Local businesses celebrate small enterprise

Small business week was celebrated around the province last week and there was no shortage of events and information sessions for entrepreneurs in Bay St. George to mark the occasion.

The week opened with a luncheon last Monday, when the Bay St. George Chamber of Commerce announced Indian Head Co-op as the winner of the 8th annual Leo Bruce Award.

The chamber says the award recognizes an individual or business that has succeeded through innovation and risk-taking and continues to demonstrate a dedication to excellence in business practices.

The Georgian caught up with Co-op manager Tony White later in the week to get his thoughts on his store winning the award.

It was a bit of a surprise, he said. I consider it quite an honour, along with the staff and board, he said.

Mr. White said the Co-op, which is in its 41st year of business in the area, employs 40 people in the community and does what it can to support local charities and activities.

It says a lot for the store and what we do for the town, and the towns been through some tough times and weve survived them all so far and hopefully well be here for the next 40 years.

During the week there were also presentations and sessions put off by some of the local groups who partnered with the chamber on the week, including the Long Range Regional Economic Development Board; the Department of Innovation, Trade, and Rural Development; the Bay St. George Association for Community Living, and the Long Range Community Business Development Corporation.

Sheila Hawco of the RED Board attended a presentation about website development organized by her group and hosted by a representative of Student Connections, a government-funded program run out of Memorial University that offers web training by pairing college and university IT students with small businesses and seniors.

Ms. Hawco said the session was important to show small business owners the benefits of having websites, whether they be for decimating information or selling items.

Western College owner Ian Stokes attended a Revenue Canada session that gave businesses tips on payroll and deadlines for filling out forms.

I attended this a couple of years ago and every time I go you kind of pick up little tidbits because there are changes every year and its nice to stay on top of these changes, he said.

It was very beneficial and I would recommend it to any small business owner.

Mary Lambert-Skinner of the Long Range Community Business Development Corporation was one of many who helped to plan small business week events this year.

For her organizations part, she said they hired a trainer and sent that person around to the CBDCs clients to train them in their specific needs.

Its going to take a little longer to do, but it went really well and I think generally for all sessions throughout small business week it was a really successful year, she said.

All of the planning committee put a lot of effort into bringing it up a notch this year and it seems to have really worked.

Bay St. George Chamber of Commerce president Cynthia Downey said that small business week events were well attended and that she too was pleased with how everything came together.

The week concluded with a closing luncheon on Friday at which Paul Burt, president of PS Atlantic Ltd., parent company of Newfoundland and Atlantic provinces Paint Shops, was a speaker.