MARIGOT--St. Martin Chamber of Commerce President Jean Arnell and Director Maguy Gumbs recently attended a forum of the annual General Assembly of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI) in France, held in Lyon.
With legislation introduced to reduce the regions in France to 13 and the number of regional Chambers of Commerce reduced, consolidation now means fewer members of Chambers and new challenges.
“The challenges Chambers of Commerce in France are facing is relevance,” explained Arnell. “Chambers are typically institutions that register businesses, represent businesses, and contribute to economic development. What we see now is new entrepreneurs not relying on the Chamber to build their network. So the French Chamber has taken on the challenge of building three key areas that will contribute to new entrepreneurs; on line trading (CCI campus), CCI data that provides territorial data on business to Chambers, and a new business model of services (CCI de Demain). It’s a renewal process that’s driven by technology and the mindset of the new entrepreneur,” he added.
Arnell said the conference focused on three themes; what does an entrepreneur expect from a Chamber of Commerce in this connected world; how does a Chamber of Commerce retain relevance in a world of green, sustainable cities and territories, or smart cities? The concept of smart cities includes smart governments, smart grids, smart transportation systems, and smart business advocacy organisations.
The third theme was how does the Chamber of Commerce fit into the new world of knowledge, of on-line curriculums?
“Chambers in France are very popular for having their own business schools but today there are many new on-line curriculums and this makes the rankings of universities less important now than they were in the past.
“So how does the Chamber of Commerce renew itself to continue to provide education services, not just to its constituents but to students and the broader public? Those were the themes that made the conference very interesting.”
He noted that another preoccupation for the Chambers is the lack of diversity among Presidents of Chambers.
“There are very few or no women, and very few people from the minorities. I happen to be the youngest President of all the Chambers in France, and the only black one.”
