# The Connecting Business initiative welcomes new partners from the Caribbean, Ecuador, Kenya, and the Pacific

**Today, two new countries and two regions joined the Connecting Business initiative (<span class="cbi-brand-name">CBI</span>) as partners, known as Member Networks. They were welcomed during a ceremonial launch as part of the <span class="cbi-brand-name">CBI</span> Global Meeting 2023 that brought together over 50 participants from 26 countries.**

<span class="cbi-brand-name">CBI</span> Member Networks are business associations or chambers of commerce that are interested in or already engaged in disaster management. This takes the number of Member Networks to 16, the highest it has ever been – and with more interested business networks in the pipeline.

### Two new country-level <span class="cbi-brand-name">CBI</span> Member Networks will focus on El Nino preparedness

In Ecuador and Kenya, new <span class="cbi-brand-name">CBI</span> Member Networks Camaras de Industrias y Producción (CIP) and the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) will both be working on El Niño preparedness, raising awareness and collaborating with members and partners for greater business resilience. This will focus primarily on flooding in both Ecuador and in Kenya.

One of the offerings of <span class="cbi-brand-name">CBI</span> is peer-to-peer learning across borders, enabling countries facing similar risks to learn from each other in terms of how best to engage the private sector in disaster preparedness, response and recovery.

### A regional approach for greater impact

Building on experience at a country-level, <span class="cbi-brand-name">CBI</span> is also implementing a regional engagement strategy to connect <span class="cbi-brand-name">CBI</span> Member Networks by region as well as engage with regional bodies for greater preparedness, response, and recovery from disasters.

In the Caribbean, the Caribbean Chambers of Commerce – CARICHAM – represent 25 national chambers of commerce and will work on further supporting their members on disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, taking lessons learned from other <span class="cbi-brand-name">CBI</span> Member Networks to feed into their virtual [Center for Excellence](https://coe.caribbeanchambers.net/) as well as small business resilience.

In the Pacific, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat works with 18 members from the region, providing funding and technical support as well as capacity-building opportunities around disaster preparedness, climate adaptation and financing, and more.

“We are thrilled to see the Connecting Business initiative grow and welcome new Member Networks both at the country and regional level into its community. We look forward to seeing how the collaborative action <span class="cbi-brand-name">CBI</span> enables can multiply impact, saving more lives and livelihoods,” said Sahba Sobhani, Director of the UNDP Istanbul International Center for Private Sector Development.

If you are part of a business network or chamber of commerce and are interested in joining <span class="cbi-brand-name">CBI</span>, please [let us know](https://www.connectingbusiness.org/join).