The 43rd annual Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) Small Business Week is taking place this year from October 16 to October 22. The celebration highlights the entrepreneurs and local businesses driving the Canadian economy.
To celebrate local businesses and entrepreneurs across Canada, BDC hosts Small Business Week, a week-long event which highlights resources and training for entrepreneurs, hosted by BDC and their many partners across Canada.
“Small Business Week was created by BDC employees in B.C.,” said Flavie Côté, senior advisor for media relations at BDC.
“BDC employees in British Columbia organized a week of small business management training sessions for entrepreneurs, so it started out west in 1979.”
Côté also noted that the week-long event was officially launched nationwide in 1981.
“Since the beginning, the event has always been balancing two things; celebrating entrepreneurs and their spirit, and giving them valuable advice and insights on how to grow their business or how to address current challenges,” she explained.
“To be an entrepreneur, you have to be brave, resilient, and be willing to take risks. This year is particularly important given the current climate of our economy.”
There are a number of challenges faced by small businesses during this period of economic recovery. Inflation, worker shortages as well as supply chain disruptions factor into the struggles of sustaining small businesses.
“What we’re doing this year is inviting entrepreneurs to dare to do things differently,” Côté explained.
“The idea is to say ‘you can be more productive but how can you improve on it?’ We have tips and advices we are sharing this week as part of our sessions.”
BDC is a Crown Corporation who supports Canadian businesses through financing, advisory services and capital. The company has clients who have employed 1 million Canadians and have generated $350 billion in revenue.
“We’re committed to the long-term success of Canadian entrepreneurs and we understand that a business is more than just dollars and cents,” said BDC in their official website.
“We complement the role played by the private sector financial institutions have been serving Canadian entrepreneurs since 1944.”
This year’s small business week was kicked off by BDC President and CEO Isabelle Hudon, hosting a virtual event on Monday, October 17, discussing entrepreneurial innovation through these uncertain times.
The kick-off event was then followed by BDC’s Vice President, Research and Chief Economist Pierre Cléroux’s talk on Tuesday, October 18. He reveals the results of BDC’s recent research about business profitability, resiliency, and competitiveness.
Simultaneously, several webinar events are taking place with different organizations and Chambers of Commerce across the country tying their events together with Small Business Week.
“The partners that jump in make Small Business Week really big,” said Côté. “Across the nation, everybody’s doing an event. It’s just something that broadens BDC’s reach and we’re just happy that it has been working out this well, since 1979.”
To learn more about Small Business Week and to check out future online events, please visit www.bdc.ca.
