Southern Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce & Industry

The Ultimate Business Network

A Rough Guide to Maximising Your Membership

SSCCI Business Members

The Chamber belongs to its business members who join for a variety of benefits from raising their profile through networking events to sourcing information, accessing commercial services or seeking international trade advice and training. Southern Staffordshire has almost 1100 businesses in membership with a total workforce approaching 25,000 employees. As such it is the largest business membership organisation in the area.

SSCCI Chamber Divisions

Whilst the Chamber is a single organisation members are registered into one of three Divisions according to their business location because attention to the local market place and local community is generally an important factor. Our Divisions at Chase, Burton & District and Lichfield & Tamworth elect members at their AGM each year to sit on the Divisional Council to help develop service programme delivery and to encourage raising quality standards. Increasingly the Divisional Council is developing a closer dialogue with its local authority in order to better represent business interests and the "business case" in the formulation of public policy and the determination of economic development options.

SSCCI at Fradley Business Centre

From the beginning of 2007 the Chamber merged its three small town offices into a new single location at Fradley Business Centre near Lichfield. Staff re-structuring has concentrated on developing specialist roles in order collectively to raise the organisations capacity and professional standards in servicing its members' needs. The Chamber has recently installed new client management software and introduced an integrated finance package in order to better profile and record its client base; communicate more responsively with its members; have the ability to add new knowledge-based services and to engage more effectively in public/private partnerships arrangements. Tel. 0845 071 0191

Confederation of West Midlands Chambers

SSCCI is a member of the Confederation which is a formalised alliance of the seven Chambers in the West Midlands with a combined membership of over 11,000 businesses focusing on the Region and its position in the National Economy. Co-operative ventures have empowered the Confederation to influence regional policy through mainstream public agencies, contract for the direct delivery of funded business support services and allow local businesses to access trading opportunities with the wider membership base. The 2007/08 Confederation Business Directory has recently been published additional copies are available free on request.

BCC Accredited Chamber Network

SSCCI is part of the British Chambers National Accredited Network comprising 56 chambers across the UK with a combined membership of over 75,000 businesses with 5.2 million employees. BCC is the only national network in the world that requires each chamber to meet a rigorous quality accreditation standard every three years. BCC represents the Chamber business members' case directly with Government through consultation & position papers drawing upon opinion & evidence provided through the Network. The Network is the UK's largest provider of training & pivotal in International Trade relations through UKTI & overseas chambers. BCC also brokers commercial services based on the combined purchasing power of the Network membership, products that are particularly valued by SMEs. www.britishchambers.org.uk

EuroChambres - European Association of Chambers of Commerce

BCC is a member of EuroChambres, Brussels, the Association of European Chambers of Commerce which represents 46 national chamber organisations - a European network of over 2000 regional & local chambers with over 18 million business members. The organisation is influential in the framing of EU legislation, provides Academy training to chamber management and acts as a primary contractor to EU trans-national programmes - in which many UK chambers collaborate to actively deliver & facilitate trade programmes overseas. www.eurochambers.be