Featuring over 140 local businesses, and almost doubling last year’s numbers, Daniel says the turnout and citizen participation was exciting.
The two-day business expo (Feb 16 - 17) forms part of the 2024 Independence 45 Celebrations in Saint Lucia. The CEO says seeing the expo come together has been a really exciting experience.
“I feel very excited and really happy to see it all come together again. It's an event that we really look forward to on the Independence Calendar and so we're very happy to see it all come together and to see our entrepreneurs actually enjoying this experience,” the CEO said.
She says the support from locals has been encouraging.
“So far, the Saint Lucian public has been really supportive of the Independence Expo. We're still on tomorrow[Saturday 17th], so we do invite all of them to come down and see what the entrepreneurs have on display. But so far, yes, the public has been supportive. They've been coming out and we look forward to receiving them for the rest of the day,” she said.
One challenge she observed was the lack of physical space. Having doubled the number of local businesses, the CEO says Constitution Park and William Peter Boulevard did not have enough space for all interested businesses.
“We do have some persons sharing some tents and some spaces, but it was to really accommodate the doubling of the numbers. So next year would be a little difficult. It's something we are already thinking about where will we go next? Because we really had to turn down some potential individuals from exhibiting because we just didn't have sufficient space. So next year we'll plan and see where we go forward.”
Many of the local businesses on display have received funding from the Youth Economy and the MSME grant-loan facility and are clients of Export Saint Lucia who receive training in packaging, bookkeeping, digital marketing, and opportunities in regional and international expos to promote their products.