St George Business Chamber held the Buy Local Stay Local launch on Tuesday, September 10 at the Grand Roxy Reception Centre Brighton with the aim to shine a light on the region's businesses.
Attendees at the launch included Kogarah MP Chris Minns, Rockdale MP Steve Kamper, Shaoquett Moselmane MLC, Bayside Council mayor Bill Saravinovski, senior management representatives from Georges River Council and Bayside Council, NSW Business Chamber, NSW Small Business Commissioner's office, Sutherland Business Chamber and all local Georges River and Bayside chambers.
Representatives of more than 65 local businesses also attended the launch.
St George Business Chamber vice president Tony Baddour announced the Buy Local Stay Local Initiative's main aim to promote, support and benefit the local businesses and communities within the Georges River and Bayside municipalities.
Chamber president Allan Zreik said the Buy Local campaign is expected to be one of the biggest and much-needed initiatives for local businesses that the St George area has seen in decades.
The campaign will cover the Cooks River to Georges River representing 14,000 businesses in the Bayside City Council local government area and 16,000 businesses in the Georges River local government area.
Collectively, they represent more than five per cent of NSW's gross domestic product.
Bayside and Georges River Councils are leading the Buy Local campaign by seeking to increase the number of local purchasing transactions they make in their day to day business.
Bayside Council mayor Bill Saravinovski said the Buy Local campaign will aim to stimulate local job creation, boost the local economy and inject money directly into local communities.
"Buying Local is a fundamentally important part of creating strong economies and even stronger communities," Cr Saravinovksi said.
"Every dollar that leaves Bayside is largely lost to our community, while every dollar spent within our boundaries gets spent over and over again," he said.
In celebration of the Buy Local initiative, the St George Business Chamber is offering every business in the Georges River and Bayside local area free associate membership.
The launch included guest speaker Robert Gerrish a specialist in supporting individuals starting up small businesses.
Robert funded Flying Solo online community, co-wrote the bestseller of the same book. The topic focus was collaboration which was well received by the business owners that attend the event.
For further information and to join the buy local stay local initiative please visit the St George website www.stgeorgebc.org
