Entrepreneurship Report By the Entrepreneurial Engagement Managers As the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread and health and safety measures were implemented in Nova Scotia, like many others, a work from home strategy had to be built for the BBI. During this time, we committed to working through and ensuring that our team was able to provide as much support as we could to our business clients navigating a very challenging season. One of the first steps we took was to immediately engage our loan clients to help them access relief programs offered by our partner financial institution. This helped relieve some of the financial pressure on businesses, some of whom were being compelled to shut down. Our team also kept abreast of the relief and support measures that were being introduced by federal and provincial governments to support individuals and businesses during the pandemic. As information became available, it was important for the BBI to pivot and find ways to engage our business clients quickly and efficiently. We began by conducting a mass outreach and calling clients to find out if they were safe and healthy, what impact the closures were having on their business, and how best we could be of service.
Dr. Rustum Southwell - Founding CEO BBI
Nothing About Us, Without Us How can you ask a man to rise up with your foot firmly planted on his neck, while he is in shackles? Tell me how is that possible? We cannot continue to be trapped in history; this is as good as anytime where victory shall not elude us. Everything we have been saying was laid out in front of everyone to see the ugliness of racism in its worst form. The violent and unnecessary death of George Floyd has shaken our world to its very foundation. When will it end? I cannot breathe. Our communities are grieving, yet again faced with the shock, sorrow, anger, and anxiety that is always being thrust to the forefront of our lives as a result of systematic racism still happening today. Too many young Black men and people, live in constant fear. Fear is not just livelihood but is our way of life. And the list keeps growing. The senseless violence rattles us all to our core. In the era of COVID-19 and with the repercussions to the murder of George Floyd , Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and Regis Korchinski Paquet coming on the heels of this global pandemic which has also disproportionately harmed Black communities - we need to join forces with our allies. Over the world, we watched this unfold as it became apparent that this story of anti-Black racism does not stop at borders. It is active and rampant in Canada. This horrific incident opens the door to a long overdue but necessary dialogue on anti-Black racism, systemic discrimination, and the lived injustices experienced by racialized Canadians. Too many lives are being lost. We must come together as communities of colour and allies, neighbors and friends, business leaders and decision makers to stop this crisis once and for all. Now is the time for action. We must work in solidarity to generate equality for all. Black people everywhere deserve better, our people deserve justice, we deserve respect, and our businesses deserve to thrive in a safe economy. Our organization joins with those enlightened groups in the private and public sectors who have called for expanded effort to fight alongside us to once and for all put an end to this violent scourge of racism. The time is “Right Now!!” #BlackLivesMatter
Federal programs like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) were amongst several resources that businesses took advantage of. Although it seemed that most of our clients were staying up to date, there was simply too much information being sent out daily; between new programs, resources, or updates to announcements. To assist in sifting through the information and to best serve our business clients, we created the BBI COVID-19 Emergency Response newsletter. Every week we highlighted key takeaways that our businesses needed to be aware of. Along with a breakdown of the highlights, we also linked directly to important resources and information to help everyone navigate a very dynamic and often confusing pool of resources. As we now prepare to get back to some resemblance of “normal,” BBI is determined to be a valuable resource in getting black businesses not just opened but thriving in this new challenging environment.
Photo by: GoToVan (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode)
BLACK to BUSINESS
29
Summer 2020
