Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce CEO Steve McLellan believes “resilience” was the key word for 2020.
McLellan said businesses faced the unknown challenges that were presented during the lockdown in the spring. He added that those same businesses and companies became resilient regarding operations during a pandemic.
“Many businesses pivoted quickly and did great things, and they will continue to do much of that over the next little while,” stated McLellan.
McLellan mentioned that the chamber switched their strategic plan at the start of the pandemic to really focus on supports for businesses affected by COVID-19. It involved everything from providing advocacy for economic supports and making sure businesses received the information they needed in order to adjust to the pandemic.
“We changed a lot of what we did to meet the need that was there,” added McLellan. “Although 2020 was our 100th anniversary as a chamber of commerce, we didn’t celebrate too loud. But we are proud of the work that was done by us and the Saskatchewan chamber network.”
McLellan said plans are in the works to make 2021 the chamber’s celebration year for their monumental anniversary. “It’s the beginning of our next centenary, not the end of our last,” he noted.
“We need our businesses to be strong and we will celebrate once the damage is known and the risk to businesses are beyond us.”