In 1995, six months after starting her own business, Renee Ridenour joined a local chamber. But after nearly 17 years of attending the chamber’s networking meetings and events, she became disenchanted.

“None of the existing chambers were meeting my needs as a small business owner,” said Ridenour, president of Pine Mountain Springs in Wilmington—a full-service office coffee service that sells spring water, coffee and snacks. “When I do something, it must add value. I can’t afford to slough off for a day. It has to matter.”

“Representatives of large companies at the chamber were often people who wanted to sell the companies’ services— not buy from small businesses,” she said. The workshops and training sessions didn’t meet her needs.

She wasn’t alone. John Skilton of SkilTech Computer Services in Elkton, Md., just over the Delaware state line, was tired of chamber of commerce events becoming social occasions for regular members instead of networking opportunities.

Both of these business owners said they were discouraged to learn that some chambers selected out-of-state vendors, even though members offered similar products or services.

Their frustration with current options helped give birth to a chamber that caters to the needs of small businesses.

Skilton and Ridenour are charter members of the Delaware Small Business Chamber of Commerce, which launched in December 2011. The group’s next mixer is Tuesday, Jan. 31, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Eppy’s BBQ on Philadelphia Pike in Wilmington.

The new chamber is the brainchild of Bob Older, president of Creative Travel in Newark.

“In our opinion, the chambers out there don’t put a priority on small business,” Older said. “I wanted there to be a true resource for local small businesses to have an opportunity to stand out and build bridges.”

But just what is a small business? “That’s a tricky one,” Older acknowledged. Indeed, even the Small Business Administration breaks it down by industry. A small manufacturing business, for instance, has a maximum of 500 to 1,500 employees, while a wholesaler may have from 100 to 500.

The chamber’s annual membership fee is broken down into four categories, ranging from $295 for owners and businesses with up to one employee to $1,250 for a business with 51 or more employees.

Older would like to see 20 new members a month, with a total of 150 members by the end of 2012. Most of the current members are either in the $295 category or $375 category (businesses with two to ten employees). The networking events are included in the dues; there is no additional charge to attend.

“At our first mixer [in December], every single person who came was a business owner,” Older said. Ridenour gained two new customers from the event and found someone to provide a service for her company.

Skilton would approve. “The whole thing with networking is to get out and meet as many people as you can,” said Skilton, who specializes in website development. “You can never know too many people and too many people can’t know who you are.”

As its name implies, the Delaware Small Business Chamber will target the entire state. Plans call for an account executive in each county. The chamber, however, extends across the borders. “Because of how Delaware is situated, we are in a four-state area,” he noted. He said there is more than enough room in the state for another chamber.

“It’s not as much of an issue of quantity as it is quality,” said Jayne Armstrong, district director of the U.S. Small Business Administration. “If small business owners see a need then there must be something to it,” she said. “Delaware doesn’t have the same number of trade association chapters and business associations that many other states do.”

“Because the state has focused on large corporations for so long,” she said, “there are some voids when it comes to supporting small companies. From our perspective, we will support any organization that goes out there and meets the needs of the small business community.”

The Delaware Small Business Chamber plans to start a buy-local initiative that will extend to its own purchases. “If it offers health insurance, it will accept bids from local companies to find the best price for members,” Older said. The service would come up for bid at regular intervals.

So far, Ridenour is pleased at the group’s progress. “It’s small right now,” she said of the membership, “but having a group of people concerned enough to see what everyone is up to and what they can do for me—it’s kind of refreshing.”

For information on the Delaware Small Business Chamber, call 302-482-2120 or visit their website.

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