Chamber offering virus fallout aid to struggling traders
Recovery and resilience programme coming soon
Scenes like this at St Catherine’s Retail Park has left many Perth and Kinross businesses struggling to stay afloat
Perthshire Chamber is to launch a new programme which will help take businesses through the recovery process from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ‘recovery and resilience’ programme, which is expected to be launched in the next three weeks, will include contributors from key sectors, and large and small businesses across urban and rural Perthshire.
It will be focused on new opportunities, ideas generation and strategic planning to help the region’s businesses transition to the “new normal” as the country examines how to move out of the current COVID-19 lockdown.
Planning of the programme is well underway and is being informed by offers of support from businesses in areas including legal, financial, mentoring, leadership, marketing, digital skills, administration, coaching, sales, idea generation, planning, re-positioning, resilience and training.
The chamber has also confirmed two new membership initiatives to help hardpressed local businesses which have been impacted by the sharp economic downturn.
It is offering free initial three months membership to new members as part of its drive to extend its support services across the region. At the same time, existing members will receive 15 months membership rather than their normal 12 months when they renew.
Perthshire Chamber has been particularly active during the coronavirus pandemic in representing the interests of hundreds of local businesses.
It has been engaging with Perth and Kinross Council, the Scottish and UK governments, as well as the Bank of England and other organisations.
The chamber has also been delivering an extensive schedule of free webinars and building a bank of valuable business tools to support fellow businesses during the first few frantic weeks of this pandemic.
It has also been continuing to deliver its business leader mentoring programme.
Chamber president Stephen Leckie said: “This has undoubtedly been the toughest challenge we have all faced in modern times, both on a human, personal and business level.
“What has been impressive is the huge national effort across the country and in the business community to pull together and get through COVID-19.
“Early efforts have very much focused on survival and we have seen some fantastic examples across the region of businesses which have managed to adapt and pivot to protect their livelihoods and secure new opportunities.
“Our new recovery and resilience programme is designed to pool our collective experience, share the new skills we have learned and provide a platform to identify new ideas.
“It is going to be a very different landscape moving forward in many ways, so it is vital be start planning now.
“But even out of the human tragedy and crisis of coronavirus, there will be opportunities ahead to reboot our communities and our regional economy.
“We also hope that our new membership initiatives, both for new and existing members, will help hard-pressed employers at this difficult time and show them the value that we are delivering for local businesses all year round.”
Undoubtedly been the toughest challenge we have all faced in modern times, on a human, personal and business level