By Cam Lucadou-Wells
After two years of lockdown, Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce has emerged with a bold plan to support more businesses.
For the first time, it’s invested in a CEO and more online services and resources to support its members.
It’s a risk but one which will make the chamber an even more valued asset for businesses, chief executive Lisa Moore says.
A trained psychologist and “free spirit”, Ms Moore has an array of experience including as a commercial projects officer and local business development officer.
“Businesses doing well means a community does well. Everyone is better off for it.”
The chamber built its brand on face-to-face networking. By necessity, it switched to online events via ZOOM during the Covid pandemic.
It has introduced a suite of online members-only services, tools, legal resources, and webinars.
Among the initiatives is an online Business Support and Recovery survey that analyses a business’s health. It identifies strengths, weaknesses and hence, opportunities for change.
“They can then also speak to someone from our business advisory service,” Ms Moore says.
“But (the survey) is comprehensive enough that business owners can see there’s a pattern they might not have been aware of.
“We had a member that as a result identified they had a contractual issue and were referred to a legal contracts specialist.
“They gave the owner pivotal advice to renegotiate contracts that took off the financial pressures and got a new stream of income coming through.”
Despite glowing feedback and challenging economic times, the survey has only been utilized by up to seven businesses so far.
It’s a common but disappointing theme that business owners are reluctant to seek advice, Ms Moore said.
“It’s a human trait,” she says.
“As humans we tend to think we’re OK and keep going on. Sometimes we don’t know how stuck we are until someone points it out to us.
“People don’t know the solutions until they ask.”
Of course, there’s also a lot of outside factors outside the owners’ control, like government policy, higher cost of living, higher interest rates that influence consumer spending and confidence.
The chamber is also focusing more on advocacy on the outside factors.
It supports the jobs and infrastructure lobby group Greater South East Melbourne (GSEM) and its push for projects such as an airport and windfarms in the region.
It’s also part of the City of Greater Dandenong’s GameChange initiative to tackle the high unemployment and skills shortage in the region.
It has been amplified by the Great Resignation during Covid, where many workers changed careers and stopped doing certain types of jobs.
“The system has struggled for a while in putting the right people in front of the right employees.
“Lots of business owners are having to do more of the work themselves because of the shortage or mismatch of talent.”
