There’s a good reason small businesses are celebrated in our province – even if not everyone fully understands why.
By the numbers, though, it’s really quite simple: In Canada as a whole, small businesses employing 1-99 people make up almost 71 per cent of the total private employment in the country. And in BC, it’s 75%, or fully three quarters of all private sector employment.
So what, you ask? Well, British Columbia’s small business sector, just for example, leads the entire country in contribution to provincial gross domestic product (33%) – beating out Alberta (32%), with its much-hyped entrepreneurial culture, as well as Saskatchewan (30%) and Quebec (30%).
Enter your Chamber of Commerce
Just dwell on those stats for a second. It means that fully ⅓ of the total value of goods and services produced in the province comes from the very kinds of businesses that make up our local economy in the Creston Valley. And that, in turn, is why it’s important to have a vibrant and responsive Chamber of Commerce.
The Creston Valley Chamber of Commerce has made solid strides in the past few months in re-inventing itself so that local businesses will have a strong and responsive voice going forward.
It means that the housecleaning we’ve done – both physically, in terms of renovations completed and still planned and our reorganization constitutionally and professionally – are setting us up to be able to bring benefits and value to members, while helping drive the economy in general.
For Alison Szpak of 4 Corners Matting and Framing in Creston, the benefits of Chamber membership are quite real.
“We actually let our membership lapse a few years ago when there wasn’t the same interest in home-based businesses,” said Szpak. “But when we heard about the new home-based business membership rate, we decided to join again and have even received some business from the Chamber itself, so we definitely think we’ve made the right choice.”
Event horizon
Add in exciting new events the Chamber is undertaking – starting with the Dragon’s Den business competition – and it’s easy to see why people are looking at the Armitage Centre as an emerging center of gravity in the community.
“We’re seeing a lot people come in and tell us they’ve heard good things about the Chamber,” says President Mark Wolfe. “We have to now deliver on all that, of course, but let’s just say we’re more than excited about what we’ve got going on.”
Wolfe added that members will be contacted soon by Chamber staff for feedback and ideas on what they would like to see the Chamber offer and do in 2018.
“It sounds cliche but we’re here first and foremost for our members,” said Chamber Manager Vern Gorham, “ It really is what keeps us coming into work everyday.”
For more information, go to www.crestonvalleychamber.com or contact Vern Gorham at 250-428-5151 or email us at manager@crestonvalleychamber.com.
Submitted by the Creston Valley Chamber of Commerce