Since 1862 we have contributed to Mid-Norway's business sector. The Mid-Norway Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NiT) was founded as a trade association in February 1862, with an initial goal to establish a bank that could provide tradesmen better access to financial capital. After a comprehensive crisis in 1857, however, there was a common opinion that our organization should help businesses cooperate and represent their interests. Important issues Transport has always been an important issue for us. NiT was an important driving force behind the building of a harboud at Brattoera, and participated in financing Meraakerbanen. In 1909 our organization took an initiative to create a new Chamber of Commerce, which was formally established in 1911. School and education has also been important. One of many other initiatives was creating a Commerce School in Trondheim, a process that was started in 1909. In 1913 Trondheim Commerce School (in Norwegian: Trondheim Handelsgymnasium) was established. In 1920 Trondheim kommune took over the operation of the school. After a gift from Adolf Halseth in 1943 we were able to build a home for elders at Nedre Charlottenlund. The building was finished in 1962 and is still operating today. Business association In 1999 we changed from being an organization primarily for tradesmen into recruiting all types of businesses. At the same time, our name was changed into ”Næringsforeningen i Trondheim”. The reasons for this was experiences from Bergen and Stavanger, a need to recruit more companies and a need to increase cooperation across different industries.