THE Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently welcomed 54 new members, the highest in its history, as small and large businesses continue cropping up in Cebu.
CCCI president Virgilio Espeleta told SunStar Cebu that this achievement stemmed from years of being active and vocal to lobby the concerns of the business community.
“Many companies have seen what the chamber can do for them because we’ve been very active, visible and vocal,” Espeleta said.
Espeleta said they are also pushing for inclusive economic growth by welcoming more micro, small and medium enterprises to their fold.
“We give them 50 percent discount for a two-year membership,” he said.
Pennwela Campomanes, owner of Vhonutiff Food Products, said she is looking forward to grow her business through building connections with the member-companies of the chamber.
“This is business exposure. There are connections and sharing of ideas among other entrepreneurs,” she said.
With CCCI, Campomanes said big and small businesses can help each other grow.
“Being a member, especially since we are still a small business, we can benefit because they will conduct seminars and trainings as well as trade fairs,” she said.
George Calles, manager of the marketing department of the commercial centers and retail management division of Il Corso, said they wanted to be part of the growing industry of real estate in Cebu.
“We want to take part of the majority of this development in Cebu. We want to be very proactive in creating progress,” he said.
Calles said they will open two more malls in Cebu as part of the company’s Visayas and Mindanao expansion. He said this will generate more jobs for the Cebuanos.
“We’re going to change the concept of malling,” he said.
Other new members of CCCI are from various sector, namely, trade, information and communications technology, sectoral, service and graduates from the Kapatid Mentor Me program.
With this addition, CCCI member-companies have grown to more than a thousand.
Chamber chapters in Cordova and Balamban were also established to reach out to businesses outside Cebu City. (JOB)