By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
ATTRACTING new members is a key focus moving forward for the Narre Warren Region Business Group and was emphasised at its annual general meeting earlier this month.
Ross Neilson relinquished his presidency to Paul Jones at the meeting after more than four years in the role and stepped into his new position as vice president and membership secretary.
Other board positions reaffirmed at the AGM on Wednesday 16 July included Tim Allan as secretary, Richard Edwards as treasurer and Steve Osborn as a committee member.
Mr Neilson said he hoped the group was able to improve its links with members over the next year.
“The vision for the future is to get better communication with members so they want to stay members and get other people to become members,” he said.
“We’ve been in a bit poor in that regard over the last couple of years so I’ll take on that role, so if I can get the communication rolling and a bit more involvement that will go a long way.”
As with any community network the Narre Warren Region Business Group has seen its fair share of “growth spurts” and “slow down periods”, Mr Neilson said.
“I think with retail being so hard in the last couple of years it’s probably slowed our membership,” he said.
“We tried to expand to all businesses and any businesses in the Narre region.
“It’s been a great lot of fun, they’re good members.
People sometimes undervalue a chambers of commerce, which is what we are but by a different name, as a great networking tool.”
Guests at the AGM were also treated to a special presentation from Fountain Gate Secondary College’s Problem Solving Team which recently returned from the World Championships in Iowa after taking out second place in remarkable fashion.
The students spoke in detail about their efforts overseas, wowing the businessmen and women in the room and even prompting several promises of funding from guests who were keen to help the students out with their re-design of the Robin Boyd fountain in Fountain Gate.
After the student presentation, Paul Jones officially stepped in as the new president of the Narre Warren Region Business Group and was keen as ever to roll his sleeves up and get to work.
“I’ve been sitting in the vice president’s role for a couple of years and we’ve just been getting the time right for me to step into it,” he said.
“One of the things we want to do is revolve the positions a bit more often than we have and that’s why we’re after some new blood to come into the group.
“I guess our main goal is to try and grow the membership and provide some benefits for the members.
“We’ve got a couple of plans in place to try and ramp up the membership a bit more and provide a few extra benefits.
“We’re a pretty close committee.
“We work pretty well together by making sure the load’s shared among the group, and that’s not going to change, we’re all going to keep sharing the load.”
For more information, visit www.narrewarrenbusiness.com.au.
