Our last article introduced the Essex Chambers of Commerce, representing around 800 businesses large and small, including many in Southend. This month gives a flavour of current and planned activities.
The economy has been flatlining – but the summer months should see an uplift especially for tourism and hospitality businesses, well represented locally.
The Essex Chambers is working with Southend City Council in a partnership designed to bring business expertise and thinking to bear on plans to boost Southend, to improve its image and the reality and make it an ever more attractive place to live, to visit and in which to do business.
Revitalising Our High Street
Much of the focus is naturally on the High Street, which in common with many town centres is struggling, but Southend still has much to offer and there is a collective desire to accentuate the positive, make more of its assets and talk up Southend rather than run it down. This does need to be backed up by purposeful action, however, and sensible deployment of scarce resources. The Chambers and the city council are open to ideas which can help this effort.
Essex is a famously entrepreneurial county with strong trading links abroad. Eleven local companies have just won King’s Awards for Enterprise, supported by the Chambers, nine of them in the international trade category – congratulations to all of them, and to Ipeco Holdings of Southend who won in the ‘promoting opportunity through social mobility’ category. The importance of international trade will be a feature of the Chambers’ Essex Global Summit event on 22 May at Hylands House in Chelmsford.
Embracing Business Diversity
Looking further ahead the Chambers will be hosting its annual, highly popular Festival of Business – at Chelmsford City Racecourse on 13 November. This is a great celebration of the wonderful variety of businesses based in Essex and an opportunity for many to promote themselves.
There are many other activities and events so do have a look at the Chambers website or get in touch:essexchambers.co.uk
or call us on 01702 560100.