SHANNON CHAMBER LAUNCHES STRATEGIC PLAN 2023 – 2026

Shannon Chamber president Eoin Gavin and CEO Helen Downes (centre) pictured with Chamber board directors at the launch of the Chamber’s Strategic Plan 2023 -2026 in Dromoland Castle (from left): Ray O’Driscoll, The Shannon Airport Group; David Brown; Stephen Keogh, MHP Sellors; Siobhan Roche, PTG (Precision Tool Group); Mark Nolan, Dromoland Castle Hotel; Kevin Thompstone, the Thompstone Group; and Ian Barrett, Care About You Ltd. Photograph by Eamon Ward

 

Six key objectives to perpetuate Shannon’s unique reputation as a powerful business hub and to ensure that its sphere of influence continues to permeate throughout the region.

Shannon Chamber has launched its Strategic Plan 2023 – 2026.

The Plan, which was prepared following extensive consultation with board members, Chamber staff, Chamber members and key stakeholders, contains six key objectives that the Chamber has set to ensure that Shannon’s legacy for pioneering, inspirational and entrepreneurial achievements is perpetuated and recognised.

These objectives, which are backed up by twenty-three actions in an associated business plan 2023-2026, will see the Chamber:

  • voicing its concerns and lobbying for businesses in Shannon
  • growing and delivering value to a diverse membership
  • championing the delivery of the Shannon Town Centre Masterplan
  • promoting the proposing of ‘Brand Shannon’ to grow the region’s economy and connectivity
  • positioning the Chamber as a thought leader on issues that impact Shannon and the region; and
  • Collaborating with members and key stakeholders to promote sustainability and renewable energy.

The actions to deliver on the objectives have been given a hierarchy ranging from level one to five, based on:

  1. What the Chamber team can deliver on its own
  2. What it needs to collaborate on with key stakeholders to achieve
  3. Its lobbying activity
  4. Commentary on issues impacting the development of Shannon and the region
  5. National and local programmes and plans that require monitoring to ensure delivery.

Speaking at the launch, Shannon Chamber president Eoin Gavin said: “Shannon Chamber has been an intrinsic part of the business community in Shannon since it was set up 1995 by several pioneering executives who saw the need for an organisation that would be a voice for everything synonymous with Shannon.

“The Chamber has grown considerably in the intervening twenty-eight years. It has become more than the voice of business. Representing over 330 companies with an extended reach to their 15,000 plus employees, it now offers a diverse range of services to its members and the wider business community.

“It collaborates with organisations in every strand of business and life, not just in Shannon but in the region and beyond. It works to enhance the infrastructure in which members operate. Where it cannot deliver directly, it influences those with the power to do so, to deliver. It voices its opinion on local and national issues that impact members, Shannon, and the region and, through observing the external environment, it keeps a close eye on emerging trends that the Chamber and its members can capitalise on and benefit from.

“While the strategic direction of the Chamber’s activities has always been guided and monitored by a robust plan, this is the first time that a plan has been prepared following extensive collaboration with board directors, Chamber staff, Chamber members, and key stakeholders,” Mr Gavin added.

Responsible for the delivery of the twenty-three actions that back up the Plan, and which will be monitored at every board meeting to ensure implementation in the three-year timeframe, Shannon Chamber chief executive Helen Downes added: “Plans are but words on paper if they are not implemented or measurable against attainment in a defined timeline. At the end of 2026, we want to know that, through delivering on every aspect of this Plan, we will have initiated and influenced change that will have positively adjusted the conditions for business and the environment in which our members operate.

“We want to have increased our membership so that every business sector and companies of all sizes can benefit from the collaborative benefits that membership offers. We want to have played an active role in ensuring that the plan to enhance the ‘living town’ aspects of Shannon, contained in the new Shannon Town Centre Masterplan, has been successfully delivered and that housing stock in Shannon will have been aligned to the needs of business.

“We will have worked to publicise and promote the expansiveness of Shannon’s offering: the benefits accruing to using Shannon Airport; the amazing work and output from enterprise in Shannon; the talent available to business; and the education being provided by our third-level colleges.

“We will have collaborated with key stakeholders to ensure that enterprise in Shannon and beyond have had access to the knowledge and expertise necessary to perpetuate Shannon’s notoriety for pioneering concepts and initiatives and, we will have played a key role in positioning Shannon and the region as an exemplar contributor to sustainable development.

“Shannon Chamber’s Strategic Plan 2023 – 2026 has been framed to perpetuate Shannon’s unique reputation as a powerful business hub and to ensure that its sphere of influence continues to permeate throughout the region,” Ms Downes added.

Shannon Chamber Strategic Plan 2023 – 2026

 

 

 

 

Photos by Eamon Ward.