Junior Achievement (JA) Saint Lucia has been honored with a top regional accolade at the recent JA Americas Leadership Summit held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The award recognizes the island nation’s successful efforts to rebuild its youth entrepreneurship and financial literacy program after years of pandemic-related disruption, highlighting the critical role of cross-sector private sector collaboration in driving youth development forward.
This award marks a defining milestone not just for JA Saint Lucia, but also for the Saint Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, which has stewarded the program locally for nearly 30 years. JA Saint Lucia was first integrated into the Chamber’s portfolio of youth-focused initiatives back in 1996, and for decades it has delivered hands-on learning opportunities that equip young people with practical skills in entrepreneurship, financial literacy, leadership development, business operations, and workplace readiness.
When the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe in 2020, it brought unprecedented disruption to community programs across Saint Lucia, including JA. Pandemic-related lockdowns, safety restrictions, and economic uncertainty forced JA activities to pause for multiple years, putting the long-term future of the program at risk. However, Chamber leadership never wavered in their commitment to reviving the program that has shaped thousands of young Saint Lucians over generations.
“While the pandemic created an unprecedented interruption, we were determined that it would not bring an end to Junior Achievement in Saint Lucia,” explained Brian Louisy, Executive Director of the Saint Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture. “The Chamber remained committed to finding a way to revive the programme and worked closely with our members to mobilise the support and resources needed to make its return possible.”
At the center of this resurgence story is Cheryl Renwick, who serves dual roles as Director of JA Saint Lucia and Director of the Chamber of Commerce. Renwick’s persistent leadership and strategic outreach to the local business community created a clear pathway for private sector investment in the program’s revival. Her work laid the groundwork for early Chamber members to step forward with the seed funding required to restart JA activities across the island.
Today, alongside the revived JA Saint Lucia program, the Chamber continues to operate the local Youth Business Trust, which supports young entrepreneurs to launch and scale their own ventures. Chamber leadership has reaffirmed its long-term commitment to strengthening youth-focused programming across Saint Lucia, with plans to expand access to JA’s hands-on learning model for more young people across the island in the coming years. The regional recognition awarded at the JA Americas Leadership Summit serves as a testament to what collaborative private sector action can achieve to empower the next generation of leaders and innovators.