Chamber honors founding members

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce celebrated its 40th anniversary honoring businesspeople who were responsible for establishing the longest business organization on the island.

Their leadership, entrepreneurial spirit and volunteerism greatly contributed to the growth of the Chamber, according to Lynn Knight, president of the Chamber. Thirteen of the 22 founding members have already died but their family members were around to receive the plaque of appreciation.

“In this difficult times, it helps a lot to be with businesspeople who started this organization and to take time in honoring them,” she said.

The Chamber begun in the 1960s when businessmen Jose C. Tenorio and Elias P. Sablan gathered 18 men to organize what turned out to be the most influential business group today in the Northern Marianas.

The Chamber then was more involved in political issues as it frequently submitted position papers to the United Nations Visiting Mission for the CNMI to have close ties with the United States. Saipan then was under the U.S. military with the presence of the Naval Technical Training Unit.

“It was not really an active organization then because the leaders would just call for a meeting if there was a big concern,” said Dave M. Sablan, former president of the Chamber.
Although he was still an executive based in Guam, he already showed interest in the Chamber affairs in Saipan attending meetings and giving speeches as requested.

In 1965, Mr. Tenorio (Joeten) relinquished the post and passed on the leadership to Mr. Sablan who then came back to the island to establish Atkins Kroll & Company, now known as Microl Corp. With the help of the Peace Corps business advisors, the new leadership rewrote the Chamber by laws and the rest, as they say, is history.

“Through the years, the Chamber has maintained its role as a strong lobbyists, pushing for every legislation that will help the business community,” Mr. Sablan said.

While the Chamber has now attracted a huge number of members, Mr. Sablan hopes that more local businessmen would become members of the organization to provide more diversity in opinions. “Their opinions will greatly help the organization as we constantly look for ways on how to make the CNMI a friendly investment site for businesses,” he added.

Amid the challenges facing the business sector today, Ms. Knight said the Chamber will continuously work with the government especially the Legislature in ensuring that business-friendly legislation are passed.

“We have to work hard in giving them feedback on certain legislation that will adversely affect the cost of doing business on the island or how hard it will be for investors to do business here,” she added.