Chamber Updates

Employee Retention and Meeting Core Needs Employee retention is a high priority for businesses as the continued labor shortage affects hiring and recruitment. Is your business doing its best to keep employees by meeting their Core Needs? Staffing shortages, recruitment struggles and increasing retirements often mean that businesses have less staff to do more work…

Fall Activities are Good for Business Riverboats, Football Games, Music Festivals and more! Fall events and activities are bringing residents and guest out and about, are you ready to take advantage of the traffic? Between the work and effort of many local organizations like Old Town Cape, Visit Cape, SEMO as well as many individuals…

Small Business Grant Program The Missouri Department of Economic Development is currently receiving comments on guidelines for the Small Business Grant Program that will open in October. If your business was negatively impacted by the pandemic this program is meant for you. A total of $10 Million has been allocated to support the Small Business…

Labor Day On June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland singed Senate Bill 730 formally establishing Labor Day as a Federal Holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. “Labor” is a key part of our regional economy and critical for business success, today is a great day to reflect on that. Historically Labor Day started…

Going Green Can Be Good for Business Last week a large crowd gathered for the official ribbon cutting for the new Neighborhood Solar Project at the Show Me Center. This collaborative effort can be a model of how going “Green” can be good for business. A joint clean energy project between SEMO University and AMEREN…

Let’s Go Redhawks! Today kicks off the fall semester for Southeast Missouri State University as thousands of students return to Cape Girardeau to start the school year, and that is good news for our local economy. Back to school is an exciting time as the Cape community sees a population surge from students returning to…

The Great Renegotiation Labor economist coined the phrase “The Great Resignation” last year as the world saw a huge increase in voluntary job separations. In a recent report from researchers at McKinsey & Company titled The Great Attrition is making hiring harder, the authors shared information and data collected from around the world to learn more…

Technology is Enhancing Small Business Success A recent report released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce indicated that 93% of small businesses surveyed use at least one technology platform in their operations. But the report also found the more, small businesses have integrated technology into their operations, the more they have been able to grow…

Preparing Your Business for Back to School Season It’s August and that means our attention is turning to the end of summer and the back-to-school season that is on its way. Now is the time for areas businesses to get prepared for this seasonal transition. With students at all levels just a few weeks away…

Growing International Enrollment at SEMO The fall semester is just around the corner and SEMO is expecting to see a record number of International Students enrolled this year. That is certainly great news for the University and the community, but businesses should be aware of rules that can affect their ability to work while in…