Olive Strachan

Olive Strachan (née Collaire) is a distinguished international businesswoman, human resources executive, author, and specialized consultant in leadership development and diversity and inclusion. With a career spanning over three decades and crossing more than 25 countries, Strachan is widely recognized as a pioneering figure within the global British-Caribbean diaspora. Following a highly successful corporate footprint in the United Kingdom, she executed a high-profile reverse migration to her birthplace of Dominica, where she now serves as the President of the Dominica Association of Industry and Commerce (DAIC).

Beyond her corporate accolades, Strachan holds a significant place in Dominican cultural history: she is the great-great-granddaughter of Pierre Colaire, the legendary anti-colonial leader of the 1893 La Plaine Land Tax Riots. This lineage establishes her as a living link between Dominica’s nineteenth-century history of structural resistance and its modern, globally integrated business ecosystem.

Lineage and Early Life: The Collaire Connection

Strachan was born in Castle Bruce, Dominica, into the Collaire family. Her ancestral roots tie her directly to the rugged windward coast of the island and the historical legacy of Case O’ Gowrie and La Plaine. Her parents, Althea and the late Augustine Colaire, famously ran the local “Bo Peep” bakery in La Plaine, grounding the family deeply in the local community. Growing up with the knowledge that her great-great-grandfather had actively challenged the British Crown to protect agrarian land rights, Strachan inherited a foundational paradigm of resilience and autonomy.

During her childhood, she migrated from Dominica to the United Kingdom as part of the historic Windrush generation. Like many children of West Indian immigrants arriving in post-war Britain, Strachan frequently recalled balancing the high, disciplined expectations of her Dominican household with the systemic cultural friction of adapting to a rigid British society.

The Windrush Migration and the UK Corporate Ascent

Strachan’s professional trajectory is often cited as a case study in career agility and reinvention. She began her professional journey at the absolute foundation of the British workforce:

• Early Employment: She secured her first role as a clerk-typist in Blackburn, Lancashire, before transitioning to Manchester to work at the Sight and Sound Secretarial College.
• The Recruitment Industry: Strachan spent twelve formative years within the highly competitive British recruitment sector. She played a pivotal role in operational expansions for tier-one agencies, assisting in opening the first Adecco office on Deansgate in Manchester and managing high-volume portfolios for the Brook Street Agency and Reed Employment.
• Corporate Training Shift: She subsequently assumed a leadership role with Video Arts—an innovative corporate training organization co-founded by actor John Cleese that pioneered the concept of “laughter and learning.” This experience fundamentally shifted her focus toward human capital development and corporate psychology.

As a mature student, Strachan chose to anchor her practical field experience in rigorous academic theory. She attended the University of Salford, where she successfully completed a Postgraduate Diploma, followed by a Master’s Degree in Human Resources.

Founding of Olive Strachan Consultancy and Global Impact

In 1998, leveraging her extensive recruitment and training expertise, she established Olive Strachan Resources (later rebranded as Olive Strachan Consultancy). Operating as a black female entrepreneur in a historically homogeneous sector, she grew the firm into a premier global management training entity.

Over twenty-five years, Strachan designed and executed transformational leadership modules, executive coaching frameworks, and comprehensive diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Her international portfolio expanded across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, servicing highly regulated industries and legacy institutions. Her corporate client roster has included:

• AstraZeneca (Biopharmaceuticals)
• John Lewis & Partners (Premium Retail)
• The British Council (International Cultural Relations)
• Tyco Oil (Energy and Infrastructure)
• Mars, Incorporated (Global Conglomerate)

Monarchial and Professional Recognition

Strachan’s contributions to international commerce and human resources have earned her some of the highest civilian and professional honors in the United Kingdom:

• Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE): In the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours List, Strachan was awarded an MBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The honour explicitly recognised her exceptional Services to Exports and Professional Business Services, highlighting her role as an official Export Champion for the UK Department for International Trade (DIT).
• Chartered Companion of the CIPD: In September 2021, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) conferred its highest tier of membership upon Strachan. The Chartered Companion designation is reserved strictly for elite HR leaders who have demonstrated a profound, systemic impact on the global human resources profession.
• Regional Accolades: For three consecutive years (2014–2016), she was named one of the “Top 100 Most Influential Women in the North West” by Business Insider UK. In 2021, her firm won the prestigious Enterprise Vision Award for Training and Coaching Organisation of the Year.

Contemporary Leadership: Repatriation and Presidency of the DAIC

In 2020, amid the structural disruptions of the global COVID-19 pandemic and after residing in England for over fifty years, Strachan executed a strategic repatriation to her birthplace, Dominica. Rather than transitioning to a conventional retirement, she immediately established the Caribbean arm of her consultancy to foster regional capacity building.

Strachan rapidly integrated herself into the modern Dominican civic and economic landscape, moving from a director and Public Relations Officer role to the pinnacle of private-sector leadership. She was elected President of the Dominica Association of Industry and Commerce (DAIC), succeeding former president Brenton Hilaire.

As President, Strachan serves as the primary advocate for Dominica’s private enterprise. Her administration focuses on:

• SME Capacity Building: Translating international corporate standards into scalable practices for local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
• Diaspora Integration: Advocating for institutional frameworks that streamline freedom of movement and allow returning nationals to invest seamlessly back into the local economy.
• Strategic Partnerships: Guiding the Chamber through massive national economic milestones, ensuring the private sector is strategically positioned to capitalize on major infrastructure developments, such as the international airport project.
• Civic Contributions: Alongside her DAIC duties, she serves as an active member and Club Trainer for the Rotary Club of Dominica, steering humanitarian frameworks and youth mentorship programs.

Literary Works and Core Philosophy

Strachan has codified her decades of professional and personal insights into two highly regarded books:

1. The Power of You (Debut): A business-centric text focusing on self-actualization, navigating corporate adversity, and maintaining entrepreneurial resilience through macroeconomic downturns and recessions.
2. Prime (Published 2024): A deeply introspective memoir and navigational guide launched in Roseau. Prime chronicles her departure from the United Kingdom and the complex cultural, psychological, and social dynamics of returning to Dominica after half a century abroad. The book addresses the unique alienation sometimes experienced by returning diaspora members, the weight of societal expectations, and champions the philosophy that an individual’s prime is not a chronological window, but a state of mind defined entirely by personal agency and adaptability.

Institutional Record & Summary Profile