Do you know how Small Business Week came about?
In 1979, the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) business centers in British Columbia’s Lower Fraser Valley pooled their resources to organize a week of activities for entrepreneurs. Two years later, BDC launched BDC Small Business Week which they trademarked across Canada. Other business entities have since embraced the idea of Small Business Month and the U.K. and U.S. have recently started up Global Entrepreneurship Week in November.
Regardless of what you call it, small businesses play a key role in Canada’s economy and the Penticton Chamber believes that is worth celebrating. The Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce kicked off “Small Business Week” in 2016 with their biggest celebration of the year — the 29th annual Business Excellence Awards brought to you by Gateway Casinos & Entertainment.
Read more: Video - Businesses recognized at Excellence Awards
Over 350 local entrepreneurs, business leaders and community champions gathered to celebrate our thriving local business community on Oct. 15.
The Penticton Chamber celebrates small business all year round, but here’s how we’ll feature local small businesses in October:
Facebook Favourites — Small Business Penticton
Watch for our Facebook contest starting on Oct. 17 to tell us about your favourite small business in Penticton. The 10 small businesses with the most mentions from the community and chamber members will win a business feature including;
• A newspaper feature in the Penticton Western News
• A Business Bits video promotion on the Chamber website
• A free member-to-member Chamber eBlast ($95 value)
• A social media shoutout to the world!
You may be wondering — what exactly constitutes a small business? We’ve wondered the same thing too! Some small businesses would rather be called home-based or entrepreneur and others embrace the small biz moniker. For our contest anyone can mention their favourite local small biz in the comments, but they must like our Chamber Facebook page for the business to be eligible to win.
Brandy Maslowski is the executive director of the Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce