South Kingstown Chamber Of Commerce Unveils Its New Outlook For The Future

The board of the South Kingstown Chamber of Commerce in a unanimous vote recently approved a name change for the organization. The chamber will now be known as the Southern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce.

After several years of careful planning and preparation, the move, geared towards a more regional membership base affords local businesses more opportunities and exposure.

The organization, in existence for 78 years is expanding its business platform and taking an inclusionary approach in reaching out to the area's small business community.

"Our membership is not limited to South Kingstown businesses, with about 30% of our base coming from outside of the town," said Joe Iacoi, Executive Director. "We have many common members with other chambers."

The Board of 21 members worked diligently in developing a business plan for the new and improved chamber whose current enrollment hosts more than 600 members of the business community.

The plan uses a cooperative approach in developing co-marketing and collaborative partnerships accross the region. The elimination of boundary lines affords members the opportunity to interact with business people from other communities without having to join several chambers.

"The South Kingstown Chamber has historically had great working relationships with chambers in surrounding communities," said Iacoi. "We've had positive feedback from other chamber directors, as well as the Economic Development Commission (EDC)."

A reaction to the 2008 economic downfall, the Board began work on the plan almost two years ago. Small businesses burdened by the declining economy began cutting costs, with local chambers in turn seeing a decline in membership renewals. Regionalizing the chamber was a common sense response to retention and growth in its membership base.

By extending a hand to surrounding communities, networking opportunities and reaching new businesses through outlying community forums, the newly named Southern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce has hopes of attracting new business to the region.

David Nash, former Director of the Central Rhode Island Chamber, weighed in. "This is a good move. The South Kingstown Chamber has done a wonderful job collaborating with neighboring chambers. They've done work with the Rhode Island Statewide Chamber Coalition and RI Small Business Recovery in supporting the business community."

Per Joe Viele, Board Chair, that support is slated to travel to outlying communities that do not have chamber services . Viele touted the benefits of bringing the message directly to the neighboring communities.

"We have a good recipe and product here at the Southern Rhode Island Chamber. The mission of the chamber is not going to change"

The mission statement will now read: The Southern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce supports and enhances the business community of Southern Rhode Island and promotes opportunities for the growth and development of its member businesses.

The Southern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce has several seminars planned over the coming months bringing new business partners together to grow and promote network opportunities.