Source: National Platform of Small and Medium Business
“When we develop a business support strategy, we gather around 1200 interested individuals in our city. The first thing we are trying to voice is that the government does not know everything. The purpose of our meeting is that people reconcile themselves to this fact and the government admits the fact. It is important to have good insights and good research. To this end, we communicate with people to better understand their concerns”, explains Kent McMullin, leading expert in business strategy management, Economic Sustainability Department of Edmonton City Council (Alberta province, Canada).
On October 12, 2016, Kent McMullin visited Ivano-Frankivsk in order to meet representatives of the local business community, non-governmental organizations, municipal officials and share Canadian experience related to business development assistance.
According to Mr.McMullin, Ivano-Frankivsk is a city with great development dynamics. Canadian city Edmonton in particular and Alberta province in general also represent boom territories. Edmonton, which is an oil industry city, has a population of 880 thousand people. This particular characteristic has the positive impact on urban projects of SME support since the city has sufficient financial resources to support business initiatives and the existing companies.
As noted by our Canadian guest, the SME development process has 5 major components starting from the business idea itself through its development and maturity to self-sufficiency: Incubator – Guidance – Counselling – Commercialization – Self-sufficiency.
In early stages of business development an individual entrepreneur gets assistance from Business Link – Alberta’s entrepreneurial hub, a non-governmental organization funded by the governments of Canada and Alberta, with a representative office in Edmonton. On average, as many as 800 people visit this organization every month. Here visitors can get advice either through a face-to-face meeting or online on a variety of subjects, including how to start business, how to develop a business plan, etc. Other services include research, training and different activities for small business.
At the guidance and counselling stages, our entrepreneurs get to Startup Edmonton, which is an entrepreneurial campus and community hub connecting entrepreneurs and product builders with skills, community and space to support them as they take their ideas to reality.
BizPal is an online source of information on permits and licenses required for business activity. This resource is popular among operating businesses. Using Step-by-Step method by entering the information on business location, its type and some general information on business activity, this 24/7 system helps entrepreneur find permits and licenses for a particular business type and its related activities or topics. This list includes some basic specifications with the link to more detailed information, for instance, downloading blank samples if available. Such service is the result of cooperation between federal, province/territorial and municipal governments. The resource is funded mostly by Canadian government; however, municipalities pay commission fees depending on the population.
The next step of business project support is its commercialization, i.e. turning your business into an income generator. TecEdmonton is a joint venture between Edmonton Economic Development and the University of Alberta. Through its network of investors, it helps foster and promote development of technological companies by fund raising. They hold a business plan competition with the prize pool of 200 thousand dollars. It also connects two biggest networks of Canadian business angels.
Once business reaches its final step – Self-sufficiency – Edmonton offers programs of business sustaining and expansion. Those include programs of visiting objects, export programs, business revival areas, front face improvement, ‘Round-the-corner’ program as well as involving businesses into supply chain development and organizing events aiming to receive extra financial resources owing to direct, indirect and mediate economic impact (for example, tourist expenses).
After an intensive discussion, the participants agreed that Ukrainian system of SME support is nothing more than a large number of events included into different programs, the majority of which remain neither more nor less than just statements. From this perspective, Canadian experience is very interesting where a few efficient programs/projects cover the whole spectrum of business services, starting from business start-ups through cherishing a business idea to self-sufficiency of a successful business.