Home topics start-up-entrepreneur starting Starting Starting Chambers of commerce: gateway to global Adeline Teoh August 5, 2009 Even small towns have chambers of commerce , but what exactly do these organisations do and how can they assist your business ? A chamber of commerce, business chamber, board of trade—call it what you will, but any organisation that assists business is a friend of yours. You may be familiar with your local chamber of commerce already. Most metropolitan areas, even modest-sized towns, have one and they are usually positioned to play a prominent role representing commercial interests in their area. While the specific objectives of various chambers of commerce do vary from location to location, in general they exist to facilitate business as well as act and lobby on behalf of businesses to other bodies, such as councils and Government. “They would be set up to further the process of business, they have a commercial focus,” says Nathan Backhouse, director of trade and international affairs at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI). “There are core activities but they are very flexible, and that’s due to the general council structure, which moves the overall activities of the chamber in a certain direction depending on issues that may have arisen.” Chambers vary in size from an organisation representing a single township through to city chambers, state chambers, national chambers and international chambers of commerce. The ACCI itself is the peak council for business associations in Australia and represents more than 350,000