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Today's
chambers provide the sinews of global business
By Avijit Mazumdar
Chairman, World Chambers Federation
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| The local chamber
of commerce will help him to market his catch |
Quebec
City, 1 September 2003
- From Zululand to the Russian steppes, from Addis Ababa to Zaragoza,
chambers of commerce are shaking off the image of worthy local shopkeepers
meeting in dusty rooms to worry about parking spaces and street lighting.
That transformation
is what the three-day 3rd World Chambers Congress, which Canadian Prime
Minister Jean Chrétien will open on 15 September, is all about.
The high point will
be the World Chambers Competition, which has attracted entries from chambers
large and small on every continent. A list of 16 finalists is competing
for awards measuring how effective they are in serving their members.
Not that there is
anything wrong with the small town general store, ironmonger or haberdasher
who are loyal and active pillars of their local chamber. What would our
national economies do without them?
But today's chambers
have expanded their horizons to the advantage of all types of businesses,
including the local high street. Their umbrella body, the World Chambers
Federation, (WCF) encompasses the entire world. Many are powerful business
organizations whose views make governments sit up and take notice. Others
help to sustain fledgling business activity in remote outback communities
where private enterprise faces a daily struggle for survival.
All of them, whatever
their size or influence, know that their most valuable asset is the worldwide
reach that comes from the global chamber of commerce movement of which
they are proud members.
Even in the most remote
communities, chambers these days know they need to be proficient in communications
technologies, the complexities of international business, and reaching
out to the media, if they are to serve their members effectively. The
Addis Ababa chamber, for example, reaches a national audience with its
own radio programme.
Today's chambers are
"get-up-and-go" commercial operations aware that they must compete
on a fast changing global marketplace but also capable of getting down
to the basics of facilitating business and helping budding entrepreneurs
to get started.
Felicia Mkhwanzi,
who lives in a far corner of Zululand, has cause to bless the day when
she joined the Zululand Chamber of Commerce, which is competing in the
finals to be named the best small business project.
Thanks to the chamber's
business development centre, she has realized a childhood dream to own
her own business, a cleaning, gardening, supply and mobile car wash company.
The centre helped Ms Mkwanazi with the plan and profile of her business,
registration, incorporation and bookeeping. It also sourced business opportunities
for her. The company, which now has 22 full and part-time employees, is
flourishing.
Or consider another
contestant, the South Urals Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Determined
that their members should not be isolated in the fastness of the Eurasian
land mass, and undaunted by the uphill struggle of the Russian economy,
the chamber creates foreign business ties and promotes trade for small
business in the city of Chelyabinsk and the surrounding region.
The Istanbul Chamber
of Commerce wanted to let the world know that Turkey has thousands of
qualified industrial subcontractors eager to participate in international
markets. The solution was the Turkish Subcontracting Exchange, which uses
the latest techhnology to develop a one-of-a-kind database and then market
it to the world.
At the other end of
the world, Korea's Busan chamber is competing with its programme to give
people who lost their jobs in the Asian financial crisis the skills to
find work and raise productivity levels of those in work. Its training
consortiums for small and medium-sized enterprises fill a gap left by
public training institutions.
When the biannual
World Chambers Congress was launched in Marseille in 1999, it immediately
became clear that this was an idea whose time had come.
As the Quebec congress
gets into its stride, Durban is already preparing to host the 2005 gathering
and chambers in major cities across the globe are queuing up for the privilege
of hosting the event beyond the end of the decade.
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Avijit Mazumdar is
Chairman, TIL Ltd, of Calcutta. He is Former President, Associated Chambers
of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM)
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Adnan Kassar,
Chairman of the Jury, World Chambers Competition;
Member of the ICC Chairmanship; Past Chair - World Chambers Federation;
President, Union of Arab Chambers of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture
The World Chambers
Competition Jury is composed of chamber and business leaders from all
regions of the world.
Please visit the World
Chambers Competition homepage for further details on judges, applicants
and finalists in all category.
French
version
World
Chambers Competition
World
Chambers Federation website
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