QUESNEL – The Quesnel Community and Economic Development hosted the second annual Quesnel Business Walks on October 27th. Participants included the City of Quesnel, Quesnel Downtown Association, the Province of BC, and Community Futures. As always the Chamber was grateful for the opportunity to be involved and reach out to the business community. Teams of two and three engaged over 60 businesses of all sizes and sectors in a short questionnaire about business in Quesnel.
“I find the Business Walks a very useful tool in planning Chamber events, programs, and services, and still use information gathered last year to help guide some of our work. The feedback from the business community is invaluable to our organization. We appreciate the opportunity to work closely with our Economic Development office and share the information gathered from the program for the overall benefit of the community,” says Chamber Manager Amber Gregg.
Business walks have been used in other communities to gather information and get a pulse on the business community. As a forestry dependent economy that is facing challenges, we feel it is important to use as many tools as possible to stay connected with the businesses, find out their concerns, and also understand what makes doing business in Quesnel a worthwhile investment. In this way, we can continue to move our community forward, support the businesses and industry we currently have, and attract new investors and residents to the area.
There are many networking opportunities through the Chamber that allow us to get to know our members and their businesses. The business walks are unique in that we are able to get time with the business owners face to face, and one on one. The Chamber appreciates the organization and planning that goes into the event, as well as the time to gather and summarize the data into a useful tool and hopes to continue participating for years to come.
– William Lacy is President and Chair of the Quesnel and District Chamber of Commerce. He can be reached through qchamber@quesnelbc.com.
