The Greater Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce has seen a year of growth, expansion and progress as an advocate for businesses in the Fayetteville area.
Along with launching the Consumer Protection Division in November, investing in recruiting new members to the Military Affairs Council throughout 2023 and officially surpassing 700 members between the Chamber and Military Affairs Council collectively in December, the Chamber is expecting to continue to grow in starting with new events and networking opportunities for the business community to look forward to.
At the Greater Fayetteville Business Journals recent Power Breakfast event held on Dec. 8 at the Rudolph Jones Student Center at Fayetteville State University, Panelist, Chamber CEO and President Nat Robertson gave a sneak peek at some new events currently planned for the new year along with commemorating the Chamber’s 125th anniversary.
“We’re super excited about what is going to be happening for our anniversary year to include a couple of new programs. We do over 100 programs and events a year, but we’re adding more. We’re adding a speaker series that has gotten a lot of interest and some big names that we’re going to bring in to talk to our members, but also we’re starting a prayer breakfast, so that Chamber Prayer Breakfast kicks off in January,” shared Robertson. “There's just a lot of really good things. If you're not a member of the Chamber you need to be by the end of 2024. We'll hopefully be close to 1000 members.”
Robertson also shared that the Chamber is working to bring its Leadership Fayetteville program back in 2024.
Leadership Fayetteville is a program for members of the Greater Fayetteville Chamber that has been offered for 36 years. The program offers its participants experiential learning opportunities to take an up-close and personal look at the challenging issues facing Fayetteville and Cumberland County as well as the hidden gems that make the community special.
The program has produced over 900 participants in the community that continue to network well beyond their time in the program, building sound business relationships which adds value to their organizations.
Meeting for one full day a month September through May, the class covers eight different topic areas that impact the community in which we live and work. Registration is currently open for the 2024 sessions.
“So come on and learn about your community, learn about the history of what we do, and go forward with open eyes,” shared Robertson.
You can learn more about Leadership Fayetteville here and more about the Chamber itself here.
Act 2 renovations began in April 2025. CFRT will be back in their 1209 Hay St. theatre for their first production of 2027.
Pictured from left to right: Entrepreneurial Impact Awards judging panel: Sara Ballard, Venus Durant, Greg Moore, Rebecca Sappington, Derrick McArthur, Faith Hatton and John Keen. In August, I was honored to be recruited to be one of six judges
Pictured left to right: Reddick R. Mack II, Collyn Strother, Tiffany Ragin, April Mata, Veronda Jones and Lauren Falls are all featured artists for the 26:26 Exhibit on display through the end of October. Photo by GFBJ.Black Artist Forward recently b
