It is been a difficult time to step up as president of the local chamber of commerce but Heavymech operations manager Chris Boschoff is confident Commerce North West can still thrive in the pandemic.
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Mr Boschoff took on the presidency of the chamber under difficult circumstances when Mount Isa Airport manager Nigel Rieck - himself barely months in the job - was stood down from his day job due to COVID-19 and had to relinquish the chamber role.
Mr Boschoff was on the committee a year when he was asked to step up.
"We couldn't do a normal meeting due to social distancing rules and they said to me, we'd like you to consider taking it on. It's a big role, it's a big responsibility so I had to talk to my employer and my family and they were happy for me to do it," Mr Boschoff said.
Mr Boschoff said that when he took over he decided to go back to basics.
"I looked at what is the purpose of a chamber of commerce and it comes down to a few things," he said.
"It's run by volunteers but we have Emma (Harman) in the office for 25 hours a week. We are member based funded and it's a platform for networking.The second one is identifying opportunities for members."
The chamber is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland.
"We support CCIQ and we have regular interactions with them to support things they push with the state on behalf of members," Mr Boschoff said.
"The biggest success was payroll tax on the COVID Jobkeeper payments was exempted, They're also trying for some of the projects to be released especially for rural Queensland."
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Currently there are around 100 members in Commerce North West and Mr Boschoff said that number needs to grow.
"For us to lobby on behalf of members we've got to have a big member base. The more members we have the more clout we have," he said,
"We are trying to get confidence back in the city and good news stories is the way to do it. We are using our social media platforms to tell them what we can do for them."
COVID-19 has forced changes to their operations and their planned events.
"The change to a virtual Business Brew (every Wednesday) was born out of necessity but we are looking at keeping that for part of the month out of convenience as we serve all of the North West not just Mount Isa," Mr Boschoff said.
"We are looking at how we are going to run this year's business awards and next year's MineX. The awards may have to change to see how we can possibly do it as soon as we know more about what the rules are. What's known as MineX,we are looking at it as a concept and we are looking at can it grow in slightly different ways."
Mr Boschoff said they will be surveying members on their COVID-19 economic and operational impacts and has also begun taking in a new "economic hub" meeting with state and council and economic groups.
"We had a meeting this week and we are going to be doing it fortnightly with the mayor (Danielle Slade), state member (Robbie Katter) and MITEZ talking about the region, the opportunities and challenges," he said.
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
