As your Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you that it has been a pleasure being able to serve our business community over the past year. It has been a whirlwind to say the least, but I consider it an honor to be able to work with our local businesses.
The Chamber Staff, the Chamber Board and I continually assess the services and programs we offer you with the goal of increasing the value of your Chamber membership. We updated our Mission Statement earlier this year to express that “Our
goal is to create the best business climate in Louisiana.” It is not something we are going to accomplish overnight, however, we are working towards that goal daily. We take a keen interest in the success of our local businesses-we care if patrons are dining in our restaurants, customers are making purchases in our retail stores, and clients are seeking assistance from our professional service businesses. It is the Chamber’s “number one” priority to ensure that both residents and out-of-town customers are taking advantage of the wide number of services our businesses have to offer.
The Minden South-Webster Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to ensuring our city is a desired place in which to live and do business. We carry out this plan of action by focusing our efforts on the following:
• Building a Strong Local Economy
• Promoting the Community
• Providing Networking and Business Development Opportunities
• Representing the Interests of Business to Government
Landmark celebrations such as the MSWCOC’s 75th anniversary this year reminds us all of the importance of building and sustaining strong collaborations and partnerships for the benefit of the community at large. We’ve adopted the motto “Taking Your Business Personally”, because we feel it is important that you find value in what the Chamber offers. We welcome and encourage your feedback and suggestions on what you would like to see us provide better, or do different.
I am proud of what our Chamber has accomplished this past year. Some of the highlights are – creating a young professional networking group, NGM: Next Generation Minden, having the Governor in town to speak out our Chamber Banquet, revamping our First Responders Appreciation Event to allow the community the opportunity to come out and show appreciation to our local heroes, partake in many Ribbon Cuttings for new and expanded businesses, increase our New Teacher Breakfast to welcome not only our new Parish teachers, but our new teachers to Glenbrook as well. In the near future, we are excited about partnering with the Minden High Booster Club to hold a “Community Tailgate” with our local businesses before the Minden High Homecoming game on October 27th. There are so many more exciting changes coming soon to our Chamber, but I’ll keep those a secret for now! Stay tuned!
Please feel free to stop by the Chamber offices to visit if you are in the neighborhood. You can also call me at 318.377.4240 or e-mail me at [email protected]. Thank you for your support in helping us create the best business climate in Louisiana.
Stephanie Barnette is president/CEO of the Minden-South Webster Chamber of Commerce.