Vernon “Business Walks Program” to take place October 1st, 2013

As a kick off to Small Business Month, the City of Vernon, in partnership with Community Futures North Okanagan and the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce, will be visiting several Vernon businesses on the morning of Tuesday, October 1. “We have assembled 12 teams of two people each that will be visiting commercial businesses throughout Vernon from 10:00 a.m. until noon in order to gain a better understanding of the business climate in Vernon,” explains Kevin Poole, Manager of Economic Development and Tourism. “Our initial goal was to interview 75 businesses, but we’ve had an overwhelming response from interested volunteers and are now hoping to surpass that target.”

Business Walks is meant as a five minute check in with businesses to gain a better understanding of how things are going and how support agencies can better meet their needs. “The goal of Business Walks is to get a pulse on the immediate issues and challenges that companies in Vernon may be facing,” Poole states. “It is well documented that approximately 80% of job growth in a community is created from within. This is contrary to the belief that new job growth is achieved through business attraction efforts. Our goal is to create an environment in Vernon where business can continue to grow and thrive.”

The City of Vernon launched a Business Retention and Expansion Program in 2010 and has since done over 250 comprehensive interviews with companies in the manufacturing, technology, agricultural and professional services sectors. The feedback from these interviews has provided valuable input that helps shape policy and direction to ensure the City of Vernon remain open for business. Vernon’s pilot program led to the creation of BC Business Counts Program, launched by the Economic Development Association of BC in 2011, which now has over 80 communities participating. Business Walks is a subcomponent of this program.