The Tribune

By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

Abaco’s Chamber of Commerce president is stepping down with the hope that the younger generation will bring new ideas, and stronger teamwork to continue representing the island’s business community.

After a tenure of over 13 years, Daphne DeGregory-Miaoulis said she is “frustrated” and has taken a backseat to allow other directors a chance to “take the more leading role.” She added that in 2025, lack of participation must be addressed.

“Unfortunately, the chamber is winding down and I’m coming to the end of my term, and I’m hoping to be, or I’m intending to be replaced as president because I’m not offering to do another term,” Ms DeGregory-Miaoulis said. “So I’ve kind of stepped back a little bit and trying to get other directors to take the more leading role.

“The problem is that I have been serving on the Abaco Chamber for so many years. It’s a constant battle and to date, I’m the longest serving member on our board, but it’s constantly a battle to get people to come out and participate. And this is not just common to the Abaco Chamber. I think this is pretty common, unfortunately throughout the country and throughout different organisations. I know Rotary have had their challenges, other organisations have had their challenges and this is something that really is going to have to be seriously addressed in 2025.”

She added: “I’ve got personal development that I have planned for 2025 that I just cannot split myself anymore. And I’m sorry to be leaving the chamber, but I’m hoping that by me leaving the chamber, other people will emerge. You know, it’s kind of like government. People say, well, where are all the good people? Why aren’t they offering to be in government? Part of the reason is because you don’t always get good people to work along with as a team. And I don’t know if you’ve ever done any sports, but no good organisation can really be successful without having a team and every member of that team has a vital role. I don’t care what level you’re at because, you know, if the bathrooms don’t get cleaned, it’s a reputation on the senior management. So from every level, each person involved in the team must excel to their best so that the entire team gets a mark. I think that’s something that’s really missing in our society.”

Ms DeGregory Miaoulis told Tribune Business that she hasn’t reached a few of her goals, two of which include receiving certain responses from the government and getting the community excited to get involved.

“Mentally, because I am where I am, I’ve kind of removed myself from the day-to-day issues that are going on,” Ms DeGregory-Miaoulis said. “I don’t want to be the person that they say, ‘Oh, yeah, you’re doing a great job’ and whatever because I honestly don’t feel that I am doing a great job for two reasons. One, I have not been able to excite or stimulate other people who want to get in and do a good job. I also have not had the response from the administration, government administration, that I think that the Chamber should be afforded. Government, they only come to you at the last minute when they want to just take advantage of, ‘oh, the Chamber is going to support this or whatever’. But they don’t engage us in conversations that affect us. They don’t allow us to have a say in the planning of things. They only want us to comment after the fact when they’ve already decided and determined how things are going to be, what developments are going to come and all that. I mean, we have so many lost opportunities because government only look at making announcements. They only want to look at how is the voter going to respond to this. Everything is about the vote. Everything is about securing their position.”

She pointed to a few issues negatively impacting Abaco but added that if she were “younger” she would keep up the fight but she is frustrated and passing the torch on, encouraging others to “get out there”.

“So is Abaco doing okay? Well, if you drive through Marsh Harbour, you’ll see that more businesses have opened,” Ms DeGregory-Miaoulis said. “You’ll see that buildings are being completed. We’re certainly looking better, but we still have buildings that are in the same state Dorian left them in and nothing’s been done to them and nobody’s making any noise about it or not enforcing any laws about it. I think everybody is watching their dollar because expenses have increased all around and by the looks of things, will continue to increase. Taxes will continue to go up… And if I was younger, I can promise you, if I was younger and the situation was the way it was now, I’d be out on the street corners, I’d be campaigning for change. But I’m tired. I’m not fighting that battle. I’m not doing it. But you guys got to get out there and do it.

“Every opportunity you gotta get out there and say, listen, enough is enough. We want better and we want more. Elections are right around the corner. Now’s the time to start. And I’m not saying that any party is better than another. That’s a toss up… I don’t know. I know one thing. Bids aren’t being offered publicly. Decisions are being made without consultation.

“I don’t like the direction that our country is going. Nothing seems to be running right and not enough money is staying in Abaco for us to maintain and make necessary improvements to our infrastructure. And in the school system, children need to be taught to be more civic-minded.”