[dropcap]S[/dropcap]aint Lucia based firm, Preville and Associates Consulting Group at Hewanorra House, Pointe Seraphine, is the leading force behind the new Grenada National Export Strategy, which was launched in the Spice Isle, last Thursday, July 27, 2017. The firm led a consortium of consultants under a contract with the Commonwealth Secretariat.
The new National Export Strategy, is part of Grenada’s Economic Recovery Program, and will become part of the National Sustainable Development Plan 2030, with a prime focus on job creation and wealth generation. Dr. Preville worked closely with a National Core Design Team comprising key Grenada government officials; a team of consultants engaged via his firm; officials of the Commonwealth Secretariat; as well as private sector representative from the six sector areas prioritized for export development.
It is expected that with its implementation, the Grenada economy will see a steady rise in exports, employment, gender main-streaming, regional integration, private-public partnership (PPP), and poverty reduction. This will create an enabling effect, leading to improved living standards and economic growth.
Preville and Associates Consulting Group led three missions to Grenada during the development of this Strategy. The First mission saw detailed stakeholder consultations to determine the nature and type of problems affecting the export sector. The second mission provided training for the development of key sector strategies, while the third mission presented the key sector strategies along with action matrices proposed for their implementation at a validation workshop. Six sectors were prioritized for export development namely:
- Agriculture and Fisheries
- Creative Industries
- Health and Wellness
- Maritime and Yachting
- Professional Services
- Tourism
Dr. Claudius Preville, Managing Director of Preville and Associates Consulting Group, was in Grenada on Thursday July 27, 2017 to facilitate the launch of the National Export Strategy which is expected to be implemented over the five-year period, spanning 2017- 2021.
The first National Export Strategy was developed and implemented from 2006-2011. That Strategy however recorded weak export performance due to ineffective national coordinating mechanisms, inadequate follow up on key issues, coupled with two devastating hurricanes and the absence of action plans for implementing the strategy. Grenada however is optimistic that this new National Export Strategy will help improve the economy given the more comprehensive approach and the commitment of the Government to implement the strategy. Several private and public sector leaders were present at the launch of the strategy including representatives of the diplomatic community and some of Grenada’s strategic partners with interest in the country’s economic and social development.
Dr. Preville, who is also a Certified Management Consultant and the President of Saint Lucia’s Association of Management Consultants, sees this project as an important milestone for consultancy firms in Saint Lucia that are often ignored by their own government and private companies when seeking management consulting services to improve their businesses and operations in general. With Saint Lucia recording the largest number of Certified Management Consultants in the entire CARICOM region it is hoped that the governments in Saint Lucia and the rest of region, regional organizations and agencies, as well as private companies, will avail more Saint Lucian firms of the opportunity to render their services and reduce the over reliance on foreign consultancy firms for performance of assignments often well within the technical and management competence of local firms and often for which foreign firms will nevertheless hire local consultants to undertake.
Source: Preville & Associates Consulting Group
