Business and government leaders of the U.S. Virgin Islands will travel to Atlanta later this month to explore new business opportunities at a U.S. Virgin Islands Development Summit, hosted by the USVI Alliance Inc.
The summit is in its second year and has the goal of informing and engaging Virgin Islanders that live in the diaspora about opportunities in the territory. "But (it is) also for people with an interest in the Virgin Islands as a place to do business to get accurate information," said Loán Sewer, one of the conference organizers.
Sewer is a native of St. Thomas who now lives and works in Maryland, in the metro Washington, D.C. area. The principal at Gob consulting, she and other members of the USVI Alliance organized the meeting in the nation’s capitol to bring together Virgin Islanders now living and running successful businesses in the states with government officials to explore how to help the territory they still consider home.
Sewer said they began last year after a meeting with Gov. John deJongh Jr. and Delegate Donna M. Christensen because “we wanted to see how we could use our alliance to help fill some of the gaps holding the territory back." Last year’s summit was in D.C., where there is a large V.I. population, and this year it is in Atlanta, May 20-22, because of the large V.I. population there, she said.
"It’s about looking at different industries that can succeed and be sustainable in the territory in light of the fact we have lost some of our major businesses in the last several years," Sewer said. It is also about attracting existing businesses to open up shop and invest in the territory, she said.
"A large part of this summit is about networking, matchmaking and relationship building," Sewer said. "We also are having real discussions on real issues. If a solution or recommendation is brought forth, we look at what type of action can be done in the next year or two to begin implementing something. So it is more than talk," she said.
The territory’s top elected officials, including deJongh, Christensen and V.I. Senate President Shawn-Michael Malone attended last year’s summit and are expected this year too, Sewer said. Titled “Diversifying Business and Industry in the 21st Century and Beyond,” the conference aims to help attendees identify how to capitalize on upcoming V.I. business development opportunities.
Before the conference begins in the Doubletree by Hilton Atlanta Downtown Hotel, V.I. talent living in the Atlanta area will entertain at a pre-summit reception on May 20. The formal program begins May 21and runs through May 22.
DeJongh will deliver the keynote address, and many V.I. government agencies will be represented on panel discussions, including Tourism, the Economic Development Authority, Licensing and Consumer Affairs, Education, University of the Virgin Islands, the V.I. Water and Power Authority and others, on topics from education to energy in the territory.
Officials from the U.S. Small Business Administration, and Atlanta business and government leaders have been invited too, said Sewer, who is a marketing and branding consultant, the managing partner of Vibrant Design Group LLC, and has lived in the states for 20 years. She also writes a regular feature for the Source, profiling exceptional Virgin Islanders living abroad.
Sewer said trying to answer various queries she received led to the formation of the USVI Alliance and their first summit was organized with the 340 Group, another business group of stateside Virgin Islanders who consult on V.I. business opportunities, mentor and assist students from the territory with their college applications, and provide scholarships for college-bound V.I. students.
The USVI Alliance is based in New York, Washington, D.C., and St. Thomas, Sewer said.
