Our local Chamber of Commerce is a member-driven and people-focused organization who believes that the positive impact we create for local businesses ultimately affects the lives of business owners, employees and our community.
That’s why we’re active problem solvers, equipped to help our business community by connecting our members with various resources and representing their interests to all levels of government, while providing various supports at every stage of the business lifecycle.
We are proud to be a collaboration of driven businesses and organizations from all industries, united in the effort to strengthen our local economy. We believe we are stronger together and there is power in one strong and unified voice. As a non-partisan, not for profit business organization, we are that trusted partner and liaison between business and government, striving to create balanced solutions that provide stability and leadership for our business community.
As we move forward in 2020, we will be focusing our efforts on continuing to strengthen our business community, through our connections, support and influence. We’ve established a plan to achieve this through enhancing our communications, launching our new website and refining our messaging and resources. We will be focusing on our membership and collecting feedback from you to in order to better serve your needs into the future through the various services and business supports we provide. We will be looking at our partnerships to see what additional training and supports we can leverage in our community. We will be looking to enhance our trade show experiences and we constantly look at improvements to service delivery, benchmarking ourselves against other Chambers and implementing lean practices to produce higher value outcomes.
We will also be working on Business Retention, Expansion and Workforce Development (BREWD) projects, as we unite with various other business support organizations in our region through Invest Southeast Alberta.
Through the BREWD survey conducted in the fall of 2019, our business community expressed that they want an environment that encourages business development and a focus on promoting our region and our businesses. As a region, we also need to be looking at how we facilitate business expansions, diversification and encouraging access to capital, land and incentives to invest in our region and how we can facilitate growth in our region through improving regulatory conditions, infrastructure, and downtown development.
In addition, we need to plan for the impacts of ongoing and upcoming technological innovations, along with developing workforce strategies to accommodate current and future business needs.
Whether a start-up business or a stable community builder, we have resources to ignite success for all levels of business to help achieve your goals and to be a catalyst for our business community. We will continue to influence the need for economic development and workforce strategies and we are committed to being a trusted source for business and government news; a connector of businesses and consumers; a support system for business challenges; a resource bank of information through our office and our website; and influencers for our region, as we work to improve the business landscape and help our community thrive.
As we move forward in 2020, the Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce is positioned to be your partner, supplying the connections, support and influence that fuels success for both businesses and for our community.
Lisa Kowalchuk is the executive director of the Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce. For more information on this column or the Chamber, contact 403-527-5214.
