Revealling that he is doing so with mixed emotions, Dr. Coakley said it is an open secret that he holds special political interest in the High Rock Constituency.
“The time has therefore come for me to focus my total energies on finding creative ways to help empower its residents and drive the economy of East Grand Bahama,” he said.
He will be succeeded by his first Vice President Danny Lowe.
Dr. Coakley was elected president of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Com-merce in November 2004 and held on to the chair when he was re-elected in 2005.
In an interview with The Freeport News yesterday, the outgoing chamber president said one of his main goals was to heighten the awareness of the importance and relevance of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Com-merce in a global world and, in particularly, in an emerging industrial sector like Grand Bahama.
“I also wanted to help the business community, particularly the small and medium-sized persons, to the fact that the chamber of commerce was not formed for the elitists but rather it was meant to facilitate any person interested in doing legitimate business in the Grand Bahama area,” he said.
Dr. Coakley pointed out that the chamber is also for anyone interested in doing business in or through the Grand Bahama area and, indeed the Bahamas.
Another goal of the chamber was that Grand Bahama residents appreciate that the chamber of commerce is a networking body meant to bring together parties from around the world who may wish to exact opportunity from the many incentive programmes available for them in Grand Bahama and in The Bahamas.
Dr. Coakley explained that the chamber is an activist body that is intended to profit the interest of its members – give its members a voice in addressing anything that was of interest to them.
He said the chamber is the spokesperson for its members and must be able to articulate the concerns, if any, to the government and or the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA).
He noted that the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce must also be able to mediate on behalf of the members, many of whom are licencees of the GBPA, and who are stakeholders in Freeport by virtue of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement.
“I also saw the need to amplify the principles and objectives of the chamber of commerce by taking its mission into the schools so that as young Bahamians emerge into the social fibre of this dynamic and global community and take their place alongside local and international players that they may be prepared and understand how business relationships are cemented and better formulated as we go deeper into the 21st century,” he said.
To do this, he said the Chamber of Commerce forged relationships with the principals association, other tertiary level institutions domiciled in the Grand Bahama area and civic organizations, including the church, that may have an interest of the growing young community of persons who have pledged to take their expertise and vision of Bahamians to another level.
“I am pleased to say that I feel blessed to have had a Board of Directors who understood the vision and who ably and willingly met the depth of their various expertise towards enhancing the growth opportunities of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce and who operated in unison with the principles that we set forth to achieve,” he said.
The board, he notes, was a highly trained and well-experienced one who, by their commitment helped to make the successes of the chamber over the last two years the magnitude it has become.
“We understood our mission and we made decisions together,” he said.
As a result, he said the chamber of commerce is poised for even greater successes.
By LEDEDRA MARCHE, Freeport News
