Celebrating the Small and Mighty!
The Heart of Orleans is celebrating local business owners and staff through its very own BIA Faces of Business Album where you can see the many beautiful faces behind our businesses. Heart of Orleans Executive Director says, “We are aiming to have a complete album by the end of September. Please support our businesses by sharing it with your followers.”
BDC Small Business Week is a national celebration of Canadian entrepreneurs and their contribution to Canada’s economy. This year, Small Business Week runs from October 18 to October 24 and the focus is on showcasing the people behind the businesses.
According to the Government of Canada, as of December 2018, there are 1.2 million businesses in Canada. Of these, 1.18 million (97.9 percent) are small businesses, 22,266 (1.9 percent) are medium-sized businesses, and 3,010 (0.2 percent) are large businesses.
Small businesses employed 8.4 million people. That’s 70% of the total private labour force and medium-sized businesses employed 2.4 million people, close to 20 of the private labour force.
Between 2013 and 2018, small businesses were responsible for the majority of net employment growth in the private sector, 57% in fact. This translates to close to 600,000 jobs. Medium-sized businesses contributed 17% of this net employment growth, and large businesses contributed 27%.
Clearly, small and medium sized businesses are the backbone of the Canadian economy and it’s important to celebrate and focus on the role they play.
However, with the severe impact of COVID-19 this year, local businesses are going to need support more than ever.You can do this in the following ways:
- Spending your dollars at local businesses
- Dining at restaurants or ordering more take-out and delivery
- Purchasing gift cards
- Choosing credits over refunds
- Volunteering some of your time
- Sharing your positive experiences on social media
To celebrate small business week, and to add to our BIA Faces of Business campaign, Executive Director Vine explains that they will be introducing the I Support BIA Business campaign to recognize some of the outstanding small businesses that are making an impact in our community.
She states, “We encourage you to share a photo and a short description of a small BIA business you admire along with the hashtags #isupportbiabiz and #heartoforleans.”
Some fun ideas:
- Share a picture of your favorite store front and claim it to be Ottawa Tourism’s best place to travel in 2020.
- Share a picture of the meal you plan to devour then one of your empty plate as an inspirational Before and After picture. Yes, be that person!
- Share a picture of a hardworking owner or employee of a business claiming them Employee of the Month.
- Share a picture of you wearing a purchase and claim to be the Super Model of the Year 2020.
- Share a picture of you and various products in a Store by channelling your Vanna White!
Be sure to describe why you love the business in your description and tag the business and/or people in your photos so they can enjoy their claim to fame!