How is the South Island Prosperity Partnership different than a Chamber of Commerce?
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By Dallas Gislason, Director of Economic Development, South Island Prosperity Partnership
The South Island Prosperity Partnership (SIPP) takes an approach to economic development that is uncommon in Canada, which can sometimes cause a little confusion. Most cities across the country have economic development offices operated and funded by the municipal government, but SIPP is different. We operate as a regional alliance of municipal governments, First Nations governments, industry and business associations, institutional partners, non-profits and private businesses—with a shared goal of increasing prosperity throughout the Greater Victoria region of Vancouver Island. Because of SIPP’s member-driven organizational model, which includes 25+ private businesses, we are often asked How is SIPP different than a Chamber of Commerce? We think it’s a great question, and one worth exploring in detail. First, let us explore Chambers of Commerce and their long history in our communities (the term “chamber of commerce” first appeared in 1599 in Marseille, France). According to the International Chamber of Commerce: “Moving beyond individual interests to that of a collective group, the establishment of chambers provided merchants, traders, craftsmen and industrialists a public forum to discuss issues facing them as a business community. This representation of common interests became, and remains, the foundation of chambers of commerce worldwide.” In other words, Chambers became a way for individual businesses to have a voice as part of a collective whole. As a result, Chambers of Commerce appear in almost every country in the world. |
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In fact, the Greater Victoria Chamber has earned a reputation for championing local issues and raising them in provincial and national conversations. And not just that, the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce invested several years of time and energy to ‘incubate’ a regional economic development approach that eventually evolved into what SIPP is today.
There are five Chambers of Commerce across the South Island. The largest is the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, and the others are the Westshore Chamber of Commerce, the Saanich Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, the Esquimalt Chamber of Commerce and the Sooke Chamber of Commerce. In addition to their own service offerings and events, each of these Chambers helps bring the voice of business into conversations about local issues. In fact, the Greater Victoria Chamber has earned a reputation for championing local issues and raising them in provincial and national conversations. And not just that, the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce invested several years of time and energy to ‘incubate’ a regional economic development approach that eventually evolved into what SIPP is today.
Around the globe, Chambers have proven that they are critical to ensuring that governments and other players are responsive to the many thousands of local businesses that create jobs, make investments, pay taxes, and support local charities and causes in any city or region. It is a fact that vibrant businesses are essential to a vibrant community and region.
SIPP, as an economic development alliance, plays a different role than the Chambers of Commerce. The distinction between the two was the primary basis for why the Greater Victoria Chamber incubated the first ‘version’ of SIPP under a separate banner known as the Greater Victoria Development Agency (GVDA) from 2007 to 2016. Thanks to the Greater Victoria Chamber’s leadership, the GVDA was able to evolve into SIPP. As a regional alliance of diverse partners, SIPP incorporates many perspectives into the regional strategic planning processes that inform our mandate, which is ultimately to pursue a strong and diversified regional economy on South Vancouver Island. SIPP delivers on this mandate through convening our partners—including Chambers of Commerce—around joint projects and initiatives.
A recent example which illustrates this strength is SIPP rallying the entire region around Canada’s Smart Cities Challenge, with the hopes of bringing a $10 million grant to the region. This project united our region around a common goal and created momentum and buy-in that would have been impossible with partners working in isolation.
While SIPP does pursue membership from local businesses to be part of our public-private alliance (which is where the confusion sometimes lies), our model has an intense focus on working with members that are altruistic in nature. Our members primarily join SIPP because they want to pursue a more vibrant region, not because they are receiving a specific benefit or service from being involved.
We hope this explanation provides some insight on how SIPP differs from Chambers of Commerce, and also how we work alongside Chambers of Commerce (and all other partners) to pursue long-term, region-wide goals that can have big impact on all of us. While SIPP and the Chambers of Commerce differ from each other in our mandates and the major activities on which we focus our day-to-day work, our goals are complimentary.
Around the globe, Chambers have proven that they are critical to ensuring that governments and other players are responsive to the many thousands of local businesses that create jobs, make investments, pay taxes, and support local charities and causes in any city or region. It is a fact that vibrant businesses are essential to a vibrant community and region.
SIPP, as an economic development alliance, plays a different role than the Chambers of Commerce. The distinction between the two was the primary basis for why the Greater Victoria Chamber incubated the first ‘version’ of SIPP under a separate banner known as the Greater Victoria Development Agency (GVDA) from 2007 to 2016. Thanks to the Greater Victoria Chamber’s leadership, the GVDA was able to evolve into SIPP. As a regional alliance of diverse partners, SIPP incorporates many perspectives into the regional strategic planning processes that inform our mandate, which is ultimately to pursue a strong and diversified regional economy on South Vancouver Island. SIPP delivers on this mandate through convening our partners—including Chambers of Commerce—around joint projects and initiatives.
A recent example which illustrates this strength is SIPP rallying the entire region around Canada’s Smart Cities Challenge, with the hopes of bringing a $10 million grant to the region. This project united our region around a common goal and created momentum and buy-in that would have been impossible with partners working in isolation.
While SIPP does pursue membership from local businesses to be part of our public-private alliance (which is where the confusion sometimes lies), our model has an intense focus on working with members that are altruistic in nature. Our members primarily join SIPP because they want to pursue a more vibrant region, not because they are receiving a specific benefit or service from being involved.
We hope this explanation provides some insight on how SIPP differs from Chambers of Commerce, and also how we work alongside Chambers of Commerce (and all other partners) to pursue long-term, region-wide goals that can have big impact on all of us. While SIPP and the Chambers of Commerce differ from each other in our mandates and the major activities on which we focus our day-to-day work, our goals are complimentary.
Chamber co-op student wins Future Innovator Challenge
Cyrus Lee, The Chamber's 2018 co-op student and third year University of Victoria business student, and his team won the post secondary category at the Future Innovator Challenge, presented by Island Savings in collaboration with the South Island Prosperity Project. The team won for Lug, a person-to-person shipping app that allows users to crowd-source deliveries - like those made on Used.ca - from the community, thus enhancing the local marketplace and saving costs.
Future Innovator Challenge asks post-secondary and high school students to come up with creative solutions for some of Greater Victoria's challenges in categories like transportation, housing, human health, environmental health, and economic resiliency.
Future Innovator Challenge asks post-secondary and high school students to come up with creative solutions for some of Greater Victoria's challenges in categories like transportation, housing, human health, environmental health, and economic resiliency.
Q&A with Cyrus Lee
How did your group come up with the idea for Lug?
The idea stemmed from our team member Josh, who lives on the Sunshine Coast. When he moved to Victoria, there was furniture that he needed to bring over from the coast. But Josh didn't have a truck to bring it over and shipping prices were really expensive.
What are your next steps regarding Lug?
We've been trying to keep up with school for the past couple of days, so we haven't had the time to sit down to talk about the future of Lug. But we're still extremely passionate about our project, I think if the project garners more attention from the public, we would most likely continue looking for ways we could build upon this project.
What did you learn from the experience (planning, presenting)?
It took a very long time for our presentation to get to where it was during the day of the event. I felt that it was important that we trusted one another through the planning and presenting phases. Despite winning the competition, we still believe that we have many things to learn, but the Future Innovator Challenge was definitely an awesome learning experience.
How did your co-op experience at The Chamber help you with this project?
The co-op experience definitely allowed me to look at different aspects of how to begin a project. Through helping to create The Chamber's new website, I learned about online targeted advertising, so that's one of the ways we would promote our app. I also consulted The Chamber's Business Directory when we were looking for different services for Lug. For example, we need an e-commerce service for the app, and Chamber member Bambora became a viable option. Most importantly, I learned about the Future Innovator Challenge through The Chamber!
Anything else you'd like to add?
I believe that there are many students just like us who are really interested in the field of entrepreneurship and coming up with new ideas. I would like to thank the people over at the South Island Prosperity Project for the opportunity for like-minded students to share our ideas.
In addition to this, we are also hoping to reach out to people in the community that would be able to assist in this project going forth. You can reach out to us at lugshippingapp@gmail.com.
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The staff at The Chamber is really proud of everything Cyrus and his team accomplished. Do you want your own Cyrus? Through the Canada Summer Jobs Program as a business you could be eligible to receive 50% of minimum wage reimbursement and, if you're a not-for-profit, you could receive up to 100% reimbursement.
How did your group come up with the idea for Lug?
The idea stemmed from our team member Josh, who lives on the Sunshine Coast. When he moved to Victoria, there was furniture that he needed to bring over from the coast. But Josh didn't have a truck to bring it over and shipping prices were really expensive.
What are your next steps regarding Lug?
We've been trying to keep up with school for the past couple of days, so we haven't had the time to sit down to talk about the future of Lug. But we're still extremely passionate about our project, I think if the project garners more attention from the public, we would most likely continue looking for ways we could build upon this project.
What did you learn from the experience (planning, presenting)?
It took a very long time for our presentation to get to where it was during the day of the event. I felt that it was important that we trusted one another through the planning and presenting phases. Despite winning the competition, we still believe that we have many things to learn, but the Future Innovator Challenge was definitely an awesome learning experience.
How did your co-op experience at The Chamber help you with this project?
The co-op experience definitely allowed me to look at different aspects of how to begin a project. Through helping to create The Chamber's new website, I learned about online targeted advertising, so that's one of the ways we would promote our app. I also consulted The Chamber's Business Directory when we were looking for different services for Lug. For example, we need an e-commerce service for the app, and Chamber member Bambora became a viable option. Most importantly, I learned about the Future Innovator Challenge through The Chamber!
Anything else you'd like to add?
I believe that there are many students just like us who are really interested in the field of entrepreneurship and coming up with new ideas. I would like to thank the people over at the South Island Prosperity Project for the opportunity for like-minded students to share our ideas.
In addition to this, we are also hoping to reach out to people in the community that would be able to assist in this project going forth. You can reach out to us at lugshippingapp@gmail.com.
****
The staff at The Chamber is really proud of everything Cyrus and his team accomplished. Do you want your own Cyrus? Through the Canada Summer Jobs Program as a business you could be eligible to receive 50% of minimum wage reimbursement and, if you're a not-for-profit, you could receive up to 100% reimbursement.
