AS part of the celebration of its 10th Anniversary, the Saint Lucia Development Bank recently held a gala staff award ceremony to show appreciation and reward staff for their tremendous contribution to the bank over the past 10 years.
Although every year the Bank holds a special staff awards event, this year’s ceremony had a new significance as it coincided with the island’s celebration of its 40th Anniversary of Independence.
During his address at the ceremony, Managing Director, Mr. Vincent Boland highlighted some of the significant milestones of the Bank over the past decade. He indicated that attaining 10 years was a milestone in itself, as this is testimony to the Bank’s resilience. Seeing students go off to school, persons moving into their newly constructed houses or businesses go from concept to producing and sampling the products / the fruits of their labour were all significant achievements brought into focus by Boland.
The Saint Lucia Development Bank was originally established by an Act of the Saint Lucia Parliament of 1980. From agriculture, particularly banana production, to the early growth in tourism, the Saint Lucia Development Bank played an important role.
In 2001, the Saint Lucia Development Bank merged with the then National Commercial Bank of Saint Lucia to form the Bank of Saint Lucia. The Saint Lucia Development Bank as it was known before the merger became the division of development banking of Bank of Saint Lucia.
The Saint Lucia Development Bank as we know it now was re-established by an Act of Parliament Act no. 12 of 2008 in July of that same year as a body corporate and was formally launched on February 22, 2009 to coincide with the island’s 30th anniversary of independence.
The Bank formally opened its doors for business on February 24, 2009.
The awards ceremony which was attended by staff and members of the Board witnessed staff members receiving awards for ‘Long Service’, ‘Best Team Player’, ‘Most Referrals’ among others. The coveted prize of ‘Employee of the Year’ went to Billia Smith- Harrow. This has been the third time that Mrs. Harrow has won this coveted title. The evening ended with a gala dinner and dance.
Other events which have taken place during the anniversary celebrations included a Miss SLDB Pageant which was won by Anselma Phillip and a Public Speaking Competition which was also won by Anselma Phillip.
To culminate celebrations a relaunch of the Youth Enterprises Equity Fund and a customer appreciation event will be held in the month of April.