Chamber calls for support
In a previous column, Cooperation Supports Performance, which was published by this newspaper in July 2017, I wrote about valuable work that Dr Leonie Pearson of the Regional Australia Institute has been doing in relation to so-called City Deals. City Deals is an initiative to facilitate cooperation between all levels of Government, that is Federal, State and Local Government.
Subsequently, on invitation of the Coffs Chamber, Dr Pearson has presented the City Deals concept to our members and also gave great insights into what typifies successful Regional Cities. Dr Pearson’s presentation included statistics about business in Coffs Harbour, including our ranking as a business community on the so-called sophistication scale.
According to Regional Australia Institute, “Business sophistication is determined by two key factors: the quality of a region’s overall business networks and the quality of individual firms’ operations and strategies. These two elements are inextricably linked and work together to encourage higher efficiency and levels of competitiveness. A region’s level of business sophistication signals to potential investors the region’s current productivity capabilities and their potential for responding to competitive pressures.”
Dr Pearson’s suggestion was that there was work to be done.
As your voice in Business we have taken on that challenge and from a Chamber perspective in the last year and measured by the Institute definition we would argue that there are ample signs of ever-increasing sophistication levels of business in our region. Our argument is borne out by the successes of the Chamber in the last year, including the quality and success of our most recent Sunny’s Awards presentation night and of the Chamber’s newest initiative, the Coffs Coast Business Expo, where our members were given opportunity to proudly showcase their businesses in a superb setting.
I have no doubt that now is the best time for any local business to become a member of the Chamber. Our members thrive in the opportunity to connect, engage and form networks and we at the Chamber thrive by bringing to our members events that support them to grow the quality of their individual operations and strategy.
There is also another compelling reason to join the Chamber now, namely that wide support of your local Chamber of Commerce sends a signal of confidence in our region to potential investors. In particular the message is that our region’s businesses are confident of their collective capability to be productive and that we believe we have the potential for responding to competitive pressures.
So, please join the Chamber if you are not already a member. To the many of you who are already members, thank you and please spread the news that now is the time to join in the success.