ENTREPRENEURIAL RESILIENCE DURING CHALLENGING TIMES WITH KIRK SIMPSON

Entrepreneurial Resilience

During Challenging Times with Kirk Simpson

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n 2010, Kirk co-founded Wave and has since guided the company to 400,000 active small businesses registered 260+ people on the Wave team and over $100 million in funding raised from investors around the world. In 2019, he and wave were named Most Admired CEO and Most Admired Corporate Culture by Waterstone. The wave was acquired in June 2019 by H&R Block for over $537M – the 7th largest tech exit in Canada since 2001. Under Kirk, Wave has won numerous awards for leadership, culture, and innovation, including the Deloitte Fast 50, the KPMG Fintech 100, and Great Place to Work Canada. In addition, Kirk has served as an advisor to the Next 36 and provides mentorship to young entrepreneurs and startup visionaries.

Recently Wave financial announced their new product, Wave Money; can you share a few details about Wave Money with our audience?

Wave money is a no-fee small business bank account that’s been built for small business owners. The benefits are no fees, as well as instant access to your money, so if you’re using Wave for invoicing and payments, as soon as your customers pay you through Wave Payments, you can get those funds instantly available through your Wave Money business bank account. It seamlessly integrates into Wave accounting so small business owners can spend on the business card, take a picture of the receipt, categorize the transaction and be done with that transaction all the way through bookkeeping and into tax. It streamlines and simplifies those tasks for small businesses so they can stop having to do the monotony of recording keeping and bank record conciliation and get back to running their business.

As an entrepreneur, can you share a few challenges that you faced and how you overcame those challenges?

I, very much like a lot of small business owners, really despise everything that has to do with accounting, bookkeeping and tax. It is not something that most entrepreneurs are passionate about, and it wasn’t something I was passionate about. Therefore, the reason for starting Wave was to remove those obstacles so small businesses like myself could continue to do what they are passionate about. All of the backoffice tasks get in the way and make owning a small business complex, scary and difficult and Wave aims to clear as much of that as possible.

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The other thing is COVID has a huge impact on small businesses in our communities. We and many other software and service providers need to be doing as much as we can to support small businesses during this challenging time. Small businesses are so important to our overall economic growth and are very important to the strength of our overall communities.

Given the current situation, how can businesses smooth the transition of reopening their business in the coming weeks or months?

The government authorities influence and set direction on what small business owners should be doing in each of their communities. I would say that now is the time to – as much as possible – continue to innovate with different ways of serving customers. Customer habits and expectations have changed during COVID, so being as responsive as you can to the changing landscape and to what your customers need is more important than ever. A lot of the digital tools allow small business owners to be more flexible and that’s really important right now.

What initiatives is wave financial implementing to help small businesses during these challenging times?

We are lucky that our core software is given to small business owners for free and we have no plans on changing that. We offer award winning invoicing and accounting tools for free so that small business owners can take better control of their books and be ready for tax, bookkeeping, etc. Secondly, we’ve been incredibly responsive with our payroll products in ensuring all of our government programs and subsidies were put into our payroll as quickly as possible so we can save small business owners money and help them access government funds. Third, we offer some of our payment products for reduced fees so that we can help with cash flow and help them get paid faster.

What is your key advice to small business owners running their business smoothly during these challenging times?

I would be as innovative as possible. I would understand customer behavior and how it has been changing. I would be as prudent as possible around cash flow management and ensuring you’ve got as much as you humanly can of capital required to manage through these difficult times. And the last piece of advice is to make sure you go easy on yourself and your employees. It is a challenging time for all of us and we all need to be a little bit easier on ourselves through this process. We will get through it, but we need to be patient through the process and understand that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel

THE INS AND OUTS OF CUSTOMER ACQUISITION FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

By Jessica Bennett

Small businesses understand that customers are the lifeblood of their success. Owners of small businesses often excel at customer retention and count many customers as “regulars” or friends. To achieve growth and transition from a startup to a sustainable small business takes an understanding of customer relationship management, sales, marketing, and customer service. For small businesses, an important addition to customer retention is growing your customer base. Figuring out how to find customers is a top priority for any growing small business, and this process is known as customer acquisition. Many small business owners may not have a lot of time or resources to build out a robust customer acquisition strategy, but when they commit to spending the time to research and determine the best strategy for their particular business, they see renewed growth and the potential to expand the company.

A Definition of Customer Acquisition

Current trends show that 76% of customers expect companies to understand their needs and expectations. To keep up with today’s consumers, small businesses need a clear and organized customer acquisition strategy. Customer acquisition simply means the act of earning customers who are willing to purchase your products or services. This generally falls into the hands of the marketing department first, as customer acquisition starts at the top of the funnel. Marketers must show that their company understands its customers’ needs and is ready to meet their expectations. Then, as leads travel through the funnel, sales picks up and continues the conversation. Generally speaking, customer acquisition is a primary goal of marketing and sales, and these departments have metrics to guide them through the process.

That said, metrics are only useful if they’re used. Research shows that customer acquisition rates are only tracked by 58% of marketers, and just over half of marketing teams measure their customer acquisition cost. This means there’s an excellent opportunity for improvement for a lot of companies to better measure, track, and increase customer acquisition efforts and successes. “ “

What Is Customer Acquisition? The Metrics and Terms to Know

What does it really mean to acquire customers, and where do terms like “demand generation” and “lead generation” fit in? Demand generation means reaching out to an audience of potential customers through different marketing channels to grow their interest or curiosity in your company, brand, products, or services. It’s an important part of both acquisition and retention, as demand generation occurs throughout a customer’s journey from disinterested party to fiercely loyal brand advocate. For example, demand generation for the latest iPhone can target consumers who use smartphones from Apple’s competitors as well as iPhone enthusiasts who are on the fence about upgrading to the newest iteration. An aspect of demand generation is lead generation, which refers to identifying potential customers who are known to your marketing and sales teams as “leads.” A lead is born when your efforts at demand generation builds or creates enough interest for a consumer to act. If you offer an industry e-book for download on your website in exchange for a visitor’s email address, that email address is a possible lead.

Both of these terms are useful for business owners to know and understand, but they play second fiddle to the concept of developing a customer acquisition strategy. Think of customer acquisition as an umbrella term that encompasses every step you take to identify and convert customers. Your lead generation and demand generation strategies both fall under the customer acquisition umbrella. So are your marketing and sales departments, and sometimes your customer service department.

Examples of Customer Acquisition Tactics

For a concrete idea of what customer acquisition is, think about any marketing or sales tactic you’ve used in the past. Those strategies are for customer acquisition. Some of the most common forms of customer acquisition include:

 Building a website to showcase your products or services

 Creating social media pages for your business

 Putting together a Google Ads campaign

 Attending a local trade show

 Calling leads to set up sales meetings

 Direct mailing

 Asking for referrals

Anything you do to try and get customers is customer acquisition, even cold calling people who have never heard of you. Many small businesses make the mistake of trying lots of different marketing and sales tactics without a clear strategy or without carefully assessing the results of their efforts. Others stick to the same tactics year after year even when response rates dwindle. Getting more customers through your door (virtual or physical) isn’t about trying every customer acquisition strategy under the sun. It’s about improving your customer acquisition process. That starts by developing a clear and organized customer acquisition strategy.

How to Create Your Customer Acquisition Strategy

Fortune 500 companies have the budget to create complex, multipronged customer acquisition strategies that seamlessly integrate their sales, marketing, and customer service teams. Don’t worry: You don’t need to get that elaborate with your strategy. Instead, create your customer acquisition strategy by following these simple steps.

Step 1: Identify Your Customers

Who are your customers? This may be an easy question to answer, but have you written it down or challenged your assumptions? Start your customer acquisition strategy by creating detailed profiles or personas of your ideal customers.

Consider data points that include:

 Gender

Age

 Location

Income

 Hobbies

 Values

Life stage

 Habits

If you’re a B2B company, you can do the same thing for businesses by focusing on their industries, needs, size, budgets, and more. During this process, you will likely identify multiple customer profiles. That’s great: It allows you to segment different profiles so you can customize your acquisition strategy for each different type of profile, or personas.

(Learn more about identifying and creating personas: “Personas: The Art and Science of Understanding the Person Behind the Visit.”)

For example, a local home remodeling company may be used to working with baby boomers who live in their “forever home” and want to make it perfect. However, after looking at its most recent clients and reviewing its previous bids, the company realizes that it’s getting a lot of interest from dual-income millennial couples who are interested in upgrading their home.

Step 2: Understand the Buyer Journey

Now it’s time to research and design a buyer’s journey in order to reach your targets. This

is where your marketing and sales teams can really shine. Figure out how to most effectively communicate with your target audience and move them through the different stages of the buyer’s journey, namely:  Awareness

 Consideration

 Decision

Again, there are a lot of marketing tactics that can work. Test different methods and make sure you have metrics to assess their success. (Learn more about the sales funnel and the customer journey in this infographic: “Understanding the Buyer’s Journey Through the Sales Cycle.”)

Step 3: Nurture Your Leads

When you bring in warm leads — those who have transitioned from marketing qualified leads (MQL) to sales qualified leads (SQL) — it’s time for your sales team to get to work. Nurturing leads means building an authentic, personalized relationship with those customers who are most likely to convert, and this starts with marketing, then continues in sales. This step could include any number of tactics, from a sales call and presentation to a personalized coupon based on an individual’s browsing history on your website. (Learn more about lead nurturing with this article: “What Is Lead Nurturing?”).

Step 4: Assess, Assess, Assess

It is crucial to know where your customers come from so you can tell which marketing and sales tactics are working, and how well. This will allow you to put your money and resources where you can get the most bang for your buck. It is easier than ever, for example, to assess online marketing campaigns. You can see how many people clicked on your Facebook ad, downloaded your e-book, or watched your YouTube video. You can even follow visitors around your website to get a more complete view of their journey and where they are most likely to convert. To identify which offline campaigns are working, don’t be afraid to survey your customers to find out how they heard of you. Ask when you meet with them. This is a great way to determine your best referral sources.

Why You Need to Establish Your Customer Acquisition Cost

Increasing your customer acquisition can be an important boon to your business — as long as you aren’t spending more money to get customers than they return in profits. In order to make sure you’re coming out ahead, you need to measure your customer acquisition cost, or CAC. Just like it sounds, the CAC is the amount you invest to bring in new customers to your business. Calculate the CAC by adding up all your marketing and sales costs over a certain period of time or for a specific campaign. These costs can include things like advertising, event fees, printing, client visits, and more. Then divide that result by the number of new customers your business earned in that time period. This will give you your CAC. The CAC may not be very useful by itself, especially if you don’t know the true value of your customer. At the risk of going into acronym overload, let’s also talk about customer lifetime value (CLV), which is the total amount of profit the average customer provides. CLV goes beyond a single purchase and calculates an estimation of how much your average customer will spend with you throughout your relationship. For example, a couple who uses your remodeling company to perform a small bathroom renovation may come back in five years and request a full kitchen remodel. It is nearly impossible to calculate a precise CLV; after all, you can’t know what every customer will purchase or how long they’ll use your services. But by collecting data over time, you can identify trends and use that to forecast an average CLV. When you have your CLV, you’ll be able to compare your customer acquisition cost to your customer lifetime value to make sure you aren’t overspending to get new customers. You’ll also see which marketing tactics give you the best return for your spend (or ROI, to mention another acronym).

Invest in Customer Acquisition Software

Developing a strong customer acquisition strategy requires skilled organization and depends on tracking and assessing lots of different information and data points. Using spreadsheets for this process is illadvised. Instead, invest in a robust software solution that can help you through every step in the process. Today’s customer acquisition software can help you automate a huge chunk of your acquisition campaigns. This software can include multiple programs, including marketing and sales platforms, that are integrated into a centralized CRM solution and gives teams a unified view of leads and customers. With this technology you can segment your audience, design specific buyer journeys, and send out communications customized to a lead’s actions. Not to mention, these platforms can remind you when a customer needs a follow-up call and give you reports and dashboards that make it easy to determine your CAC and CLV. Small businesses are fully capable of operating a sophisticated customer acquisition strategy that will bring more customers to the door for less money, time, and effort. Move your customer acquisition from “throw everything against the wall and see what sticks” to a smart strategy backed up by data and automation.

CANADA COULD LOSE AN ADDITIONAL 158,000 SMALL BUSINESSES TO COVID-19

Government and consumer support make-or-break for small business survival

One in seven small businesses are at risk of going under as a result of COVID-19 in addition to the ones that have already closed, warns the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) in a new report Small Business Recovery Dashboard – July 29 (CNW Group/Canadian Federation of Independent Business) Business closures due to COVID-19 (CNW Group/ Canadian Federation of Independent Business) “Small businesses are big players in our economy, so minimizing business losses is critical to recovery. Right now both government support and consumer behaviour are critical to transitioning back to conditions that allow businesses to survive and thrive,” said Laura Jones, Executive Vice-President at CFIB.

featured on its Small Business Recovery Dashboard, part of its #SmallBusinessEveryDay campaign. CFIB’s mid-range estimate for business closures due to COVID-19 is 158,000 (14 per cent of small businesses). Depending on Businesses in the arts and recreation (gyms, venues, arcades) and hospitality (restaurants, hotels, caterers) sectors are most at risk— hospitality may see 27 per cent of businesses close and arts and recreation, 30 per cent. Businesses in Alberta face the highest risk of closing, with a mid-range estimate of 19 per cent going under as a result of COVID-19. CFIB’s latest Small Business Recovery Dashboard results continue to show that (unchanged from last week): how the recovery goes, losses could be as few as 55,000 (5 per cent) or as many as 218,000 (19

per cent). • 37 per cent are fully staffed • 26 per cent are making normal sales

Last month, CFIB launched #SmallBusinessEveryDay to encourage local shopping through a series of doable challenges and promote other initiatives that support small business recovery. Consumers can find information about the many campaigns such as the new Canada United campaign, which will donate funds to hard-hit businesses when Canadians take simple actions like using the hashtag #CanadaUnited on Twitter.

“With many provinces heading into a long weekend, we hope people will visit smallbusinesseveryday.ca and accept a challenge as a fun way to spend time with friends and family while helping local businesses. It’s all about supporting our favourite businesses today so they will be here tomorrow. There are many great campaigns that help amplify that support. No one is too small to make a difference,” said Jones.

Read CFIB’s full research snapshot for more details.

Source of CFIB’s Small Business Recovery Dashboard data

These are preliminary results for Your Business and COVID-19 – Survey #17, a new CFIB online survey started on July 17, 2020, completed by 5,269 CFIB members. For comparison purposes, a probability sample with the same number of respondents would have a margin of error of plus or minus 1.3 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Source of CFIB’s business closure estimates

Detailed in the report How many Canadian businesses are at risk of permanently closing due to COVID-19? from July 2020.

About CFIB

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 110,000 members across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib. ca..

About #SmallBusinessEveryDay

The #SmallBusinessEveryDay campaign is an extension of CFIB’s annual Small Business Saturday. The campaign encourages local shopping, promotes initiatives to support small business and provides posters and other tools for businesses to use. It is supported by Scotiabank, Chase Merchant Services, eBay Canada, Intuit Canada, Interac Corp and Star Metroland Media. To find out more about being a media sponsor please contact marketing@cfib.ca. SOURCE Canadian Federation of Independent Business

ADVICE FOR EMPLOYERS:

MANAGING AN INFLUX OF VACATION REQUESTS

By: Kristina Vassilieva, HR Writer, Peninsula Canada

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way work, including the way we take vacations. A lot of people have had to cancel their travel plans, and many are working from home. As a result, many workers’ vacation days have been left unused and this can lead to negative consequences for businesses for two reasons. Firstly, businesses may experience staff shortages and conflicting vacation requests as staff rush to use up their remaining vacation time before the end of the year. Additionally, workers who haven’t taken any days off in 2020 so far may be burnt out and less productive, potentially affecting their mental health and your business. To prevent staff vacation from becoming a problem in your workplace in the coming months, there are several things you can do while ensuring your employees are well-rested and treated fairly.

Encouraging Staff to Take Vacations

Some workers may be holding off on taking their vacation time because they are hoping they will be able to travel later in the year. Other workers might not be taking vacations because they work remotely and are already home most of the time. The best way to avoid a simultaneous influx of vacation requests later in the year is to have staff spread out their vacation requests as much as possible. That means encouraging staff to take time off now and in the coming weeks. Even though they may be working from home or unable to travel, they are still working hard and deserve a break. Make this point to workers and encourage them to practice self-care by taking time off to get rest. This will improve their mental health and productivity and save you management dilemmas in the future.

Who gets priority?

and you find you have to deny some of them, deciding who gets priority can be difficult. Your vacation policy should state your company’s process for approving requests, for example on a first come, first served basis. As your workplace reopens and business returns to normal, staff should be reminded of your vacation policy and that they should be submitting requests well in advance. In light of COVID-19, employers may choose to give priority to the vacation requests of essential workers who have been working throughout the pandemic.

Preventing Staff Shortages and Denied Requests

Some industries, such as hospitality and retail, rely heavily on seasonal business and have their peak busy period around the holidays. The holiday season is also a period when many workers want time off most. The conflict between the two can lead to staff shortages, absenteeism and other problems for management. To eliminate these possibilities, some businesses opt to implement black out periods when staff are not allowed to make vacation requests. Another option is to ask staff to submit several vacation requests, ranking them in order of preference. This way, if their top preference gets denied they can at least get their second choice of vacation time. To give staff enough time to plan their holiday period and for management to organize schedules, this should be done a month If workers’ vacation requests end up conflicting

or a few months in advance.

Directing Vacation Requests Away from Peak Business Periods

Denying vacation requests can have a negative effect on staff morale and create resentment between workers and management. To prevent this, it is best to deny requests only as a last resort. Instead, employers should be proactive in planning for their busy season and work with staff to reach a compromise beneficial to all. Business owners that are anticipating a busy period can use incentives to encourage employees to request vacations at other times. For example, employers can allow staff to carryover vacation time in excess of the statutory minimum amount to next year due to travel restrictions and COVID-19 affecting vacation planning in 2020. To further help redirect vacation requests, employers can offer additional days off to employees who elect to take vacation during less busy periods. Businesses unable to give staff more days off can provide other bonuses and benefits.

ABOUT PENINSULA

Peninsula is a trusted HR and Health & Safety advisory, serving over 80,000 small businesses worldwide. Clients are supported with ongoing updates of their workplace documentation and policies as legislation changes. Additionally, clients benefit from 24/7 employer HR advice and are protected by legal insurance. Contact us today to learn more about how we help employers succeed: 1-833-247-3652.

peninsula-ca.com

Kristina Vassilieva

Kristina Vassilieva is a writer at Peninsula, an HR and Health and Safety consultancy serving small and medium sized businesses across Canada. In her writing, she covers popular HR and workplace health and safety topics, as well as news, employment laws and legislative changes, that affect Canadian businesses. Kristina’s work has been published in numerous newspapers, magazines as well as trade and HR publications.

CANADA HAS AN INNOVATION MOUNTAIN TO CLIMB, BUT IT IS NOT STARTING AT THE BOTTOM

Andrea Richardson, Canadian Prize Manager, Nesta Challenges

Canada is used to sitting at or near the top of impressive global rankings; GDP, happiness, education spending, take your pick. When it comes to innovation, something has gone awry. Looking back across the last decade, Canada has slipped from eighth place in the Global Innovation Index, to 17th. At the same time the UK, a comparable economy, has overtaken us, rising from 10th to 5th – reaching as high as 2nd place in 2014 and 2015 .

For the UK, its scores in the rankings since 2014 have remained pretty consistent; it has slipped to 5th place as other countries have become more innovative while the UK sails a steady (perhaps complacent) course. Sadly, that is not the case for Canada. According to the Global Innovation

Index, we have slipped down the rankings because we have become less innovative over time. This year, Canada has also dropped in the respected StartupBlink rankings for startup ecosystems, with Toronto and Vancouver falling down the global tech hub rankings – now no Canadian city features in the global top 20 . As a proud Canadian and champion of Canadian innovation this is pretty startling news. Innovation is the driving force of productivity and economic growth. Faced with the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with the urgent need to achieve net zero emissions by or before 2050, innovation will be more important than ever to future jobs and prosperity. With unemployment hitting a record 13.7% in June , revitalisation of industry, re-skilling of the workforce and a supercharging of Canadian innovation are what is needed to get us back on track. It sounds like Canada has a mountain to climb – it does. The good news is, at a federal government level at least, a lot of the groundwork has already been done. After hitting a low of 18th place on the Global Innovation Index in 2017 and 2018, 2019 was the turning point. Canada is on the climb. Governments across the world are facing increasingly complex problems: they are urgent, they cross sectoral and political boundaries, and they are difficult to measure progress against. Many governments are tackling these problems with the same arsenal they have always used – primarily grants and procurement programmes. But some, like the Canadian Government, are taking a new approach.

Launched in 2017, Impact Canada is a Government of Canada-wide effort to help accelerate the adoption of innovative funding approaches to deliver meaningful results to Canadians. Challenge prizes have been some of the first approaches explored. Traditional grant and procurement funding tends to favour large established companies, with funding upfront for process rather than actual solutions. Challenge prizes have a unique ability to unlock innovation and solve large problems. They reward solutions only after they are proven to work, de-risking investment in unknown entities, SMEs and start-ups and allowing new ideas, companies, and innovators to break through. Working closely with Nesta Challenges, the leader in developing and delivering challenge prizes in the UK, the Canadian government has embedded challenge prizes across national government departments to make them an integral part of innovation policy. Rather than pursuing an unfocused policy of ‘innovation for the sake of innovation’, the challenge prize method ensures innovation is supported and promoted in the areas most in need of solutions and ensures the benefits are felt by the people who need them most. The Drug Checking Technology Challenge aimed to reduce the harm of the opioid crisis; the challenge successfully attracted new ideas and innovators, most of whom were new to Government of Canada funding. The Women in Cleantech Challenge is promoting far greater diversity in an industry where 95% of businesses are founded by men. Women innovators are developing technologies to tackle energy and environmental challenges, competing for the $1m final award. As the Government of Canada understands, innovation does not just happen; it needs a finely balanced ecosystem to make real impacts. It needs financial support, political support and an active, healthy market in which to launch new products. Too often, markets are stifled by the over-reliance and dominance of a few big incumbents, denying entry for small agile disruptors. Challenge prizes unlock and unleash the potential of those innovators. The federal government’s embrace of innovative approaches like challenge prizes is a great start, but it will only get us so far. If we are once again to challenge for the top spots in the global rankings, we first need to create the right conditions for innovators and job-creators in ours SMEs to thrive. With the US suspending its H-1B visa programme this year aimed at fasttracking tech talent, now is the right time for Canada to act to attract and retain that talent in our excellent tech hubs. Canada must set its sights on becoming the go-to destination for small and medium startups and scale-ups. A widespread adoption of challenge prizes by our provincial governments and by Canada’s dynamic private sector, to promote untapped talent and disruptive market entrants can release a wave of innovation that will propel us to the top of the mountain once again.

1. https://www.globalinnovationindex.org/about-gii#reports

2. https://betakit.com/report-canada-ranked-fourth-startup-ecosystem-globally-as-toronto-vancouver-drop-for-second-year/?utm source=BetaKit+Newsletter&utm_campaign=4bec13cc0d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_BK_6_07_2020&utm_medium=email&utm_ term=0_2ec531721a-4bec13cc0d-210393613

3. https://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/newsalert-unemployment-rate-hits-new-record-even-as-economy-adds-jobs 4. https://www.npr.org/2020/06/20/881245867/trump-expected-to-suspend-h-1b-other-visas-until-end-of-year

THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA INVESTS IN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN QUEBEC

An entrepreneurial environment that meets the needs of businesses and promotes their growth and competitiveness is essential to the sound development of the regions. It not only fosters closer ties between community players, but also supports the creation, growth and maintenance of regional clusters, enhances innovation ecosystems and helps attract foreign investment. Business and organizations from all sectors— NPOs, business incubators and accelerators, and groups and associations—need assistance to improve the business climate in order to be able to support regional development in Quebec.

36 businesses and organizations receive over $22M in funding for forward-looking regional development projects

The regions of Quebec abound with entrepreneurs with innovative ideas. These entrepreneurs are developing original solutions to revitalize their communities and boost the local economic fabric. For a number of years now, the Government of Canada has been committed to supporting the regions in their development efforts for the benefit of businesses, citizens and visitors. The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, today announced a total of $22,485,153 in financial assistance for 37 forward-looking Quebec regional development projects. Minister Mélanie Joly announces over $22M in support from Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions for businesses and organizations involved in

Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED)

This assistance will allow businesses to grow and organizations to showcase their communities’ assets. For more information about the projects and the financial assistance, please refer to the related backgrounder. Ways of responding to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic present themselves as opportunities to foster the development of Quebec’s regions, specifically by supporting innovation, network structuring partnerships and alliances, and business services and coaching. Each region of Quebec will play a leading role in addressing the effects of the pandemic, and the Government of Canada has been, and will continue to be, a key player in supporting them.

Quotes “Across the country, local businesses are contributing to the economic vitality of our communities by creating good jobs. Helping them innovate so that they can increase their competitiveness and revive our regional economies is therefore one of our key priorities. In today’s announcement, our message is clear: we were there for you before the pandemic with concrete

regional development.

with you to find solutions so that we can come back even stronger than before.”

The Honourable Mélanie Joly, MP for Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages and Minister responsible for CED

Quick facts

• The Honourable Mélanie Joly is the Minister responsible for the six regional development agencies, including CED.

• The six regional development agencies (RDAs) ensure that Canada’s regions are heard in Ottawa and that local economies and businesses receive the support they need to grow and prosper.

• Canada’s RDAs focus on regional economic development and diversification to help communities prosper. With a very strong presence in communities, they know where the need for additional support is the greatest.

Related links measures, and we will continue to work

• Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan • The funding was awarded under CED’s Regional Economic Growth through Innovation program and CED’s Quebec Economic Development Program.

Stay connected

Follow CED on social media Check out CED’s news page

SOURCE Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions

WHICH KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT MODEL WORKS FOR SMES IN TIME OF COVID-19

By Mostafa Sayyadi

Managing knowledge is not anything new, scholars have considered the various processes involved. A good example of this, executives can look at three step processes of knowledge accumulation, integration, and reconfiguration.

First, knowledge is accumulated by creating new approach to gathering, evaluating, and disseminating information throughout the SMEs. Executives inspire people to create new ideas and develop effective mechanisms to acquire knowledge from various sources such as suppliers, customers, business partners, and competitors. This is similar to a value-chain approach. Executives need to first support this approach for the model to work because they play a strategic role in expanding the knowledge accumulation through applying incentives as mechanisms to develop a more innovative climate and managing effective tools to acquire knowledge from external sources.

Next, executives integrate knowledge internally to enhance the effectiveness and efficiencies in various systems and processes, as well as to be more responsive to market changes. Accumulated knowledge is synthesized to produce higher quality outcomes. Thus, knowledge integration focuses on monitoring and controlling knowledge management practices, evaluating the effectiveness of current knowledge, defining and recognizing core knowledge areas, coordinating expert opinions, sharing organizational knowledge, and scanning for new knowledge to keep the quality of their services and products continuously improving. In the process of knowledge integration, knowledge enters organizational processes and provides valuable contributions to services and products. Finally, executives must curtail the knowledge within SMEs. This knowledge needs to be reconfigured to meet environmental changes and new challenges in the time of Covid-19 and at the same time should not be leaked to the competition in any shape or form unless agreed upon by senior executives. When executives agree to share knowledge with other organizations in the environment, studies have shown that that knowledge is often difficult to share externally. One reason is that other organizations have too much pride to accept knowledge or are apprehensive to expose themselves to the competition. Therefore, executives may lack the required capabilities to interact with other organizations, or distrust sharing their knowledge. In addition, just the notion of creating an expert group or steering committee may be shortsighted because such groups may not have sufficient diversity to comprehend knowledge acquired from external sources. On the other hand, executives are aware of networking with more successful competitors is a key activity for SMEs to share successes and communicate best practices as a way of identifying new collaboration opportunities that can occur to overcome challenging situations in the time of Covid-19. Executives and their expert groups and/or steering committees are the ones who can make final decisions about developing alliances with competitors and other business partners.

RBC BRINGS TOGETHER THE NATIONAL NETWORK OF CHAMBER

OF COMMERCE, CANADIAN BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS AND OVER 50 LEADING CORPORATIONS TO RALLY SUPPORT FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES THROUGH CANADA UNITED

This nationwide movement will unite and encourage Canadians to support local businesses, building towards Canada United Weekend on August 28 - 30, and deliver grant relief to help small businesses as they re-open

As hundreds of thousands of businesses begin to re-open, RBC is pleased to announce the launch of Canada United – a national movement to support local businesses in communities across the country. As part of the movement, RBC has brought together more than 50 of “As Canadians continue to work hard to limit the spread of COVID-19, it is more important than ever to come together with one voice to safely support the re-opening of Canada’s “ of government, across provinces and across sectors,” said Rocco Rossi, President and CEO, Ontario Chamber of Commerce. “We are calling on that same unity of purpose with Canada United. Small, local businesses are the heart of our communities, our Main Streets and our Canada’s leading brands, the national Chamber local businesses and our economy,” said economy. Together, it is time to show local some of Commerce network and business associations Neil McLaughlin, Group Head, Personal & love.” to rally Canadians to “show local some love” by buying, dining and shopping local. Commercial Banking, Royal Bank of Canada. “Canada United was created to kick-start an Canada United is one part of RBC’s journey to support the recovery of businesses across Supporting local business has never been more economic rebound by rallying consumers to Canada as well as local economies. In June, important and will be critical to moving Canada’s give local businesses the support they need RBC announced Points for Canada to stimulate recovery forward. Canada United gives every to re-open during these uncertain times. local economies across Canada by giving clients Canadian the chance to show their support By bringing together government, business double the points at restaurants and 30% more through actions big and small. associations and corporate Canada, we are value when redeeming points for gift cards or Canadians are invited to join the Canada United movement by buying and dining local, including celebrating and supporting local businesses during the Canada United Weekend from August 28 to 30, 2020. Canadians are also encouraged to watch the looking to start a movement to get Canadians to buy local and support businesses across the country. We are genuinely excited by the energy that all of our partners are bringing to this effort.” “ paying in-store About RBC Royal Bank of Canada is a global financial institution with a purpose-driven, principles-led approach to delivering leading performance. Our Canada United videos online at GoCanadaUnited. ca, like posts from @GoCanadaUnited on social media and use #CanadaUnited on Twitter to demonstrate their support. For each of these actions until August 31, 2020, RBC will contribute 5 cents up to a maximum contribution amount of $2 million to the Canada United Small Business Relief Fund, while working with government and corporate partners to source additional contributions to the fund during the course of the campaign. The Fund will provide small Canadian businesses with grants of up to $5,000 to cover expenses related to personal protective equipment (PPE), renovations to accommodate re-opening guidelines and developing or improving e-commerce capabilities. Small Canadian businesses across the country will be able to apply for up to $5,000 in grant funding. The program intends to support small Canadian businesses of all kinds from across the country. The Canada United Small Business Relief Fund will be administered by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the national Chamber network. Small business owners who are interested in the program can visit GoCanadaUnited.ca to learn more about grant application details, including eligibility criteria, and to apply. “If there has been one silver lining in all the tragedy and sacrifices of the current crisis, it has been the spirit of collaboration and unity of success comes from the 84,000+ employees who bring our vision, values and strategy to life so we can help our clients thrive and communities prosper. As Canada’s biggest bank, and one of the largest in the world based on market capitalization, we have a diversified business model with a focus on innovation and providing exceptional experiences to our 17 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 34 other countries. Learn more at rbc.com. We are proud to support a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. See how at rbc.com/communitysocial-impact. purpose that has been evident between levels SOURCE RBC Royal Bank