As is known in the Chamber world, the Chamber of Commerce lives by the motto “the voice of business.” We strive every day at Sanford Area Growth Alliance to be good advocates for all our businesses.
With that being said, our Business Community Advancement Committee had a conversation at the beginning of the year on how we can determine what our businesses need. What are some of the challenges they are working through that we, at SAGA, can facilitate? In January, the committee met and thought of ways to gather information from our community. After multiple conversations with our diverse, talented group of representatives, the decision was made to create a survey that would be quick, short and to the point to ensure completion and participation from small and large businesses.
The responses started coming through and we were pleased with the feedback. We had good representation from businesses of various sizes. Retail and service-oriented small businesses represented the largest pool with manufacturing and non-profits close behind. After reading through their responses, we found out was that there are challenges and needs that SAGA can address. This was great news for our Business Community Advancement Committee, as that is one of the primary reasons for our meetings: How can we help support our businesses with the resources we already have in our community?
In the next couple of months, we will start offering small, one topic workshops to help tackle some of the needs outlined by our survey results. If you are a business owner or business representative, make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and/or LinkedIn to be learn more! Your Chamber is listening.
Susan Gomez, Chamber of Commerce Director