Courtesy: Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce
The local chamber of commerce unveiled new branding at its annual meeting on Wednesday, complementing other recent changes to programming and member benefits.
The chamber, previously known as “The Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce,” is now the “Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce,” with a modern-looking logo and a new website set to launch soon.
These changes affect how businesses interact with the chamber, but it’s the organization's renewed focus on economic development that could have the biggest impact on residents.
With help from consultants and in coordination with groups like Downtown Bentonville Inc., the City of Bentonville, and Visit Bentonville, the chamber has begun developing a comprehensive economic development strategy. The plan is expected to be finished this fall.
“We’re going to support the economy in a greater way,” Chamber CEO Brandom Gengelbach said during the event, “by getting ahead and having a specific course of action for facilitating and attracting the growth that’s coming our way.”
The economic development strategy will center on four pillars: talent attraction, workforce development, business attraction, and business retention.
Northwest Arkansas is growing quickly — and with growth comes tension.
“One of the most common questions I get as the chamber president — and no doubt you’ve thought about it and talked about it — is: How do we maintain the brand and the charm of this community, knowing that we’re growing like this?” Gengelbach said.
He challenged the room full of business leaders to seize the opportunity with greater engagement and support for the chamber’s initiatives:
“We are very blessed in this community … We have large corporate and family benefactors in our community, and those corporations and families have played a significant role in the community that you see today. But at the end of the day, for us to get to that level — for the chamber, for the community, for our economy to get in front of that growth — there has got to be way more participation from the business community. In fact, you all actually need to lead the effort.”
