Director of planning and development Shirley Moerman and interim tourism and economic development officer Luke Pantin sprang into action on an idea that has been in discussion for some time in order to build a resource for local businesses.
“We've always had a business directory kind of on the radar; we weren't quite sure how we were going to go about it,” Moerman explained. “There's an urgent need to get out to those businesses and we can't do the face-to-face so we want to be able to collaborate with these businesses and use this as an opportunity to feed them and get feedback from them.”
Pantin added that building the directory right now is vital to businesses to maintain exposure especially right now with the floundering economy.
“The benefit of a business directory is it's a portal to the online world and it literally represents a great opportunity for small business,” Pantin said. “They get exposure to the global community at no cost and the directory is also an ongoing opportunity for others to link straight into each individual business or website.”
Companies may be wondering if this is the best time to join the directory, but Pantin points out there is nothing for a business to lose by taking part.
"We have to be optimistic and we have to find ways to make businesses survive and this is exactly what we're trying to do,” he said.
He added that reaching out will include the four corners of communication — social media, print, radio and online — and the directory will include resources for businesses to access the 18 different funding opportunities that are available federally and provincially.
“The federal government and the provincial government are throwing money into various funds right now. Numerous funding elements have come out,” Pantin said. “We are linking all our constituents, business constituents, to those to those sites.”
Moerman added there are many ways area businesses can help including webinars and resources from the provincial economic development body.
“I'd also like to point to Economic Development Association of Alberta,” she said. “They have a lot of webinars and stuff that are going on that are available and there's lots of resources listed on the Economic Development Association website also.”
Pantin noted this isn’t a short-term project, but instead a growing resource and a way to plan for any future global disruption to the economy.
“We need to get the business community (to be) business-continuity savvy in the future,” he said. “So, they need to be able to be prepared for future economic disasters like this and not be caught by surprise as they have been on this occasion.”
Athabasca area businesses can join the directory on the Athabasca County website: https://athabascacounty.com/economic-development/
Heather Stocking, TownandCountryToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @HLSox
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