If you’re looking start or expand a business, the Greater Federal Way Chamber of Commerce wants you to know it’s here to help.
That was the message Chamber CEO Rebecca Martin touted at her organization’s State of the Chamber luncheon Wednesday.
Member retention and growth has increased for the Chamber each year since 2013, and it was a focal point of Martin’s keynote address to chamber members.
“This year, what happened to us is we ended the year at 82 percent,” Martin said. “We’ve had some growth there. But our retention of members has been pretty good.”
Martin said the national median average of chamber member retention is 81 to 94 percent. The Federal Way Chamber climbed above 80 percent for the first time since 2013. The loss of members also decreased in 2015.
In the last three years, the Chamber’s growth rate climbed from 3 to 8 to 19 percent.
Martin said the numbers are not a fluke —she expects the growth in business and retention to continue to climb.
“I believe that’s a pattern that’s going to continue,” Martin said through rowdy applause. “And I believe that because our members are great. We want to do business with business, and we hope that word is getting out there.”
Martin said the goal for member retention is to get to 95 percent, but that a more realistic goalis to keep moving up 1 percent at a time.
While the growth in Federal Way’s business community is on the upswing, Martin reiterated that the Chamber can’t bring consumers to those businesses. To that end, Martin announced the concept of a Chamber-themed “natural ecosystem” platform to help businesses succeed.
“Businesses need each other in order to survive,” Martin said. “It doesn’t matter what the size of the business is, it only matters that we are in business together.
“It’s business that creates jobs. We get more businesses, we get more jobs. You need a supply, and if we don’t have it, [then] we’re creating another business. That’s where it all comes from.”
The Chamber had Destination South Sound, a local committee, take a look at Federal Way as a stable economic climate destination for businesses. It’s also teaming up with Highline College on a number of projects, including “StartZone,” which will help South King County residents achieve financial self-sufficiency by providing accessible and affordable training, consulting and other support for small businesses.
Martin said the goal with StartZone was to help new, small businesses feel welcome into the Chamber network.
“As they grow into the marketplace, we want to make sure we are welcoming them into our ecosystem,” Martin said.
[Editor’s note: The print version of this story incorrectly implied that the figures, numbers and news shared by the Chamber were those of the city of Federal Way itself. This was not the case, and this story has been updated to accurately reflect that the information applies only to the Chamber. The Mirror regrets any confusion this may have caused]
