City of Mount Gambier, in conjunction with the Mount Gambier Chamber of Commerce, Women in Business and Regional Development and Regional Development Australia Limestone Coast hosted a business networking event on Friday evening at City Hall.
The event, titled 'Reconnect to Recover', was held to bring business owners back together and gather information in an informal context about how COVID-19 has and is continuing to affect their operation.
City of Mount Gambier Mayor Lynette Martin OAM opened the event speaking about the many ways Council has been working to assist the community during this time.
The event was a joint collaboration as part of Council's 'Our City, Our Response' COVID-19 strategy and follows on from the business survey conducted at the height of the pandemic.- City of Mount Gambier Mayor Lynette Martin OAM
More than 70 people were in attendance at the event emceed by RDA Limestone Coast Chief Executive David Wheaton. Organisers ensured the event was ran safely, compliant with the venue's COVIDsafe plan with coloured spots in place to encourage appropriate physical distancing between attendees.
Mount Gambier Chamber of Commerce President Hayley Neumann and Women in Business and Regional Development Chair Jacinta Jones closed the event by speaking about the importance of working together and staying connected during this challenging time.
"Over the past few months the local business community has shown resilience and innovation in the face of adversity. We have all supported each other to make sure that our local community has been safe and now we need to reconnect and work together to hopefully come out stronger and better than before," Ms Neumann said.
Feedback and information gathered from the event is currently being collated and the organisations will continue to work together with a strong focus on how to best prepare the city for a robust recovery.
"We're very fortunate to have organisations such as the Chamber, RDA and Women in Business and we look forward to continued collaboration with these organisations and the business sector as we work towards emerging from the pandemic as an economically sustainable and resilient community," Mayor Martin said.
