"We decided to launch it again because these areas are just full of tiny businesses, hundreds of them throughout the suburbs," she said.
"There's this whole sub-economy, not just in Welcome Bay, but really all the southeastern suburbs."
The Community Centre will cover businesses from Ohauiti, Maungatapu, Poike and Hairini, as well as Welcome Bay.
"The idea was to get them to meet up with each other and get to know each other because often businesses' best customers are other businesses," said Ms Dillon.
The wider group would hold breakfast meetings two to three times a year, with monthly catch-ups in Welcome Bay for the local business community.
An example of the expansion of local businesses was one of Welcome Bay's newest local business owners, Kipouaka Nancy Jo Pukekura Marsden, who has an unusual background for a retailer. Ms Marsden, who took part in Friday's meeting, set up Welcome Bay Produce just before Christmas. A local, she was inspired to set up a fresh fruit and vegetable shop by her own experience of having to drive to Fraser Cove, the city or Greerton to get produce at short notice.
Ms Marsden has a background of two decades working in Maori health, including setting up Te Manu Toroa, the first Maori health service provider, in 1997. She then moved across to her local iwi, Ngati Pukenga, to set up health services there.
"The feedback I've had since setting up the shop is that people are delighted to have their own fruit and vege shop," she said. That has included also adding pre-packed meat, which is sourced from Mount Maunganui's The Meat Company, in response to customer requests.
Ms Marsden welcomed the setting up of the Community Centre networking group.
"This is an expanding community, but this was the first time they've had a meeting like this," she said. "It was a great networking opportunity for the local and surrounding businesses."
