"The Elephant Man" (Baton Rouge)
January 25, 2010
Octavia McCoy White
January 28, 2010
The Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce may not be the most visible member of the local business community, but it may be one of the most helpful.
Aside from promoting local businesses, the chamber also supports local schools, conducts networking events and lobbies in Baton Rouge and Washington, D.C., on behalf of area businesses.
“We represent right under 900 businesses who are members of the chamber,” said chamber president Drake Pothier, “We can advocate on behalf of what’s good for the parish both to maintain the strength that it has now and also to expand for the future.”
The Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit organization, but doesn’t receive any funding from the state or parish government. Instead, its primary source of income is its membership fees. Businesses large and small all have something to gain from membership in the chamber, said Pothier.
“For businesses that don’t have a huge marketing budget or don’t know how to market themselves we provide a lot of opportunities for them where we can promote them on their behalf,” said Pothier.
“The other reason businesses join the chamber is because they want to speak with one voice. We certainly are the voice of the business community.”
One of the chamber’s most successful programs is the Business After Hours program, a monthly networking event for area businesspeople.
They also hold lunch and breakfast events to allow area business owners to meet and greet.
In order to advance the chamber’s causes, it’s hired a lobbyist in Baton Rouge, and Pothier himself has registered as a lobbyist.
“We’re constantly aware of issues that are going to impact small and large businesses alike. We monitor those issues and then we take action as necessary,” said Pothier.
According to Pothier, the chamber has lobbied against cuts for education at Fletcher Technical Community College, to make area roads a higher on the state level and the employee free-choice act in the Congress.
Although the chamber is comprised by mostly small businesses, its members include industrial companies, hospitals, doctors, lawyers and teachers, said Pothier.
The Houma-Terrebonne chamber even has members from as far away as Texas and New Jersey.
The chamber’s nearly 900 companies employ more than 30,000 employees in the parish.
The chamber also has several programs at area schools to help improve the relationship between the business community and education.
They’ve also promoted the parish’s recent beautification projects.
“The education is a huge priority for the business community. The future employees of these companies are in the school system right now, so the better education they get now, the more work-ready they’ll be when they graduate,” said Pothier. “It’s also a quality of life issue. When a business is considering whether or not to relocate here or expand here, one of the things they look for is a quality education system.”
The chamber also held its annual banquet on Tuesday at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, where it announced its Business of the Year and Teenager of the Year awards.
Political columnist John Maginnis was featured as the keynote speaker and over 500 business members attended.
The identities of the chamber’s awards winners were not made available before press time.
Employees of chamber members view a demonstration by On-Site Training & Instruction, Inc. during January’s Business After Hours event. * Photo by SOPHIA RUFFIN
