Since it began trading on 8 July 2013, the business support organisation has supported more than 800 businesses through membership and currently represents around 15% of the Milton Keynes workforce.
Over the past five years, Milton Keynes Chamber has actively engaged with approximately 5,000 borough businesses through membership, events, training , magazine subscription and seminars. Members have been to 169 Chamber hosted events and 71 seminars.
It has provided 287 training courses for 696 delegates and 376 members have saved around £20,000 in training course discounts.
The Chamber has been praised nationally, scooping awards annually for the past four years.
The team were double winners at the national Chamber Awards in 2015 scooping the Excellence In Membership Services Award and Chamber of the Year 2015.
They retained the Excellence in Membership Services in 2016 and last year won Excellence in International Trade Services.
In the past five years, the Chamber’s international trade service delivered by sister chamber Northamptonshire Chamber of Commerce, has helped 200 member companies in MK with documentation to export worldwide, aiding the shipping of goods with a total value of more than £378 million.
The organisation boasts the borough’s only quarterly private business survey which feeds into the British Chamber of Commerce’s Quarterly Economic Survey – used by The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee as one of its key benchmarks when setting interest rates.
Milton Keynes Chamber of Commerce became an accredited Chamber within just 18 months because of the relationship with sister Chamber, the award-winning Northamptonshire Chamber of Commerce.
That relationship also helped MK Chamber to achieve Investors in People Silver status and give members valuable benefits of liaising with British Chambers of Commerce.
Milton Keynes Chamber has supported five deserving local charities and last year launched – along with Northamptonshire Chamber – the brand new Next Generation Chamber, a young professionals forum providing a platform for future business leaders to make contacts and improve their skills. Milton Keynes Chamber of Commerce chief executive Paul Griffiths said: “We are delighted with all that our Chamber has achieved over the past five years and would like to thank all of our members, staff, board of directors and stakeholders for their instrumental role in our success.
“With their support, and that of the wider business community, we will continue to support the Milton Keynes economic landscape in every which way we can. I truly believe this is just the start of a very bright future for Milton Keynes Chamber of Commerce.”
