October 10, 2011. It didn’t take them long . . . unveiled about six months ago, the iLembe Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism flew the local flag high when they were awarded the title of Chamber of the Year at a gala dinner hosted in Sandton by national body, the South Africa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI).
In the picture: Proud members of the iLembe Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, pictured at Hotel iZulu
ICCIT is a member-driven organisation dedicated to facilitating and promoting business on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast. In less than a year, it has already implemented bold new initiatives and projects to stimulate the local economy and drive job creation and entrepreneurship.
iLembe Chamber CEO, Trenley Tilbrook, said, “The recognition and credibility from this award will give us more leverage to engage government. We’re ecstatic with the award. It’s onwards and upwards to ensure we resolve more issues facing business in our area.”
Chamber initiatives include the successful mentorship programme and ongoing Entrepreneur competition, where aspirant entrepreneurs are teamed up with successful business mentors to learn about business and win seed capital to start their own. Other projects are the establishment of forums covering all business aspects, the launch of the Hot Ballito tourism marketing campaign, co-ordinating the area’s Business Retention and Expansion plan and establishing an Urban Improvement Precinct (watch this space, we’ve heard there are exciting developments on the UIP front).
But this young and energetic team has even more in the planning: like launching the Isithebe Business Forum further up the north coast and strengthening the chamber’s existing forums. These forums will ultimately lobby government to improve growth-hampering service delivery and development blockages.
“Unlocking these ‘blockages’ and barriers to growth will stimulate the local economy and help alleviate unemployment in our area,” said Tilbrook.
He said they planned to grow the iLembe Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism’s membership count from 225 to 300 businesses in the next six months. – Ridge Correspondent