Become a Business Leader with the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce
What’s the difference between a business owner—and a business leader? Business owners work heads down in their business, managing their employees and with an acute and uninterrupted focus on growing their bottom line.
Business leaders, however, reach beyond the doors of their companies to leverage the power of their peers and their community and to advance economic development for their region.
And for many, the place to start to build that leadership and legacy is right with their local chambers of commerce.
Meet the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, a membership-based business and community development organization founded in 1917 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. With over 100 years under its belt, it has supported 800+ members since its inception.
MOSourceLink had the pleasure of getting to know Cape Girardeau’s Chamber of Commerce via our October Resource Partner meeting (our quarterly meeting with the resources that support and serve Missouri’s small businesses and entrepreneurs. It is important to note that there are chambers of commerce all over the nation, some based on state, city and even county. They all come together through the common goal of making their communities better.
But how do they do that? Networking. Exposure. Credibility. Advocacy. Leadership.
To start, the chamber is a not-for-profit.
That means that any time a member, in essence, shops local by joining a chamber, they are cycling dollars right back in the community. Membership dollars go toward supporting the chamber asa regional hub for business, community and healthcare.
Next, they provide business support for its entrepreneurs.
“Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship support start at the local level,” says Alexces Bartley, Network Builder for MOSourceLink. “Chambers of commerce are often the first place people contact when they want to start or expand a business in a certain area, so having a Chamber that is an active partner in entrepreneurship on local and state levels is super important to building up entrepreneurs and providing those critical resources.”
So if you are a member and need support, you can reach out to the chamber for services such as:
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A ribbon cutting ceremony, photos and PR for your business or milestone
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One-on-one mentoring with chamber staff about your business
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Monthly networking events
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Events to enhance your business and leadership skills
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Access to referrals and a robust network to grow your business
…and so much more. When the chamber supports business development, it helps support its local economy through successful businesses that generate community, revenue and jobs.
The Cape Girardeau Chamber also has amazing programs.
The Chamber of Commerce in Cape Girardeau is no stranger to awesome programming for business owners at varying points of their journey. There are perks to membership with programs like Business Builders, a multi-dimensional initiative that consists of workshops, Facebook Lives with local business professionals, a quarterly luncheon series and online trainings.
There is also Leadership Cape, the area’s foremost leadership development program that works to develop local community leaders through monthly events from March until September each year. While the program is tuition-based, Leadership Cape is also open to the non-chamber members, so there are still amazing opportunities if you choose not to become a member.
Feel to explore more about the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce as one of the many resources in the MOSourceLink network.
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