A report will soon be written identifying priority areas to develop the business community further in town following a workshop that was conducted on Thursday at Olds College. A total of 23 business people, leaders in the community and members of the general public attended the business vitality workshop.
“I thought it was quite a successful event. We got some really good feedback from the people saying they really enjoyed it, they thought it was really great to have the opportunity to have a say,” Gail Scott, chief economic development officer for the Olds Institute For Community and Regional Development, said.
The workshop was designed to have a look at the strengths and weaknesses in the business community locally. The program is offered through the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association. Olds was one of the communities that was selected in early 2010 to host the program, which was led by Mike Stolte, president of Canadian Innovative Entrepreneurial Leadership.
“The intent of it is that it is a very structured program that allows communities to have a strong look at what the gaps and strengths and weaknesses are of their business community so that they can develop a program on how to improve business readiness and business friendliness,” Scott said.
It's important to do an assessment of the health of the business community in order to avoid the possibility of a rundown area with many boarded up storefronts, Scott said.
“It's to encourage shop local, buy local, keep your money invested in your community. You're actually building the health of your community,” she said.
This will in turn create local jobs through the expansion of the business community.
Stolte will be writing a report based on what was gleaned from last week's meeting and will be coming back with the participants that attended the session last week by the end of May or early June for a second session to identify priorities.
“The community decides what are the priorities they'd like to work on. Those projects would be all focused on business development,” Scott said, noting that the community can now access up to $10,000 to implement the ideas identified in the workshop.
Scott said she hopes as many people as possible come out to the second session.
“It's an important initiative and the more that come out, the better it will be,” she said.
"It's to encourage shop local, buy local, keep your money invested in your community. You're actually building the health of your community."Gail Scott, chief economic development officer, OICRD
