San Juan Has Beauty

Ms Jada Hossain, Miss Global Trinidad & Tobago 2022

MISS GLOBAL TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 2022 HAILS FROM SAN JUAN: JOURNEY TO PERU

Miss Global Trinidad and Tobago is a local beauty competition with elegancy, fashion and sophistication for all young ladies seeking the opportunity to represent Trinidad and Tobago on an international platform. On March 19th 2022, the organization hosted their 3rd Annual competition at the Naparima Bowl Auditorium in San Fernando. The event showcased an evening of electrifying representation of culture, talent and exquisite locally designed gowns. A new Queen and Ambassador was crowned, Ms Jada Hossain who represented the beautiful metropolitan area of San Juan. Ms Hossain will hold the title for a duration of one (1) year. This July, the new Miss Global Trinidad and Tobago 2022 will be journeying to Peru, to represent Trinidad and Tobago at Miss Global International, among 55 other countries. Ms Jada Hossain captured and mesmerized the audience and judges with her, intelligence, beauty and charismatic aura. The production for this spectacular and sophisticated event is executed by, Local Pageant Producer and National Director Mr Mahindra Rampersad and Local Executive Producer and International chaperon, Ms Erica Caton. The Pageant organizers indicated that they already have an international training plan for the New Miss Global Trinidad and Tobago and the plan will be rolled out from today, as it’s a team effort with the organization and the New Miss Global Trinidad and Tobago 2022.

Support our beauty Queen’s journey to Peru.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

On behalf of the Board of San Juan Business Association (SJBA), I am pleased to report to the membership and wider community as we continue to deliver in your interest. We wish to thank all health care workers, protective services and various arms of the government for their tireless work during the height of the pandemic. The Government must also be commended for its strong signals and actions to fully reopen the economy while continuing to fight the pandemic. While we believe this could have been done sooner, being able to operate at full capacity with little to no restrictions is welcomed. SJBA is pleased to announce the relaunch of our website, www.sjbatt.com. Through this platform, our membership will now be able to access association services, San Juan Speaks, and registration. Members will be given a membership profile in order to access these online services and their information within our database. We look forward to welcoming micro-businesses which include sole traders, agricultural businesses, food vendors, taxi drivers and all other trade professionals. In national current affairs, the Government has communicated an increase in fuel prices. The Association and by extension our memberships believe this is a matter of grave concern. While we understand the Government’s limited options in a time of economic pressure, balance must be found in lightening the burden on society’s most vulnerable. (868) 755-6797 (868) 779-6697 www.sjbatt.com sanjuanbusiness@gmail.com In this regard we believe the timing of such an increase is ill-advised. This is on the backdrop of reopening the economy and the extended period of time many businesses have been operating at levels lower than pre-pandemic activity. It must also be noted that this will impact the standard of living for all citizens, specifically those that have been negatively affected with unemployment issues throughout the period. Increasing fuel prices will have a significant impact on transportation and energy costs. These issues must not solely be considered in isolation as we must articulate our capacity to export competitively. This must be viewed with the common knowledge of other major energy providers within our region that are positioning themselves to be the leader in the energy industry within the Caribbean. We commend the government’s intention to remove taxes on hybrid vehicles and strongly believe that they should not have been taxed in recent times. The Association will continue to advocate for the removal of taxes on all hybrid vehicles and not only those with the lowest engine classification. As we quickly approach our upcoming Annual General Meeting the board of directors wish to encourage all business stakeholders to join us in achieving our mission and vision while providing a united front to put San Juan first.

FREE WEBINAR

Includes:

1. Nature of employment contacts

2. Disciplinary and Grievances procedures

3. Dismissal

QUARTERLY MEMBERSHIP MEETING 2022

SAN JUAN / LAVENTILLE REGIONAL CORPORATION ROAD REPAIRS

San Juan Business Association advocates for road repairs through the Councillor for the area, Ms Kimberly Small and San Juan Regional Corporation. Location: Corner 6th Avenue and 12th Street, Barataria

REPRESENTATION AT PARLIAMENT JSC

SJBA Director – Education & Youth Affairs – Mr Emerson John-Charles represented the community on the Finance st and Legal Affairs committee on 21 January 2022. Contributions were made on micro and small enterprises sector on the issue of the Covid 19 pandemic. Mr John-Charles also created a committee of youth development in the community and has made contributions rd on 23 May 2022 along with committee members Mr Christian Paul and Lincoln Charles. The Advisory Committee for the Development of National Service (ACNS), a cabinet appointed committee sought ideas and feedback on youth-related issues specific to developing a national service program.

SJBA FIGHTS FOR SMALL BUSINE$$

PRESS RELEASE issued on February 11th 2022: SJBA continues to represent the interest of Small and Microbusiness. Much has been mentioned about an impending NIB crash. Such a crash has the potential to affect the most vulnerable citizens in society. These are citizens that have paid their dues in contributing to the development of this country over the years. SMEs in this conversation cannot continue to be overlooked in solving national problems. In this regard, we are referring to Individual entrepreneurs across various industries. These astute and accomplished businesspeople represent legitimate business and include but are not limited to; Taxis, Farmers, Plumbers, Electricians, Estheticians, Barbers, Nail Technicians, and Carpenters to name a few. NIB expenditure has grown by 12.5% over the past couple of years while revenue contributions have declined by 2%. This is a result of the closure of various sectors during this pandemic. Nevertheless, SJBA recognizes proposed solutions such as increasing the retirement age from 60 to 65 years. We strongly believe that we must go further. From a broader perspective, bringing more fluidity into the system can deal with situations like this impending NIB crash. At this time, self-employed persons are unable to make NIS contributions. In reality, some persons have already made contributions during previous regular employment and at this time and in the future are unable to benefit from a pension. We have been consistently bombarded with various complaints daily on this issue. It is not an incentive to bolster the economy and entrepreneurial spirit in the country. We need to make cents for NIB and the country.

SJBABoard of Directors

SEEDLING DRIVE 2022

On Saturday, February 5th 2022 San Juan Business Association (SJBA) in collaboration with SURE Foundation distributed 12,500 seedlings to members of the public on the Promenade. During the height of Covid-19, many persons were unable to buy basic foods items, this initiative was aimed at assisting persons to become self-sustaining by “eating what UPCOMING EVENTS Photo: Board Directors of SJBA and SURE foundation members. you grow”