March began with a handful of ribbon cuttings, the largest one was held for the Grand Opening event at Yancey Brothers. Yancey Brothers recently completed construction of a state-of-the art facility in south Macon. Nearly a thousand guests were in attendance, while their CEO and Chairman, Jim Stephenson welcomed them. Stephenson was recently elected Vice Chair of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The region 6 STAR Banquet, hosted by the Chamber, was well attended with 20 local high schools representing middle Georgia. The region 6 winner was student, Shane Carter and teacher, Diane Wilcher from West Laurens High School. They will go on to compete for state honors. We wish them the best and we are cheering for them to bring the trophy home to middle Georgia.

Connecting Over Coffee was held at State Bank & Trust, who sponsored the event. This speed networking event continues to reach capacity each time. There were lots of new faces and it is always inspirational to hear people tell their company’s story. We certainly have a very energetic group who keep us all engaged.

The March Business After Hours was a unique and inspiring event, held at the Macon Downtown Airport. Middle Georgia State University sponsored the event, and as always did a tremendous job making sure attendees were well taken care of. Middle Georgia State University is the only college in Georgia to offer a four year aviation degree.

We hosted our New Member Reception and had 50 new members in house for this event, sponsored by James, Bates, Brannan & Groover. Chamber board members, ambassadors and staff acquainted new members on the various ways they can take advantage of the valuable opportunities we offer.

The Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Mercer Innovation Center, continues to host the Start-Up Land Workshop Series. The series of seven workshops are designed for aspiring entrepreneurs and focuses on connecting them to the community's entrepreneurial support organizations. The workshops have covered local resources for business planning and advice and will focus on business licensing and marketing in April.

Our last event was our Young Professionals Network, Explore Your City event held at an entertaining and eclectic open air venue, The Society Garden. With nearly 150 attendees, this event was a huge success for our revamped YPN Program. We will continue to host lively events, in hopes of attracting and retaining our own young talent.

We finalized the Annual Report, which will be hitting shelves in April, as a special insert in Macon Magazine. The theme for this year’s report is, “Macon Impact.” Our goal is to inform the community of the numerous ways we impact the business climate in Macon-Bibb.