The Raglan Business Chamber board has been working quietly behind the scenes and is delighted to say that through close work with Waikato District Council and local businesses our community managed to obtain government relief funding offered for businesses affected by the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.
This has helped locals who have been directly affected and out of pocket due to the adverse weather.
Overall the Chamber has been pretty quiet this year in terms of events and training we have offered our members. We want to add value to our membership – and by extension the local community – but we feel that the webinars, members’ meetings and training we have been offering in the past have not been what members need at the moment. This has been made clear by limited attendance at our training, events and functions.
Fundamentally we are a member based organisation that is here to support a thriving, innovative business community. We want to add value not just to our members, but by extension to the community at large.
However, to support our community we need to know what businesses need – we need to hear what the challenges are, and where we could help. The chamber board is about to head into a strategic planning session and we need input from members and the community on how we can make your business thrive, and not just survive. We know there are challenges on the horizon for businesses and we want to offer valid and valuable training and resources to help people through.
Raglan is known to be innovative, creative and solution oriented and we want to support this by strengthening community connections and relationships to encourage positive economic growth. We have one of the highest ratios of membership per capita in NZ in the Chamber network, but we know our members need to see us supporting them.
We will continue to work with Waikato District Council to learn what else is available for members to grow their business and their team’s capability, but we need to hear what else will help people at the moment, and how we can help your business and your team grow.
If you can think of any way that the chamber can assist with your business please reach out with your ideas, suggestions and comments to Lisa at lisapembertonjames@gmail.com. We are keen to hear from members and non-members alike to support growth and innovation in Raglan.
