Events

Events at the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber provide value-added services to our members and keep business owners up to date and informed on a wide variety of topics affecting business in Nelson Mandela Bay. The Chamber hosts many high-profile speakers who are experts in their fields, ensuring that our events are relevant and valuable. Regular networking functions offer business owners the chance to make new professional contacts. Our flagship events – the Annual Business Chamber Golf Day, the Annual Ladies’ Breakfast and the Annual Business Chamber Banquet – are highlights on the Bay’s business and social calendar.

Publications and Marketing platforms

As another value-added service to members, the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber provides members with a variety of publications across print and electronic platforms, including our quarterly printed member magazine, Infocom, and the printed annual Business Guide. The Business Chamber News electronic newsletter covers news about the Business Chamber itself, while the electronic The Good News provides links to good news on the local business front. The Business Chamber regularly updates its website, and can be found on popular social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

As a special legacy project the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Coffee Table Book was also

produced in 2015 – as a keepsake that celebrates the city’s unique business culture. The visually driven photo book formed part of the Business Chamber’s 150th year celebratory campaign.

Enterprise Development

The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Enterprise Development Programme offers local small business owners with an effective combination of mentorship and skills development aimed at growing small business, enhancing their eligibility for funding, assisting them with export-readiness, giving insights into new markets, and increasing their job creation potential.

The second phase of the programme was launched in July 2015.

Certificates of Origin and International Desk

A Certificate of Origin is a document which states the origin of goods being exported and this ‘origin’

is a key requirement for applying tariff and other important criteria. As an accredited provider of this

service, the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber signs Certificates of Origin for member and nonmember businesses requiring the services in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The Chamber is also host to an International Relations Desk, which forms a vital support to local

business owners looking to make an impact on the international markets. Local companies are reaping the benefit of relationships built through the International Relations Desk, particularly in unlocking the potential of our twin city relations in Ningbo, China, and Gothenburg, Sweden.

Business Vision 2030

The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has collaborated with The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Business School and arranged the first Think Tank session in March 2014, where a diverse team of business representatives of the city were invited to take part and bring ideas to the table to create a business vision for our Metropole. The outcome envisages a Nelson Mandela Bay Business Vision 2030 working document, where we are able to assess and plan for the business needs of the city.

The Think Tank sessions create a unique opportunity for Business, Citizens and the Municipality to unite and collaborate toward a shared business vision for Nelson Mandela Bay. We have since presented the framework once in November 2014 and once in January 2015 to a selected audience, and then in May 2015 we had a coffee morning presentation where we opened it to everyone to attend and called for participation by way of joining one of four focus groups.

We as the Business Leaders of Nelson Mandela Bay committed ourselves to create hope for the future of this city and accept responsibility to set a clear direction for the sustainable growth of this city and its entire people. We want to create a broad pathway that will not only provide clear direction but will also motivate and inspire people to create the best mid – size city in Africa to work, play grow and live in.

Purpose of the Business Vision 2030 

• Create a sense of hope and belonging for a city that is currently without a business vision
• Transform Nelson Mandela Bay into an attractive destination for sustainable investment and growth
• Motivate our business partners and citizens to unify in creating a prosperous future
• Rally the business community towards a destined future of choice for people to invest, conduct business, work and live
• Promote development and growth in such a way that we create an inclusive society that will benefit directly