BENEFITS OF JOINING CHAMBER?
There are countless good reasons to join the Border-Kei Chamber of Business and direct benefits include:
DATABASE
Chamber membership gives you valuable access to members and potential clients.
NEW MEMBERS INDUCTION AND NETWORKING FUNCTIONS
Members are entitled to attend valuable informal, but structured opportunities to meet a broad range of business people.
BUSINESS HI-LITE MAGAZINE
This glossy B2B magazine is distributed monthly free of charge to all our members and keeps you in touch with Chamber activities and developments in our area.CHAMBER EVENTS DIARY
The Chamber Diary is listed on our website and updated as events change. Both Members and Non-Members are invited to attend and become involved.LETTERS OF SUPPORT
At a small fee, we gladly provide letters of support to members trying to access tenders and expand their business footprint. Each Chamber member commits to a code of ethics that endeavours to raise the standard on which business is conducted.LETTERS OF INTRODUCTION
The Chamber issues letters of introduction to members proceeding abroad on business.BUSINESS BYTES
Our monthly electronic newsletter gives a snapshot of activities and upcoming events.
MEMBERSHIP CERTIFICATE
On becoming a member you will receive a personalised membership certificate at a New Members' Induction and Networking Event.www.bkcob.co.za
Members who have websites are entitled to a link from our website, to yours. We ask you to reciprocate this link from your website to ours as well. The new and constantly updated portal provides members with an advanced medium to keep abreast of both news and the latest developments within the Border-Kei region.CB Login
| Chris Hani Enterprise Development Project Starts |
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In 2009 the Border Kei Chamber of Business in Queenstown applied for funding from Thina Sinako for the Chris Hani Enterprise Propeller. This project, with an estimated cost of around R1.6 Million and a duration time of two years, has been approved and this project commences in 2010. The Chris Hani Enterprise Propeller is a joint initiative for the Border-Kei Chamber of Business and the Chris Hani District Municipality. The aim is to support the networking and strengthening of local enterprises to compete for a share of the municipal procurement spend within the district, thereby increasing the amount of money that is spent within the Chris Hani District. The overall objective is to promote the more effective leveraging of municipal procurement in the Chris Hani District for LED (Local Economic Development) by favourably positioning local firms and increasing their capacity for successfully competing in the tender process. This will result in increasing the volume of money spent by government and corporate companies in the Chris Hani District. In the Chris Hani District more than R2.5 billion is spent annually on goods and services with approximately 80% of this money leaving the district. This is due to the fact that local suppliers possibly do not have the relevant skills or are inadequately capacitated to apply for tenders. As such, it is found that Government as well as corporate companies / established businesses will look outside of the District, as the services or products required can be sourced faster as well as at a cheaper price. This does not contribute positively to the growth of local enterprises or to the economic development of the region. There is therefore a strong need for a dynamic LED intervention, led by a partnership between the public and private sector, that will assist in addressing the biggest constraint of SMMEs (Small Medium and Micro Enterprises), that being able to enter into the main economic arena. The specific objective is to establish an Enterprise Propeller of excellence that will support emerging and established enterprises in the Chris Hani District, allowing them to compete more effectively for municipal tenders by providing them with quality business advice, information and mentoring services, as well as facilitating more effective linkages between them. It is believed that many SMMEs will visit the Chris Hani Enterprise Propeller each quarter (over the funded period of 24 months), while it is expected that approximately 50 SMMEs will make use of the services offered. Once the project becomes entrenched in the Chris Hani region, it is expected that this number will increase. Therefore, over a 24 month period, it is expected that at least 400 SMMEs will make use of the services offered by the project. Though it is difficult to forecast the possible increase in the ratio of money spend in the region, one expects an increase of at least 10%. This will be a catalyst to exponentially increase the circulation of money in the region. This ‘multiplier effect’ will lead to significantly higher volumes of internal money in the long run. The final beneficiaries include the members of the Border Kei Chamber of Business, the Chris Hani District Municipality and the 8 local municipalities that operate in the district, and ultimately, the broader Chris Hani community. Border Kei Chamber of Business members will benefit from a stronger business environment and a broader and more competitive base of local suppliers and purchasers. If the project is properly constructed and managed, the Local Municipalities and the District Municipality will benefit from best practice in terms of enabling small and emerging firms to compete for and deliver effective public tenders. This will be translated into better services and goods. Increased taxes will be collected as a result of increased business activity, thereby strengthening the revenue base for effective service delivery by government. A stronger local economy will create additional enterprise and investment opportunities that will create further employment and further increase the amount of money in local circulation. This is certainly a good start to 2010 and a good outlook for the Chris Hani District. We, the Border Kei in Queenstown, will keep you informed through future Hi-Lite editions regarding the process and our experience …. |
