Caledon Chamber of Commerce to host business summit

Mayor Annette Groves, entrepreneur Chris Stoikos among speakers at event

By ZACHARY ROMAN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A full day of networking and education for the local business community is coming soon.

On February 15, the Caledon Chamber of Commerce will host its Business Summit.

Its theme is “The Future of Business in Caledon: Dealing with Change”.

The summit will take place at the Albion Bolton Community Centre from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will feature guest speakers like Caledon Mayor Annette Groves, Shaun Rath from the Business Development Bank of Canada, and successful entrepreneur Chris Stoikos.

There will also be a panel discussion at the summit featuring Regional Councillor Christina Early, Cynthia Weeden from FutureShield Inc., and Parm Chohan from Conquer Leadership — in addition to Rath and Stoikos.

Tickets to the summit cost $40 for Caledon Chamber of Commerce members and $65 for non-members. Special ticket pricing is available for full tables. Tickets can be purchased for the summit on the chamber's website: caledonchamberofcommerce.ca/business-summit/.

The summit will begin with registration, breakfast, and Groves' speech on business in Caledon. Hazel Piacentini from the Caledon Chamber of Commerce will provide an introduction to the Chamber before Rath takes the stage to talk about protecting profits in an age of rising costs.

After a break for networking, Stoikos will discuss overcoming obstacles and conflicts before lunch. When lunch is finished, the panel discussion will begin, and its theme is dealing with change. 

Piacentini will close the event with remarks, after which there will be more time for networking.

Stephanie Rowe, an Administrative Assistant with the Caledon Chamber of Commerce, explained when the Chamber was first planning this year's summit, the dissolution of the Region of Peel was still on the table. This led to the theme of dealing with change, as many local businesses were calling the Chamber with questions on how the dissolution of Peel would change things. 

Even though the Region of Peel will no longer be dissolved, there's still much that has changed and will change in Caledon, said Rowe. The Chamber decided to stick with the summit theme of dealing with change, as Caledon businesses are coming out of a pandemic and into a period of immense growth in the municipality. 

The upcoming business summit isn't the only exciting thing going on with the Chamber, explained Rowe.

The Caledon Chamber of Commerce is proud to have a space in the newly-opened Humber River Centre in Downtown Bolton. 

“It's a beautifully designed building, it's an awesome space that businesses are going to be able to utilize,” said Rowe.

There's a grand opening ceremony for the Humber River Centre on February 10, and the chamber will be in attendance to share information with residents about all it offers to the community.

Rowe said one of the amazing strengths of the Caledon Chamber of Commerce is it has members as small as in-home businesses and as large as Husky.

“Our membership is very diverse… insurance brokers, lawyers, marketing companies, construction… just about everything,” said Rowe. “We have a vast array of members and it's always great in our networking events.”

The Caledon Chamber of Commerce hosts two networking events per month and Rowe said it's great to see collaboration come out of them. 

Rowe said the upcoming business summit is a great opportunity.

“Get out there, see what other businesses are in the area, learn some things from entrepreneurs and great business mentors as well as network your own company,” she said. 

Rowe added that breakfast and lunch at the event will be catered by local vendors.