Read the article here: https://www.canada.ca/en/prairies-economic-development/campaigns/success-stories/alberta/rural-businesses-support-community-futures-covid-19-pandemic.html

Check out the success video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewv1ir5avyI

As part of the Canada Digital Adoption Program, the Government of Canada has partnered with Business Link and Digital Main Street to deliver the Grow Your Business Online grant to small businesses across Alberta.

Eligible businesses will receive a micro-grant of up to $2,400 to help with costs related to adopting e-commerce, with support provided from a network of E-commerce Advisors. The Grow Your Business Online Grant will provide small businesses in Canada with $1.4 Billion in grants. Please note, the grant is administered by Business Link and is not administered by Digital Main Street.

Funded by the Alberta Government, Ministry of Jobs, Economy and Innovation, Capital Growth Initiative (CGI) provides flexible low-interest small business loans and business advisory supports to women entrepreneurs in rural Alberta and will give women entrepreneurs easier access to capital to start or grow their businesses in the local community. 

For more information on eligibility visit:

https://central.albertacf.com/services/capital-growth-initiative-loan

On June 8^th we came together as a SMARTstart community to celebrate our entrepreneurs and thank our mentors and sponsors for their contributions.

A total of 8 entrepreneurs registered in the program in its inaugural year.  As part of the program 13 jobs were created/maintained, 3 new businesses were launched, 4 businesses were maintained, and 55 leads were created for our workshop presenters.