`The website initiative can be seen as the start of a process through which the Chamber is seeking to reinvent itself’
The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) is to launch a website before year end and Chamber President Chandradat Chintamani says that the new platform is “part of a broader range of services which the Chamber is seeking to provide for its members, the local business community as a whole and potential investors.”
The website which is being funded by Demerara Tobacco and which is expected to cost more than $200,000 to set up will provide users with information on the range of services which the Chamber proposes to offer and will also provide “a platform on which members can place information regarding goods and services that they may have to offer to local, regional and international markets,” Chintamani said.
Chintamani, who was elected President of the GCCI last May told Stabroek Business that he did not regard the establishment of a website as a major achievement. He said that “any Chamber of Commerce that is serious about the welfare of its members and about accelerating economic activity in the country ought to have a website.
“We have undertaken this initiative because for far too long the GCCI has been limping along with no strategic plan and no real long term direction. The website initiative can be seen as the start of a process through which the Chamber is seeking to reinvent itself,” Chintamani said.
And according to Chintamani the Chamber is particularly concerned about the role that its website can play in enhancing the capacity of small businesses to market their goods and services. “In recent months we have been paying a great deal of attention to the role that the Chamber can play in supporting the growth of small businesses. One of the important decisions that we have made is to change our membership fee structure to facilitate a tiered fee structure that depends on the size of the business,” he said.
Chintamani told Stabroek Business that the new fee structure which replaces the former $30,000 per month fee with fees ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 per month had been agreed upon by the Chamber in keeping with one of its top priorities, that is, increasing the level of its membership. He said that the second priority of the Chamber under his presidency would be to ensure that the GCCI is more proactive in responding to the needs of its members. “Businesses will only be interested in becoming members of the GCCI, retaining their membership and actively participating in the work of the Chamber if the Chamber can provide services that impact on their development,” Chintamani said.
Meanwhile, the new Chamber President has said that a third priority of his administration is to encourage members to cultivate “a stronger service culture.” In the business community.
Chintamani said that local businesses ought to seek to create a stronger nexus between providing service to customers adding value to the product or service that they offer.
Meanwhile Chintamani told Stabroek Business that the effectiveness of the GCCI can be significantly enhanced through legislation that requires businesses to register with the Chamber. “It is not a matter of compulsory membership of the Chamber. What we need are laws that ensure the GCCI can serve as a reliable source of information on the business community as a whole and that can come about if businesses are required to register with the GCCI”
Chintamani disclosed that he had been meeting with representatives of the Kamer Van Koophandel En Fabrienhen – the Chamber of Commerce in Suriname – which, he said, provided its members with a broad range of services pertaining to business and investment issues. “The other positive thing about the Chamber in Suriname is that because registration with the body is compulsory the Chamber serves as a far more reliable source of information on the business community in that country than the GCCI does in Guyana. I believe that we can benefit from collaboration with them.”