Business Awards early bird tickets on sale now!

Ali Boswijk Chief Executive Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce. Photo supplied by Chamber of Commerce.

 

 Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce

Kia ora, 

I have to confess that I have not been following coverage of the government coalition talks quite as closely as I should have been, and consequently was quite shocked to hear that the three leaders have not been together in the same room until yesterday. I appreciate that there will have been communication between the three parties and the ‘teams’ will have been working away in the background, but it does seem pretty fundamental to relationship building that you all get together in person to work it out. We know that even the most cut and dried of elections will have an impact on business confidence to some degree, and that as a major purchaser of goods and services, any disruption in government activity has a flow-on effect that is not always immediately obvious. So fingers crossed that today marks the start of actually getting the new government in place.

 

One thing that we can guarantee is starting today - the sale of early bird tickets to the 34^th Nelson Pine Industries Business Awards. That might have been a clumsy segue, but the event will most certainly be anything but (Note to self: Don’t trip walking up the stage steps). Join us on March 1st at Annesbrook for an evening of glamour and fun, and to celebrate all the businesses that have entered the awards. Go here for more information and to book your ticket or table!

We have been working with a group of people to support an initiative called “What if Whakatū Nelson...?” This is essentially a six-week 'drop-in' space where people can come along and share their ideas of what they would like to see in the Nelson CBD and surrounds and, most importantly, what are the roadblocks they are currently experiencing. This information will be very useful for us when we are talking to the Council and to Central Government. During the week there are a series of lunchtime talks that are open to everyone. Click here for more information and to see the programme of events.

 

As part of the Chamber’s Strong Community pillar of work and support of the not-for-profit sector, we are keen to get a picture of how our local businesses support community organisations, specifically with volunteer help. Over the next couple of weeks we will be running a short poll to establish how many businesses encourage their teams to volunteer and in what ways. Watch this space and our Facebook page for more information.

 

Next week is our final Westpac Smarts of the year and we are very pleased to be hosting economist Satish Ranchhod. Satish is very adept at putting a regional lens on the macro economic trends we are seeing and, most importantly, communicating this information very clearly. As we said before, forewarned is forearmed, and we all need to have the clearest view we can get of what is heading our way. The Westpac Smarts events are free and open to everyone, so please go here for more information and to register.

Ngā mihi, 

Ali Boswijk

Chief Executive

Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce Newsletter.

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