BAY ISLANDS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRIES HISTORY.

In 1998, at the Hotel Cay View, Ms. Rita  Morris, Rev. Glenn Solomon and Mr. Ricardo Merren, came up with the idea of ​​grouping the entrepreneurs and creating an office that would serve as a link between the central government, Municipality and the private sector with the aim of developing and defending the collective interests of commerce in the area.

After several meetings, Mrs. Morris went to the Federation of Chambers  (FEDECAMARA) in Tegucigalpa in the year 2000, also with the advice of directors of the Chamber of Commerce in La Ceiba Atlántida, she managed to form the first board of directors with businessmen of the island: Eldon Hyde, Antonio Moore, Sandy Mclaughlin, Bonnie Jackson, Yolanda Russell, Curby Warren, Salvador Diaz, Gaetano Borriello, Donald Pearly, Roberto Pino, Luey Mclaughlin, Jacqueline Wood, Arlie Thompson, Rene Zeron, John Nelson and Cecille Russell.

As off that date, Mrs. Morris and her Board of Directors began a great effort to work together for the well-being of the Bay Islands, managing to register 30 companies and renting an office at the Cay View Hotel.

With no funds to operate the Chamber, Mrs. Morris donated all the furniture and formally begins to operate, with a secretary, accountant and a bill collector, also hired the services of a lawyer to perform the legal proceedings for the Legal Status of the Chamber.

In August 2002, Mrs. Morris traveled to Santa Bárbara to attend the Federation Assembly where she was given the Certification so that the Chamber could officially begin to operate, in that same year the Board of Directors was restructured.

After several meetings, the President succeeded in signing an important Cooperation Agreement in May 2003 with the National Institute of Vocational Training (INFOP) to train the island population in different areas, in October of the same year an agreement was signed with the Municipality of Roatán, being in that year Mr. Jerry Hynds as mayor, with the objective of giving compliance to Article 384 of the Commercial Code.

With the signing of these agreements, a series of training was started, benefiting many single mothers and people who worked for different companies affiliated with the Chamber. Also, through the agreement with the municipality, several companies were registered, obtaining an increase in income to work for the benefit of our members.

That same year together with the Chamber of Tourism and the Municipality of Roatan, procedures were initiated so that the Island had the presence of the Tourist Police.

In the month of June of 2006 and after six years as president of the Chamber the Ordinary General Assembly is celebrated for the election of the members of the Board of Directors, in this occasion, Mr. Andrés Cardona was elected as president for the period 2006-2008, who during his term became a representative of the private sector in the Administrative Commission of ZOLITUR (Bay Islands Tourist Free Zone) and since 2008  starts the economic support for the Cuban doctors of the Roatán public Hospital.

In June 2008, the Chamber elects its president once more, this time Mr. Salvador Diaz was elected for the period 2008-2010, Mr. Díaz was one of the founding members of the Chamber, secretary, accountant, and financial advisor.

We continued to support our members with training in areas such as Human Relations, electricity, customer service, and pastry, among others.

In the month of May 2010 at the Assembly Mrs. Ana Svoboda was elected as president of the Board of Directors for the period 2010-2012, during her term an agreement was signed with the Secretary of Labor and Social Security to implement the electronic job vacancies.

In February 2012, Mrs.  Morris was elected once again as president and for the 2012-2014 term.

She started with trainings on how to form companies, small business administration, Jellies and Marmalades, fruit wines, vinegars and pickles, cutting and making curtains, floristry, snacks, sweet and salty breads and cold desserts.

On this occasion, the procedure for the legal status of the Chamber is retaken, obtaining it in the month of January 2014, at the same time the numerical RTN is obtained.

Through an alliance of FEDECAMARA with Immigration, the Mobile Cabin was installed for the first time in Roatan, benefiting 493 people with the passport process

In March 2017, Mr. Emsly Hyde was elected as president, entrepreneur of the transportation category who has served as a member since 2011 to March 2019, an alliance is signed with FEDECAMARA / CCI de Cortes to carry out the "Saturday Bazaar" event in which the local artisans are supported so that they can sell their products twice a month, likewise, the alliance was continued through the National Institute of immigration for the passport process, benefiting with this procedure an approximate of 5,000 people once again the alliance with the Municipality of Roatan is achieved so that the companies register before requesting the operating permit, increasing the registrations of 427 more companies in 2019, which amounts to a record of 3940 at the end of their management.

In the month of March 2019, Dr. Jacqueline Wood was nominated in the general assembly in which the members of the Board are elected, becoming president for the period 2019-2021.

Dr. Jacqueline served the community as a pediatrician for 37 years at the public hospital and her private clinic, but in march 2020 Dr. Wood resign from her position as president of the board of directors for personal reasons, assuming the position of the vice president attorney Ricardo Merren, as stipulated in the chamber bylaws.