INNISFAIL - The town has moved forward with a two-pronged strategy to find the best solutions to attract business investment and to strengthen existing small businesses.
The initiative is tied into the town's Strategic Plan from 2018 to 2021, which identified economic development as a priority, specifically to support the expansion of existing local entrepreneurs and to increase the town's ability to successfully attract new businesses.
On April 23, Stuart Fullarton, the town's senior communications officer, was also given the economic development portfolio. His task was to begin an engagement process with the business community on how the town can best support existing small businesses, as well as finding solutions to attract new investment into the community. The latest municipal records show 547 business licences have been issued by the town in 2018.
"Certainly we want to attract new business but we definitely have to pay attention to the businesses we have in the community at the moment," he said, adding the Economic Developers Association of Canada has noted that between 80 and 90 per cent of a community's economic growth comes from existing businesses. "We know we have some wonderful businesses doing great things, so council tasked administration to go out and engage these business folks to find out what is going on in their world."
With that direction from council the town launched its Business Visitation Program, an initiative that began about six weeks ago.
The program has town staff, including Fullarton, sitting down with a small business owner once a week and listening to their challenges and opportunities they are encountering.
"Ultimately we want to know what is working well for them, and what is not working for them, whether they have plans to grow, and really tap into their knowledge and expertise in running a business in Innisfail," said Fullarton. "The end goal will be to provide quarterly reports to council. Those reports will offer an anonymous summary of the businesses we visited and will provide any indication of red flags or common themes or opportunities that we have identified along the way."
"It will also provide to council some indication of potential remedial action for both the short term and long term for any of those red flags or more emergent issues that need to be addressed more quickly," added Fullarton.
As for the plan of action the town will take, Fullarton noted it's early in the process to identify what form it will take. However, he did say once red flags are identified, such as labour shortages that prevent growth, the town will have at least identified the issues that need to be addressed.
While conceding that some issues can't be solved "overnight," Fullarton said the town will at least be able to guide businesses on the right path. "At the end of the day we want to foster a business community that allows businesses to thrive and grow. To do that we need to understand what is actually needed for that to be the case," he said.
As for the strategy's second prong -- business and investment attraction -- the town has started the process of determining its current ability to attract new business and investment, including looking at its land inventory to determine if there is enough for future industrial, commercial and retail investment. The town will also be examining its own internal processes, particularly with permits and applications, to see if they are the right fit for the business community and whether updates are needed.
"We recognize in economic development that time can be an all or nothing factor with investors so with that we want to ensure our own internal processes are up to speed and that we are limiting the red tape as much as possible," said Fullarton, noting Innisfail does have competitive advantages it can build on. "When it comes to business attraction there is a whole variety of factors that can determine a community's ability to succeed."
Like the preliminary results from the Business Visitation Program, the town staff will also take its findings back to council, and then create action strategies that will help find the desired level of "investment readiness" to attract new business investment.
"The end goal for this is to move into that marketing component and once we got into a good handle of what the town has and what they need, we will go out and sell the community and all the good opportunities," said Fullarton.
For further information on the town's Business Visitation Program and its economic development initiative contact Fullarton by email at [email protected]
