B.C. government helps small businesses do the ‘Pandemic Pivot”

We knew that it was coming. We just didn’t know what form it would take. As the realisation that the pandemic is going to be in our society longer than expected, governments around the world are exploring ways to strenghten societal bonds.

One way is to support the economy through supporting local business. And the B.C. government has recently stepped up with a $7500 grant for small businesses to develop ecommerce capabilities.

The prerequisites are as you might expect: You have to have been a small business, registered in BC for at least a year, pay taxes in the province and generated a minimum of $30,000 revenue. And not have ecommerce capabilites before applying to the program.

What I like about the program is that it requires that you use BC-based business to design and build a new online store, or improve an existing online store. The new functionality has to include the following:

• Customer registration and information security features
• Shopping cart and order management capabilities
• Payment processing options including taxes and shipping costs at time of ordering
• Product catalogue, search and inventory status
• Website analytics and reporting capabilities

Oh, did I mention that it has be done within 12 weeks. So if you are going to get started, you must apply by March 31, 2021.

Are you interested in getting started?