Beci 3.0, The Brussels Business Community
Voice, connect, serve : BECI réunit, dynamise et accompagne les entreprises bruxelloises désireuses de s’engager dans ce triple objectif. Rejoindre la Communauté, c’est entrer en contact avec 350.000 personnes, développer votre business grâce aux échanges, contenus et conseils d’une véritable Communauté. C’est également soutenir la réussite des autres. Ensemble, nous renforçons notre impact sur les entreprises Bruxelloises.
➤ Nouvel horizon

BECI inaugure la « Brussels Business Community » , une nouvelle façon de fonctionner , d’approcher et d ’épauler ses membres dans un monde ultra-connecté.
« Connecter, partager et cocréer ». En renouvelant sa mission axée sur ces trois objectifs, BECI souhaite changer son rapport aux membres et se projeter résolument dans l’avenir. C’est que la région, le pays et le monde n’ont peut-être jamais évolué aussi rapidement que ces dernières années. Face aux énormes défis qui se posent aux entreprises, la collaboration, le partenariat et le partage d’expertise sont absolument essentiels aux yeux du CEO Olivier Willocx.
But haven't connecting, sharing and co-creating always been at the heart of the Chamber's activities? ‘Perhaps what we want most of all is a change of heart that is even more in tune with the expectations of our members, the community spirit and the opportunities offered by technology,’ explains Olivier Willocx. ‘Even if digitalisation encourages exchanges, co-creation is above all a question of state of mind’, agrees Annick Hernot, President of BECI. ‘Partnerships are an essential element in the development of any organisation today. You can't evolve without them, or you risk becoming irrelevant,’ she adds. For her predecessor and still director Marc Decorte, ‘The business environment has changed fundamentally: the future is increasingly difficult to predict, the shifts are abrupt, disruptive and follow one another in rapid succession - the need to be connected between entrepreneurs has never been greater’.
Ouvrir grand les portes
The Chamber is therefore calling on all its members to work with them to co-create the solutions they offer the community, using digital tools. To begin with, all members are invited to share their information content via the BECI digital platform, which also has a number of printed, web, radio and multimedia channels to give it resonance.
At the same time, all contributors can take advantage of the excellent search engine ranking it enjoys. ‘With our support, a young company can boost its visibility much more than it could on its own,’ says Olivier Willocx, referring to some of the content on the beci.be site that has attracted up to 60,000 views.


More than just a medium, the platform aims to play a role in bringing people together and developing business. It will, for example, open up its data to any interested member in order to provide precise information on the subjects of greatest concern to entrepreneurs and guide them in positioning their goods and services. The Chamber has a wealth of internal data on Brussels businesses and their managers. It will gradually integrate this data into the platform, enabling members who request it to segment, create personas and target their approaches.
BECI will also be making its offices at 500 Avenue Louise available to its members for the organisation of events and meetings. In keeping with its new role as a ‘Community House’, its three floors - including a café area on the ground floor - were given a complete facelift during the health crisis.
Plateforme
Cette nouvelle approche repose en partie sur l’idée que chaque membre peut, aujourd’hui, devenir lui-même un moteur de la Brussels Community. « Pour qu’une cocréation fonctionne, il faut bien sûr que les partenaires aient envie de travailler ensemble mais aussi qu’ils disposent de compétences complémentaires » , assure Annick Hernot . En faisant évoluer son rôle vers celui d’une plateforme de plus en plus digitalisée , BECI souhaite devenir ce lieu où chacun de ses 3.000 membres fera aisément appel à l’expertise des autres, dans tous les domaines qui le préoccupe.
Subsidies and financing, taxation and accounting, commercial and property law, mobility, import-export, HR and social law... These and many other areas will be covered by the platform, which will in particular expand the legal content - advice, model correspondence and contracts, etc. - that its members can already find on legal.beci.be.
But here again, the Chamber is aiming for greater depth. The idea is to give external service contracts to those of its members whom it will turn into referents. BECI would be responsible for relaying specific requests from other members that it could not meet itself, and would then settle the bill. ‘It is not the role of a chamber to compete with a law firm or other experts,’ explains Olivier Willocx. ‘But we do have to ensure that all our members can find an answer to their problems at any time. As a result, our in-house staff profiles will gradually evolve towards less in-house expertise, and more in leadership, communication and the ability to liaise and pass on knowledge between members faced with a problem and the experts who have the solutions’. In this respect, Annick Hernot points to the unique wealth of connections that BECI has developed within the ecosystem over decades.
Marc Decorte insists: ‘The soft skills of the future consist in orchestrating multiple parties, interpreting information, translating it into opportunities and focusing on the “future” and “solutions”. It's hard to find all this in one person, hence the importance of ‘entrepreneurial communities’, which are at the heart of Beci's purpose.

All inclusive
Reflet de cette nouvelle approche, la Chambre fait aussi évoluer son modèle, d’un membership à la carte vers un all inclusive. « N ous voulons offrir aux membres une affiliation tout-compris afin qu’ils puissent, quelle que soit leur taille, bénéficier de toute notre panoplie de services » , détaille Olivier Willocx.
Au demeurant, BECI conserve l’autre pilier historique de ses activités. Au-delà des services évoqués plus haut, elle poursuivra ses activités de représentation de ses membres auprès des instances où les décisions politiques et administratives sont prises (voir aussi page 06). Plus que jamais, la Chambre entend donc bien défendre en tout lieu les intérêts des entrepreneurs bruxellois.
Téléchargez les dessins des trois interventions lors du lancement de la « Brussels Business Community » le 17 janvier 2023.
Regardez notre after-movie
tourné lors du lancement de Beci 3.0, The Brussels Business Community le 17 janvier