Chamber News

Important Fact Sheets from Ministry of Health

Dear all, important information from the Ministry of Health. Download and read this important information, to keep you and your loved ones safe: If you or someone in your household tests positive for COVID-19 If you or someone in your household tests positive for COVID-19, they need to isolate immediately. Isolation means staying away from everyone else in your household. Isolation is needed to stop the infected person from coming into contact with other people and causing them to become sick as well. By stopping contact between an infected person and others, it is possible to avoid the infection of many people. Fact Sheet: If you, or someone in your family, has COVID-19 What is a close contact of someone with COVID-19 If you, or…

Employment Advice and COVID-19

VCCI has sought legal advice to create the attached set of Employment Guidelines related to COVID-19. The guidelines are based on the current laws, regulations and orders in place in Vanuatu, and cover the following topics: Can I require my employees to be vaccinated? Can I terminate my employees if they refuse to be vaccinated? Can I stop people from entering my business if they are not vaccinated? If we have community transmissions, what are my responsibilities towards ‘at-risk’ employees e.g. elderly, pregnant or underlying illnesses? What are my responsibilities towards my employees during a lockdown? What happens if one of my employees cannot work because they have COVID-19? What happens if one of my employees cannot work because they are isolating? Click here to…

Businesses, get ready! State of Health Emergency new guidelines for operating in a COVID world

Vanuatu has moved from a State of Emergency to a State of Health Emergency as of today, February 1st, 2022. Download the declaration here. Guidelines under the Department of Public Health must be followed, in accordance to COVID alert levels 0-3. VCCI as created range of support materials for this very purpose, please visit vcci.vu/covid-ready/ to view: Videos on how to prepare and operate safely – https://vcci.vu/covid-ready/what-you-need-to-do-to-prepare/ Standard operating procedures (WHS plan templates) for each alert level for each industry sector – https://vcci.vu/covid-ready/operating-at-different-alert-levels/ Guidelines on how to manage staff and vaccinations – https://vcci.vu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/VCCI-Advice-Employment-and-COVID.pdf **Please note we will publish what is an essential service as soon as list endorsed by our Government decision makers. We can share the draft list upon request. Call Esther@ VCCI for…

Call for Government Focus on COVID-19 Health Readiness

Dear members and colleagues, As I near the end my second year as President of the VCCI I notice that our work at the Chamber has never been more relevant and important for our business community. Decisions that are made in how we as a country manage COVID-19 have a direct effect on employment numbers, and the survival of key industry sectors. VCCI’s role in advocating on the behalf of all businesses is of key importance and we wish to strengthen our relationship with Government in these challenging times. As clearly outlined by the press release published in the Daily Post on Saturday, written by from the Ministry of Heath’s Acting DG Dr Tapo we believe there is a direct connection between Vanuatu’s readiness to…

VCCI’s Vanuatu Private Sector Economic Update November 2021 available here

VCCI is happy to make available the 2021 Vanuatu Private Sector Economic Update. The purpose of this update is to provide an update ‘one year on’ to the September 2020 Vanuatu Economic Outlook Report, commissioned by VCCI in the lead up to the National Government and Business Forum last year. The initial report was written to assist both the public and private sector understand how businesses are faring during the ongoing economic crisis caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. This report continues in the same vein by providing updated case studies and anecdotal findings from research conducted in 2021. Click here to download the update. For a hard copy please come by the VCCI Port Vila office, or make a request to Saphy on 27543….

BAR STOOL EVENT AT VCCI

Last Friday VCCI organized its first bar stool event, inviting our current mentees an opportunity to present a sales pitch for their business to a room full of fellow business owners, the program’s mentors and supportive staff members from the Business Services team. After their pitch these talented individuals were able to share with the room some of the challenges, they are facing with solutions being discussed with the group. Those who presented include Christina Noel (Owner of Hope’s Child Care Centre), John Toara & Harrison Samson (Owners of Tirow Construction), Esther Philip (Owner Esther Philip Catering) and Sherley Pata (Owner of Tiwi Trader Shipping). This event was organized to assist our businesses who are part of our current mentoring activities cohort to network and…

Melanesian Food at its Best

So much has changed in our new global COVID world, yet sometimes its’ easy to think here in Vanuatu our life is not affected – given there have been no community cases and for many people life goes on similarly as before. But for most businesspeople, there is a very real COVID effect. Sophie Tariliu was running a successful and well-known kava business in Port Vila pre-COVID. As people lost jobs in multiple industries many of them opened new kava businesses. So competition in the kava sector increased and as a result the returns were dropping. Sophie and her husband Richard Mera noticed the changes right away and knew they would need to react quickly when Sophie noticed there was a ‘for rent’ sign in…

Business News – Monday, 30 August 2021

Dear Members, As you know the borders are currently closed to repatriations. This is to give the country time to get as organized as it can in case COVID makes its way to Vanuatu. For all of you that have attended the COVID Safe Business operations training its time to take action and implement what you learnt. Please watch the video here to get inspired. If you need a refresher or any help at all please contact us at sbo@vcci.vu or call 27543. Vaccines are of vital importance so encourage your staff to go and get jabbed today, Let’s be ready! Workshop in Santo VCCI would like to thank all our business men and women who attended our workshops in Luganville this week. We had…

VCCI is looking for a Finance, Human Resource and Administration Manager

The Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce and Industry seeks a Finance, Human Resource and Administration Manager whose major function will be to supervise the financial, human resource and administrative operations of the organisation in cooperation with the General Manager. This role is an executive role and as such we are looking to recruit someone with the right experience, and who is a natural fit to the existing team. Under the supervision of the General Manager, the Finance, Human Resource and Administration Manager’s main responsibilities encompass: Financial management and reporting for the organisation – including collecting, interpreting, and reviewing financial information and reporting to the Council, and supervising the finance and accounting services staff. Human resources management – including recruitment and training, and ensuring appropriate procedures are…

The Tourism Business Support Program explained

The Department of Tourism (DoT) is offering a recovery package to tourism operators across all 6 provinces to assist in keeping the tourism sector operational during border closures. The program has several ways it can help tourism business operators. Survival Grants The first is with costs associated with keeping your business operational. More specifically with costs associated with cleaning, maintenance, gardening, security, safety and utility bills. If you are able to provide DoT with the following documents, please click on the link below to be taken to the online application form: Tourism permit Business licence VFSC certificate Signed Code of Conduct for your Tourism Business (if you don’t have one, a template will be provided to you by the DoT on receiving your application) Evidence…

Covid 19 Video Updates

31 March 2020
26 March 2020