Derek McIlroy, Executive Officer
2020/21 has been a busy and productive year for the newly established Executive Office of Business Victor Harbor with multiple significant steps forward made in the goal of making BVH the pre-eminent Chamber of Commerce for our region.
BVH was able to secure grant funding from the City of Victor Harbor differential rate on industrial and commercial businesses within the city region. This, combined with our growing membership-based revenues, the Chamber has been able to achieve many of its goals in its business plan that was shared with the member base at our previous AGM in October 2021.
In addition to achieving many of the goals of the business plan already established, BVH with the work carried out to date is well placed to continue to leverage its ‘voice’ to advocate for the needs of all business in our region and an ambitious plan for 2021/22 is already well under with the on-going stewardship of our hardworking volunteer board with the support of our membership support officer in Renee Ancell.
The following outlines a summary of achievements for the chamber this year:
Created a full governance structure with polices and procedures for the operation of the association being fully rolled out and instituted
Numerous representations on behalf of BVH with the City of Victor Harbor with both elected members and employed staff of the City of Victor Harbor
Created some 9 highly detailed submissions to CVH on various policy issues dealt with by CVH that directly affect businesses in our region
Actively supported and directed the creation and roll out of the new Victor Harbor place branding initiative with CVH
Oversaw the growth of financial members of the chamber to 174 businesses in 2020/21
Instigated a partnership agreement with Business SA to give all Victor Harbor business to access combined Business SA / Business Victor Harbor membership with numerous services to business at a high value price to members
Oversaw and executed multiple innovative and fresh networking and business collaboration events across the year with record attendee bookings
Launched the new “Excellence in Business” Awards to the community with a more rigorous and robust entry and judging process that will lead to improved business capability across the region
Increased focus on membership value for money delivered to members
Whilst this only a summary of the achievements for the 2020/21 year, there is still significant work to be done on some of the above initiatives and a range of other new concepts into the future. The work of the chamber during this period has been against a difficult business environment that continues to be impacted by the global pandemic of COVID19. This will continue to be a significant challenge for all businesses and our chamber into the future, but a challenge we are in a much better position to adapt with moving forward.
As the Executive Officer, I have elected to step down from this position in August 2021 to pursue several other business interests in the region. I would like to take this opportunity in closing, to thank the board for its support during my tenure as Executive Officer and would also wish all our members the very best of fortune for the future.
Derek Mcilroy – Executive Officer, Business Victor Harbor
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