South London Chambers Unite to Tackle Financial Sustainability Through Digital Transformation

Kingston Chamber of Commerce recently joined forces with neighbouring Chambers for a South London Roundtable at Roehampton University, bringing together Chamber leaders to tackle one of the sector’s most pressing questions: how do we build lasting financial resilience in an increasingly digital world?

A Co-Creation Session with Real Substance
Hosted at spectacular Grove House, the session was designed by Mamata Parhi and Mohammed Rafiq of the University of Roehampton and led by Forbes Low, the CEO of Kingston Chamber, as part of ongoing work to develop a Digital Sustainability Toolkit & Guidelines for Chambers of Commerce. Rather than a series of presentations, the morning was built around genuine co-creation – interactive table rotations, reflections, and structured problem-solving.

Attendees explored three core themes shaping the future of Chamber operations:

• Membership churn and digital outreach – how to retain businesses and reduce the friction that drives members away
• Monetising digital value – building sustainable digital products and new revenue streams beyond traditional membership fees
• Operational efficiency through automation – reducing manual workload via modern CRMs and AI tools

The session closed with a practical “Keep, Stop, Start” action-mapping exercise, helping each Chamber walk away with the idea of next steps rather than just discussion points.

Our CEO, Forbes Low, shared the following:

“It was a pleasure to lead a productive and engaging joint local Chamber leadership event at Roehampton University. The aim of the morning was to understand the current financial pressures on our Chambers, how to meet our membership needs and how to utilise digital tools to be more effective.

It was so good to catch up with our neighbouring CEOs and partners and encouraging to hear ideas and solutions being driven from the interactive agenda. There were common threads of challenges that we are all facing and plenty of work to do, but the morning also provided a rare moment to reflect that Chambers do provide many beneficial services for many businesses.

Thank you so much Mamata Parhi and Mohammed Rafiq for hosting this workshop and supporting our Chambers – this is much appreciated.

It was lovely to work with and see Janet Benjamin, Paul Shaw, Ilona Saliev, Robyn Shooter, Alan Rides, Eleanor Merrick, Delia Porter, Amanda McLoughlin, Elsa Caleb and Michael Ramlakhan.”