Last week, the collective put a proposal to its 72 members to merge with Business South. As part of the deal, Oamaru Business Collective members would be given a six-month membership with Business South, and two members of the collective’s committee would be appointed to Business South’s Waitaki advisory group.
The Oamaru Business Collective was formed in 2019 after a community meeting about the challenges of retail in Oamaru, and concerns about the growing number of empty retail and office spaces in the North Otago town’s main street. Over the past three years, it has organised regular networking events and shop local campaigns, and last year hosted the inaugural Oamaru Business Collective Awards.
After Business South was formed last year, by a merger between the Otago Chamber of Commerce and the Otago Southland Employers’ Association, a new "business navigator" role was created in the Waitaki district, to support and elevate local businesses.
Oamaru Business Collective chairwoman Cara Tipping Smith said Rebecca Finlay, who started in the new Business South role in January, had already made an "extraordinary" impact in the district.
"She’s doing amazing work and the resources that she’s got behind her are significant, so it did beg the question - why would we have two business associations?" Ms Tipping Smith said.
Business collective founder Annabel Berry said merging with Business South was the "perfect progression", and would create an even stronger voice for businesses in the district.
"We always set it up because we wanted to have a strong voice for business in North Otago, and now we can see, being such a small town, that merging with Business South is the perfect way forward," Mrs Berry said.
"It’s now time to all work together and make sure that we do the best for the business community."
Mrs Finlay said Business South was "really fortunate" to have developed a relationship with the collective and its members.
"Doing anything in competition to one another, it just makes no sense," she said.
Business South organised regular networking events and training workshops in Oamaru that members, and non-members, could access.
"We’ll definitely listen to the OBC members that we’re able to support for six months and see what kind of events they want and we’ll be responsive to that ... because, obviously, we’d love to have as many of them as we can as members."
It was a crucial time for businesses in Waitaki to unite - the Covid-19 pandemic was continuing to create challenges, more main street businesses had closed recently, and the Waitaki District Council was expected to release the findings of its economic development and tourism review at the end of the month, Ms Tipping Smith said.
