Business owners will now be working hand-in-hand with the local municipality to ensure that business runs smoothly. Local business owners attended a meeting hosted at the Nestle boardroom last Wednesday, November 16 to introduce everyone to the newly formed Estcourt Chamber of Business.

Members are excited and look forward to working together to ensure bigger and better business opportunities and better service for the community, service providers, their employees as well as their families.

The chamber is also a medium for debates, ideas, suggestions, a platform to raise issues and jointly solve them, and much more. Prior to Wednesday’s meeting, two meetings were held at the Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality and another in Ladysmith. Since then the Estcourt Chamber of Business panel has been engaging with officials from uThukela District Municipality. Meeting with municipal officials allowed for numerous issues that affect living and working conditions in Estcourt to be given attention and addressed.

The one-way street on Phillip and Alexandra streets, potholes, closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, parking, informal car washes and water cuts were just a few of the many issues of mutual concern, which were raised at the meeting. The chamber’s greatest concern was the lack of visible patrolling police and traffic officers. Notes were made to forward to the Municipal Manager and thereafter to the relevant departments.

But highlighting issues is not the sole purpose of the chamber, during the meeting, members brainstormed ideas and solutions to the problems they have and touched on future social investment projects.

The Estcourt Chamber of Business panel was glad to report that the chamber has been well-supported, received with open arms and offered assistance where needed.

Overall the chamber was formed to protect and promote the economic interests of its members and to ensure the progressive growth. This they do by offering their members a variety of benefits:
• To be a unified, non-racial, all-inclusive body, that represents its members.
• To assist in facilitating a clean, safe and appealing business district.
• To engage with the municipality and other relevant bodies in order to be involved with decision making processes which affect the business sector.
• To promote the interests of business.
• To use reasonable measures to ensure the delivery of services by the municipality and local government.
• To promote ethical, legal and socially conscious business practices among the members.
• To encourage networking and information sharing among the members in order to foster business relationships.
• To create and manage an interactive platform for members to share information.

The new chamber is ready to move beyond the boundaries and turn Estcourt into an attractive town for investment. For more information you can email estcourt.chamber@gmail.com