After the Otago Chamber of Commerce and the Otago Southland Employers Association voted over two special general meetings to merge, the process to get accreditation with the New Zealand Chamber of Commerce (NZCCI) began.
The Central Otago Advisory Group in the lead up to the merger raised concerns the new Business South entity had not yet been given approval from the NZCCI.
Otago Chamber of Commerce chief executive Dougal McGowan said an accreditation application was submitted to the national body last Thursday.
The Business South merger was subsequently discussed at the NZCCI’s annual general meeting last Friday, he said.
The importance of being accredited with NZCCI is it means the local chamber is able to help businesses with export documentation.
The NZCCI membership also gives the chamber access to a network of 36 other chambers in New Zealand and 20,000 similar entities around the world.
Otago chamber president Grant McKenzie said NZCCI was still assessing whether to give accreditation to Business South, but he was confident the new entity would meet the required standards.
As for the completion of the merger of the two organisations and the beginning of Business South, Mr McKenzie was not able to give an end date but it was likely to be less than six months away.
He expected the two organisations to start merging activities soon.
"Events and training are things we’re both doing so we can then start to bring those together reasonably quickly."
Otago Southland Employers Association president Andrew Leys said he was happy with how the merger was progressing.
" ... we’re looking forward to bringing the two organisations together and maximising our strengths."
He said they were taking a "soft approach" to the merger and expected the Employers’ Association and the Chamber to act as separate entities for a while as the merger came together.
