Giving local business a boost

Are we doing everything we can to support local businesses? If not, what can we do better? Those were the two big questions the Dryden Chamber of Commerce wanted answers to. In collaboration with the neighbouring communities of Machin and Ignace, and funding from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, the chamber conducted an ambitious Regional Business Retention and Expansion (BR+E) project. BR+E trained and deployed an army of 40-plus volunteers to gather detailed data from more than 80 businesses on how things were going for them. The results were used to inform future strategic planning. “BR+E was highly informative,” says Dryden Development Corporation’s Nicole Gale. “When asked what would be most beneficial to them, businesses cited networking, workforce development and joint advertising.” BR+E was completed in September 2015, and already, both a Young Professionals and a Business 2 Business Network have been established, a Business Information Forum held, and a very successful Shop Local ad campaign conducted.