Dunbartonshire Chamber has continued to respond to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on our economy and we are working tirelessly to support businesses through the crisis - under the banner of #TogetherForBusiness we have had more than 1,000 sign-ups to our virtual events since March.

It is more important than ever to build a strong, connected, business community and we continue to provide opportunities for business to engage and build relationships as well as enhancing their skills and knowledge through our busy programme of events.

We are running these virtually for the time being although we are about to confirm the first of our outdoor networking opportunities when we run another series of ‘Netwalking’ events.

Our weekly Networking with Purpose sessions continue to draw enthusiastic and driven entrepreneurs together to grow their network, share knowledge and build those all-important relationships that will help strengthen resilience and sustainability.

Their success of the sessions is in no small way due to the quality of the hosting by ‘Chamber Champion’ Mary Ann Smith, of WeAchieve Associates and the executive coaching skills she brings. We are delighted to announce that Mary Ann recently joined the board of the Chamber to help drive the organisation into its next phase of development.

Our weekly webinars provide an important opportunity for businesses to learn, upskill and prepare for the re-emerging economy, covering a wide range of themes from health and wellbeing and public sector procurement to health and safety, remote working best practice and business planning.

Our dedicated pool of ‘Chamber Champions’ and ‘Chamber Experts’ have played a vital part to support these events and share their knowledge and expertise – both at the events and with follow up sessions with businesses.

The Chamber initiated a successful application for funding to support our town centres from Scottish Towns Partnerships and we are currently working with our partners to finalise details of a Shop and Trade Local Campaign.

This will align with the national #ScotlandLovesLocal campaign to encourage our local communities to support the local businesses – many of which have worked amazingly hard to continue to provide products and services during lockdown as well as meeting the needs of our communities and supporting in a variety of other ways - often on a voluntary basis.

To support the ‘LovesLocal’ activity the Chamber is getting behind the government-backed Eat Out to Help Out campaign throughout August promoting the initiative across all of our communication channels as well as offering any Dunbartonshire business the opportunity to access additional promotion and support.

To connect with our wonderful business community or find out more about the benefits of being a member of the Chamber please call 0141 280 0272, email hello@dunbartonshire chamber.co.uk or visit dunbartonshirechamber.co.uk.