The Chamber Insider

Maximise your Marketing & Sales: 11th February
07:30 - 09:30am the Marquis at Alkham.

At our Networking Breakfast next month Roger Knight from Vital Software will be presenting a new, exciting web-based Customer Management Relationship system that Channel Chamber is using to manage all communications with businesses across East Kent. Details of an exclusive member offer, including a no obligation 7 day trial of the software will be provided.

If you would like see just how useful this system can be to your business. join us on the 11th Feb and find out how you can save money and maximise your marketing solutions.

To secure your place, call Tracy Reynolds on 01303 270022

Full details of the product are also provided on the Channel Chamber website at www.channelchamber.co.uk



Shepway Careers Fair – Friday 5th Feb @Leas Cliff Hall

Channel Chamber is delighted to have been invited to take part in this year’s Careers Fair which takes place next Friday at the Leas Cliff Hall. The organisers Shepway Secondary Learning Partnership been successful in getting Jonathan Shaw (Minister for the South East) to open the proceedings and we understand that the response from local companies has been overwhelming with over 60 taking part and 1,400 secondary school students attending.

This is the second annual Careers Fair taking place in Folkestone and its aims are to encourage students to make more informed decisions about their career choices.It’s also an ideal opportunity for local employers and post-16 training providers to provide information regarding their organizations and the jobs on offer locally.

Chamber members are most welcome to pop in any time between 3pm and 6pm or you can obtain further information in advance from els.howard@gmail.com

Kent Chamber of Commerce Directory 2010/11 Edition

Don’t miss this red hot opportunity to showcase your business in the best local business to business directory around !

Advertising sales open for business from 1st February to the 5th March and you will shortly be invited by Kemps Publishing to promote yourself to the Kent Chamber network of over 2,500 local businesses.

Free Fraud Clinics – 4th & 23rd February

Richard Heasman, Forensic partner at award winning accountancy firm Reeves & Neylan, has partnered with Fraud Consultant Darren Jones to run two local clinics aimed at assisting companies who have been exposed to fraudulent activity.

Initial free one-to-one sessions are being held at Reeves & Neylan’s Cantebury Offices on 4th and 23rd February. For more information, or to book your place please contact Darren Jones on 01843 600960 or email: Darren.jones@fraudconsultant.co.uk
Problems in Accessing Bank Finance?
Along with other business support partners in Kent we are trying to gauge the level of interest in an event that addresses the problems that businesses have been facing in accessing bank finance

If any chamber member has been facing this challenge and is prepared to discuss these issues at such a forum, please register your interest by emailing

peter.hobbs@channelchamber.co.uk by 5th February.

There is a genuine desire amongst these business support partners to see whether there is anything we can do with our banking partners that will make it easier for Kent businesses to access finance, but we need to understand the issues more clearly.

Opportunity to Join the SEEDA Board

The Board of South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) will shortly be recruiting two new members and we have been asked to bring this to the attention of businesses in East Kent.

These two business spaces will be advertised on www.rdaboardappointments.com on the 7th February and if anyone is interested in obtaining further details please contact the recruitment search consultants, Gatenby Sanderson in the first instance.

BCC Annual Conference – Thursday 18th March

This year’s BCC Annual Conference, “Preparing for Change”, will be a departure from the usual format. This will be the last premier-league business conference before the general election – and that means Chambers of Commerce have a unique opportunity to get our policies across to the top levels of all three main political parties. So this year, our audience of policy makers and opinion formers will be by invitation only, and our speakers will include star movers and shakers like Lord Mandelson, the Rt Hon Ken Clarke MP, FTSE 100 chief executives, a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, and the always-colourful Lord Sugar.

The other big change this year will be the launch of BCC TV - our new web video coverage of the proceedings, live and direct from the British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA) in central London. Thanks to BCC TV, Chamber members will have a new way to access the conference – without the high costs of travel and accommodation at a time when businesses are working hard to get the economy going again. This year’s full proceedings will be available to all Chamber members throughout the UK and throughout the world for just £30. For more details please check out the dedicated website: http://www.bcc-preparingforchange.co.uk/