Chamber of Commerce Making Strides

- Jo Long -

The Prince Albert Chamber of Commerce started life last year with a small number of enthusiastic volunteers who believed that the town would benefit from an organisation that could support business and business people.

The Provisional Management Committee is greatly encouraged by the response it has received from local business people and, as well as dealing with its own projects, has endeavoured to respond to specific requests from members. Some of its achievements in the last year have included:

• 36 paid up members in its first year
• The reprint and extensive distribution of Prince Albert’s A-Z Directory of Services
• Due to demand, the reprint and sale of the Chamber’s “Proudly Prince Albert” stickers
• The launch of the Prince Albert Chamber of Commerce website, www.princealbertchamber.org
• A meeting with Juanita Fortuin, the town’s Municipal Manager to air members’ concerns regarding the Municipality
• Successful lobbying of the Municipality on behalf of members regarding the recent building planning application delays
• Continuing involvement with the Municipality to help establish a solution to stop non local trucks passing through the town day and night
• Regular contact with Telkom to update members of the availability of additional ADSL ports in the town and to lobby for ADSL to be made available to those outlying areas of Prince Albert
• Investigations with banks other than ABSA with regard to their opening a branch in Prince Albert
• A meeting with ABSA’s Regional Manager to discuss members’ concerns and complaints about service levels at the Prince Albert branch
• SEDA Holdings enlisted several members to their funding initiatives for setting up and guiding small businesses

The Committee members are all volunteers and as such are only able to devote limited time and resources to the Chamber. The Committee would welcome any additional support, (no matter how little time can be spared), in order to help carry out more of the Chamber’s aims and objectives which include:

• Increasing membership of the Chamber
• Enhancing the Chamber’s website by providing more information about member’s businesses
• Updating and improving the Directory of Services
• Providing specialist business speakers for members
• Assisting with the marketing of the town’s businesses

We would also welcome any feedback or comments about the Chamber. More information about the Chamber and application forms to join are available by emailing:
princealbertchamberofcommerce@gmail.com or writing to Prince Albert Chamber of Commerce, c/o Swartberg Hotel, Church Street, Prince Albert, 6930.