Lae Chamber of Commerce eyes younger members

By MAZIE SELMBIA
RE-ELECTED president of the Lae Chamber of Commerce, John Byrne, has proposed the setting up of a chamber for young members and to increase membership.
“This year, we are looking to include a young chamber called Mind Place,” said Byrne.
“The Mind Place will build a network and encourage young or new business elites to become future leaders in business and the chamber as a whole.”
Byrne told the chamber’s annual general meeting that the Mind Place programme was introduced in 2019, but was disrupted by the Coronavirus pandemic.
He also wants to see members joining in from the Asian market in the province.
“Only the long-term Asians are involved but the new Asians don’t seem to be getting involved with the chamber,” Byrne said.
He said they would like to see a new process which allowed businesses to become automatic members of a chamber, once registered with the Investment Promotion Authority.
“The two strongest chambers are in Port Moresby and Lae, but all the other chambers also struggle with memberships,” Byrne said.
He said that they should go out and encourage them to join as well as for small-to-medium enterprises to be included.
The chamber had a successful year in 2023 and looks forward to this year with more than 200 members.