West Lothian Chamber of Commerce

The mission of the Chamber is to improve the success of the business community in general, and of our members in particular. The Chamber is a non-profit organisation representing a broad-based coalition of businesses throughout the county of West Lothian. The Chamber's members reflect a cross section of businesses of all sizes, geographic locations, and industries: members range in size from the very smallest businesses employing only one or two staff to some of Scotland's largest with over 1,000 employees.

 

The Chamber works closely with West Lothian Council's Economic Development Service at the Enterprise Centre, to promote practical support services to local companies and to feed back the needs and views of business representatives. Relevant occasions are being identified to work with other local chambers, especially Midlothian, and complementary representative bodies, such as the Federation of Small Businesses. Relationships have also been established and developed with South Dublin and Flanders Chambers with reciprocal events aimed at developing productive connections for West Lothian businesses.

 

The Chamber participates actively in the West Lothian Economic Partnership Forum which meets quarterly to bring together public and private sector bodies to contribute to the development and achievement of West Lothian's long term strategic economic objectives. Collaboration with West Lothian Council is seen as one of the Chamber's key roles in contributing to the success of locally based businesses.

 

The Chamber provides direct services and programs to help you be more competitive...and profitable. These include information, workshops, seminars and networking opportunities and high profile events, such as the Business Excellence Awards reflecting and celebrating the high quality of businesses in West Lothian.

 

The Chamber actively promotes Enterprise in Education, particularly in its work with the local colleges, West Lothian College and Oatridge College, but also with West Lothian schools, many of whom were represented at the Business Excellence Dinner. Enterprise in Education is a fundamental theme of the Scottish Executive and the Chamber fully supports the initiatives which flow from this. The immediate priority however is to ensure that opportunities for existing and new businesses are maximised and the conditions for economic growth are maintained.

 

At the Chamber we focus our efforts on creating a community environment that is good for business. We accomplish this by advocating the business viewpoint at all levels of government to ensure that public policy decisions lead to a healthy business climate and a better quality of life. In 2005 the Chamber's objectives are to ensure that the members views are fully represented where appropriate, that membership within West Lothian is developed and enhanced, and that private business is given the best opportunities to expand profitably.

 

The Chamber will play its part both in marketing West Lothian nationally and internationally and ensuring that the West Lothian economy continues to provide a sustainable platform for long tem economic growth. Our objective: Continued economic growth. For more information on Chamber membership please e-mail: membership@wlchamber.com or check our website www.wlchamber.com.