2019/20 in review: snapshot of the Chamber's AGM

Here is your chance to see the work of our local chamber throughout the 2019/20 period and to hear the latest from our esteemed Treasurer, John Forrester

Hilary Jacobs – Returned as President

It’s now 4 years since our merger in 2016. As the President of the Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce, it’s great to be able to report that your chamber is growing stronger year on year. This time last year we had reached 89 financial members and had around $46,000 in funds. We’ve grown our membership by another 19% to 106 and our asset base is now sitting at around $55,000.

During the last 12 months we have increased the number of Gold Members to a total of 15, we have eight Silver members, and nine bronze members. We now have 67 general members and four-lifetime members. Sadly during the COVID crisis we saw the closure of The Sun Community Newspaper who had been our media partners for some years. Without the support of all of our members and the volunteering of our committee and executive, the SGC Chamber wouldn’t exist. So thank you to everyone here for your ongoing and continuing support.

Since this meeting last year we have held four events, with COVID 19 impacting our ability to hold face to face meetings from March onwards. None of us could have imagined that 2020* would have been such an unusual year!

Following our AGM in September our event was our October “After dark” at the Vikings SLSC. It was great to see so many of you there. In November we welcomed the Gold Coast Airport team to talk about the plans for the airport over breakfast at the Coolangatta Surf Club, which as you can all imagine are not quite the same today as they were that day, when we welcomed close to 100 members and guests to share the event. In December we had an End of Year Drinks at the Kirra Beach Hotel. We had a great night, with over 50 guests. We had a great raffle and a nice relaxed evening was had by all. Our first event for 2020 and as it turned out our last event for 2020 was held in February again at Coolangatta Surf Club. Our guest speaker was John Witheriff from Goldlinq to talk everything Light Rail. Again close to 100 guests enjoyed a very enlightening morning.

We can’t pass today without mentioning the impact COVID 19 has had on the Chamber movement and more importantly, you the businesses that we represent, not just here, but across the whole of Australia, indeed the world. The first impact was the lockdown restrictions which came into play in Mid-March. This impacted many businesses livelihood, very quickly. We responded by being the first Gold Coast Chamber to introduce a 6 month free extension of membership for all of our members. At a time when money was tight, access to advocacy was more important than ever before in our 15 year history. ** The next impact was no more face to face meetings as mentioned before. The SGC combated this by introducing online content including weekly newsletters, with details of support available via programmes like JobKeeper, payroll tax refunds, and State innovation grants. We also ran a series of online interviews via YouTube of the key players and members of the Chamber to highlight how they were approaching COVID 19. Thanks go to Zac Revere for his very professional approach to these short enlightening conversations.

The chamber is active in many other concerns around the area. One longstanding arrangement is the support of PBC School, for Australian Business week. Again last December we sponsored this event by providing medallions for every student who took part in a week-long virtual business environment to learn about how business works. The Chamber also assisted in locating business mentors for the event. We look forward to considering working with PBC again this year. In summary, we have continued to grow and build our relevance to you, our business community. Our membership and financial security continued to improve, despite COVID 19. We can now do more for our members and our dedicated management board are planning to take us even further in the coming year.

In closing, I’d like to thank our past and future board members for their continuing endeavours and commitment to what is a very voluntary role.

See Hilary's full speech, here.

John Forrester - Returned as Treasurer

The chambers financial report is currently in a sound financial position with a balance sheet surplus of just over $55,000. The Chambers profit and loss show income for the financial year as being broadly in line with the previous financial year with income in the main being generated from an increased membership and meeting incomes.

The chamber would like to thank our division 13 Councillor Daphne McDonald for her support with the chamber being successful in obtaining a grant of $2,750 to be used towards training programs to be implemented by the chamber, delayed due to COVID-19.

The Chamber has increased its donations and contributions to a number of local business-related projects and institutions during the year. The bottom line has seen an increase profit for the chamber for the financial year from $6,447.74 up to $14,485.18 which has been a tremendous result.

When handing down my report this time last year I commented that there would be a number of challenges for the Southern Gold Coast business community in the then-upcoming year, however, I don't think anyone could have imaged the challenges we now face with the covid-19 epidemic, border closures and all the inherent impacts this is and will continue to have for our local business community.

In this regard whilst I consider that the chamber is currently well resourced financially there will be a number of challenges for us to meet in supporting our local business community in the current financial year.

See John's full speech, here.