The Lithgow District Chamber of Commerce was awarded a $503,000 grant under the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund, sponsored by the NSW and Commonwealth Governments.
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The funding program is designed to support community recovery from the 2019-20 black summer bushfires.
The President of the Chamber, Peter Pilbeam said this funding boost was one of the most significant in many years for the Lithgow Region's business community.
"It will provide the opportunity for local business to secure new contracts, encourage new ventures, acknowledge business achievements and showcase what the region's business community has to offer," he said.
"On behalf of Chamber members, I sincerely thank our two local parliamentary members, Hon. Andrew Gee, MP, and Hon. Paul Toole, MP, for their support of and faith in the Chamber to execute on this game-changing funding grant."
Mr Pilbeam said it was an exciting time for the region bringing together all of the key stakeholders with the business community.
"It will lead to more jobs, more investment and economic growth," he said.
The Chamber's funding application is one of 195 locally led applications throughout the State which were selected for funding across fire impacted regions.
"The core of the Chamber's funding application involves a series of high profile, high-calibre Business Revival events over a two-year period.
"The events will be a mixture of Start-Up Ventures & Innovation, Local Procurement, Business Showcase Expo, Business Awards and Inward Investment Promotion," Mr Pilbeam said.
"While the high-profile events will be the feature of the Chamber's funding program, the Chamber will be doing all it can working alongside businesses and stakeholders to extract the maximum outcomes for the region.
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"Combined, these events will be a first for the region. Each event will be designed and promoted to extract maximum impact in terms of exposure, new orders, new investment and jobs creation."
Overall they are looking to achieve this over three to five years, by generating up to 250 jobs, five new business ventures and around $60 million in additional local sales.
To achieve this, the Chamber will be working closely with all key partners, inclusive of large employers, Council, University of Western Sydney, University of Notre Dame, other Chambers of Commerce and, the Department of Regional NSW.
The Chamber Executive will be briefing its members on the Business Revival program in early August and will coordinate a business roundtable to consider ideas and options, and to scope and align on the details of the high-profile events.
The Chamber will be fast-tracking the recruitment of a senior Events and Marketing Coordinator to manage the roll-out of the Business Revival program over the coming two years.
Further, a Sub-Committee of the Chamber will be formed to provide overall direction and governance.
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