Durban - The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) has made the Durban Country Club its home as it focuses on strengthening its partnerships to promote the growth of local businesses.
DCCI president Nigel Ward said the move marked a new chapter in history for both organisations.
“This partnership between our two iconic entities marks a mutual commitment to contributing to our city’s drive for inclusive economic participation for all businesses. The Durban Country Club is conveniently located on highly accessible traffic routes and welcomes the broader eThekwini business community and all who co-labour with us to grow our city’s economy,” Ward said.
DCCI chief executive Palesa Phili said the chamber had needed to relocate and management decided that it would be ideal to move to the club as it was also a non-profit organisation and a member with a 98-year history in the city. The club has been a member of the chamber for the past 34 years.
Palesa said that working from its new premises, the chamber aimed to continue focusing on growing its partnerships with local businesses, many of which had been battling during lockdown.
“Most of our members are struggling and the impact is naturally going to affect us. It has been a very tough couple of months, not only for us, but for the business community. We started doing calls on our members, and found many have closed down and others are retrenching,” Phili said.
Phili said the ban on interprovincial tourism and alcohol sales was severely hurting hotels and other businesses in the tourism industry.
She said the chamber would focus on encouraging people and businesses to buy local to support the local economy. “Buying local is definitely something we have to be promoting, as well as looking at new industries and being sure our youth get excited about being innovative,” she said.
Kamlesh Ranchhod, the chairperson of the Durban Country Club, said the presence of the chamber at its premises would enable networking opportunities for local businesses.
“We are proud to have our historic entities co-exist in the same locality, which will enable us both to leverage our years of extensive experience serving the Durban community and providing an exceptional and conducive networking environment. We look forward to welcoming the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry to our property and working together to serve our respective members,” Ranchhod said.
The chamber moved to the Durban Country Club, which is located at 101 Isaiah Ntshangase Road in Stamford Hill, on August 3.
The Mercury