would my entry requirements be must my products be export ready the standards etc what should I look out for if I'm going to be a part of the business well definitely you must have some level of standard because we are encouraging our businesses to ensure that the products that they offer to the public for consumption is of standard so they must have a Ministry of Health certificate for sure you must have you must have some basic standards in place so we're not asking you to have all the great has happened so on but you must have some basic standards the good thing about it is that we know all of those businesses we normally do assessments and with our partners the SLBS we and the Ministry of Commerce we know those businesses that have good products and offer so those are the ones who will be this year eligible for coming and showcase their products you must also have a business registration so basic things because we preach those things so we try as much as possible to ensure that a business is registered as a business of San Lucia now we're talking businesses and he's mentioned quite a bit of the export factor how many of our businesses are enjoying their products being exported out of solution where are some of the territories that we've probably landed quite a number of our businesses export their products and we're so happy that export sent Lucia has actually raised the profile for those businesses so currently a lot and many people may have seen it coming out expo Dubai would have given us that opportunity to showcase our businesses in the UAE and so quite a few of our businesses are currently doing business in Dubai we're trying to expand into Abu Dhabi quite recently in December we had exports going to New Zealand so we've never done those ourselves on a large scale and we're looking at doing that also currently some of them pre the Russia-Ukraine war Baron products used to go to Russia and so these are some of the things the areas that they go we go to the traditional places all the time so the United States Canada the region the OECS carry come so these are the normal ones we're really looking at expanding into the other parts of Europe to get our products out there excellent now for future goals and objectives what are some of the future goals that the organization like to attain moving forward for us it is really to get a lot more businesses export already we've seen quite great products at the expose and some of them are probably missing just a bit of labeling assistance because if you're going to go into the UAE your product must be labeled in such a way that people can read what you have and we've been working to do French labeling also getting into the Spanish market so that's something we're going to pay attention to but also the packaging which we're making quite a bit of progress on and so we should have an announcement next week on some major packaging differences in our products that you normally purchase some at the supermarket so we're looking at doing those we also want to expand even for the modern the markets but also the product authoring offerings that we have so for example our teas are very highly sought after and I think for us one of the main things is for us to encourage processing of our products one of the things we don't like doing here is at export sandwiches is to export our raw product to another country and then re-import the final products to our country so for example why are we exporting cocoa beans and then importing the same chocolate that was made from the cocoa beans back in St. Lucia right so these are some of the things we are working with other partner agencies to ensure that value is added and so we can export a final product that's one of the things for example the honorable prime minister is very concerned about and he has really encouraged us to do is CMOS to make sure that the CMOS products are actually brought to the final end in St. Lucia and we don't have to import CMOS creams from overseas when they are buying our CMOS to make it right all right now let's go back with the business expo earlier you mentioned that some of the clients who were present and participated in last year's expo they were pleased to announce that they had sold out all of their products what are some of the achievements that were notable for you at the business expo for us I think it's the growing confidence we're seeing in our exporters at the very beginning they were a little shy because they're producers of the product to most of them now we're seeing them speaking a lot more assertively about their products and selling their products I'm very proud to see that I think the other thing for us and our clients is the ability that they have to negotiate right on the spot so we did have clients who negotiated with persons hotels who came in and they were able to negotiate some level of products going into the hotel so for us I think the biggest thing as an agency that we're seeing is the growing confidence of our entrepreneurs acting as business people and we're very proud of that we're very happy to see that they're moving along that way I mean many people would have said before that farmers are producers and farmers are not supposed to be doing the marketing what you're seeing is that farmers are becoming very good at doing that kind of thing and we will have those agricultural businesses also exhibited at the business expo excellent let them know again when the business expo will be held and from what time the business expo would be on February 16th and 17th on the 16th from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on the 17th from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and it will be at the William Peter Boulevard and Constitution Park all right well it's Daniel I'm gonna say thank you for being our guest there on TV 30 wishing you all the success with the solution business expo on the two days all part of our 45th anniversary of independent celebrations thank you for having me thank you for being here folks this has been TV 30 a production of the government information service and NTN thank you for viewing have a good day