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Renewed interest in chamber bringing local business back together

Aguasabon Chamber of Commerce is back and ready to work for the businesses in Terrace Bay.
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TERRACE BAY – After a few years on hiatus, the president of the Aguasabon Chamber of Commerce says they are back and ready to start working with partners to support local businesses.

At their first official general meeting last week, Jason Nesbit, alongside vice-president Sylvie Hall, updated their by-laws, appointed nine directors — including themselves — and began discussions of attracting new members.

Nesbit said seven of the directors are brand new to the position.

“A lot of them run a home-based type of business, which is kind of neat to see them set up and want to do some stuff. That should bring an interesting perspective to a lot of what we do as well,” said Nesbit.

The next order of business for the chamber is to hire a casual staff member to help mitigate the workload for the directors.

“That’s basically why the chamber failed the first time. It was volunteer burnout and the lack of participation with the directors. They were just too busy with their own business. We figure if we hire a part-time staff person that will help keep the momentum going,” said Nesbit.

Nesbit said over the last couple of months, he has seen a raise interested from the community to get the Aguasabon Chamber of Commerce operating again.

“We’ve had a lot of the business saying yeah we need it, for sure,” said Nesbit.

Finding members to participate in the chamber is not a factor Nesbit is concerned about, but finding volunteers to serve on the board of directors was a challenge in the beginning.

Nesbit said small business owners have a lot on their plate at a time when finding staff is difficult. He understands that some business owners won’t have time to volunteer for the chamber.

Over the next few months, the chamber will also be focused on organizing some community events such as a “business after five” event and a gift certificate program which the chamber had previously offered.

“We are looking to reinvent that type of program because it keeps the money within the chamber and chamber members,” said Nesbit.   



Clint Fleury

About the Author: Clint Fleury

Clint Fleury is a web reporter covering Northwestern Ontario and the Superior North regions.
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