Benjamin Ortega
~ Executive Board also re-elected ~
PHILIPSBURG--Benjamin Ortega has been re-elected as President of the Board of the St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce and Industry (COCI).
This will be his second term as president of the board. He served as Vice President in 2018 and became president for the first time in 2019.
Ortega was re-elected during the board’s first meeting for the new year. Also re-elected were Vice-President Bertaux Fleming, Treasurer Louis Bute and Secretary Annuska Friday-Illis. The Executive Board comprises the President, Vice-President and Treasurer assisted by the Secretary.
Ortega said one of his main goals and that of the board is to provide more credible and accurate information to registrants under the theme “source of truth.”
He said potential investors and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to invest in the country or start up their own business, on too many occasions do not know where to go to obtain information. They end up going to multiple departments for information. COCI is currently collecting all the necessary information from the various departments in government and Economic Affairs to provide accurate information to potential investors and entrepreneurs.
Also high on the board’s agenda for this term is to strengthen the operations of the Chamber with a new Executive Director and Business Development Officer as well as by providing more training to staffers and persons interested in starting their own business.
Former COCI Executive Director Anastacio Baker left the Chamber in December and COCI has been functioning without an Executive Director since then. Ortega said COCI is now in final stages of interviewing remaining candidates for the post of Executive Director and has begun the process of finding a Business Development Officer.
Other members of the COCI Board are Mirurgia Brown, Vinod Kotai, Charlise Philips, Ife Badejo and Jennifer Carty.
