Washington executives cite Cebu biz month: US-based group gives CCCI award

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has received commendation from another prestigious international organization for organizing an event that boosts entrepreneurship.

The Cebu Business Month, an annual undertaking by the CCCI, has been the recipient of the 2010 Associations Make a Better World Award from American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and The Center for Association Leadership based in Washington DC.

The award was established to recognize programs, projects and activities that bring significant contribution to societies and economies around the world.

In a statement to The FREEMAN, CCCI president Samuel Chioson said the award is a big boost to the Cebu business community.

“It is a great pride and honor to have been given this prestigious award. This would definitely inspire us to make every CBM celebration more significant to the Cebu business community as well as further boost Cebu to the whole world,” Chioson said.

The CBM award, which falls under the “Developing Nation Category,” comes after the CCCI was adjudged the best local chamber in the Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) in 2008.

 CBM Tourism Track chairman Milagros Espina will receive the award during the ASAE and The Center’s 2010 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Los Angeles, California on August 21-24.

 She and her co-chair, Tess Chan, will represent the CCCI during the gathering.

 Founded in 1920, ASAE and The Center for Association Leadership is a membership organization and is often called the voice of the association profession.

It has more than 22,000 association CEOs, staff professionals, industry partners, and consultant members across the globe.

It provides members a wide variety of knowledge resources and learning experiences to help them grow and maximize their performance.

Since its inception in 1913, CCCI evolved into a premier voice of the business sector in Cebu. In 1991, as tributes to its members, the organization launched the Cebu Business Week.

Wanting for a bigger celebration, the CCCI then turned the Cebu Business Week into a month-long event.

During CCCI’s diamond anniversary in 1996, President Fidel V. Ramos signed Proclamation No. 748 declaring the CBM to be celebrated in the whole month of June.

From dialogues, symposia and seminars, the celebration then expanded to organizing techno trade and industrial fairs and other projects which gained the CCCI numerous local and international awards.

These accolades include Most Outstanding Chamber in the Philippines in 1995, 1996, 2005 by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI became Hall of Fame Awardee in 1997); Most Outstanding Chamber in the Visayas from 2005 to 2007; Most Outstanding Chamber in the Philippines from 2005 to 2007;Engine for Cebu’s Economic Growth in 2000 and Outstanding Institution in 2007 (both conferred by the Cebu City government); finalist in the 4th World Chamber Awards for Best Chamber Management Project in Durban, South Africa in 2004, Best Local Chamber in Asia Pacific in 2008, and the PERLAS Awards as a Valuable Institution in 2009.(FREEMAN NEWS)