Photo from the Grande Prairie & District Chamber of Commerce Facebook page

By Curtis Galbraith

Local Business

Local chamber saying thank you during Small Business Week

Oct 21, 2019 | 12:59 PM

This is Small Business Week and a Grande Prairie & District Chamber of Commerce spokesperson says it is a chance to say thank you to these business operators.

Marketing and Communications Manager Tom Pura says small businesses are the backbone of any community’s economy.

“You look across the country, you look in Alberta, in Alberta (there are) 160,000 small businesses. Small business is classified as anywhere from one to 100 employees. You’re talking about 98 per cent of total businesses are classified as small businesses in Alberta.”

He adds a million people work at small businesses in this province.

“(That) is about 75 per cent of the workforce. As a Chamber, we have 1300 members and that’s probably about a third of the number of businesses in this area and we’re representing about 25,000 employees.”

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Pura says this area is doing better than most, if not all regions in Alberta.

“We don’t take for granted that there are businesses that do struggle. I think that there is a good network of support for businesses up here and there are a number of resources available for businesses that either are just starting out or maybe need a shot in the arm.”

Events to mark Small Business Week started today with the ATB Knowledge Exchange lunch (picture above). Others will include the Women in Business lunch Tuesday, the Lunch with Rotary Wednesday, and the Chamber Awards of Distinction Thursday. Ten awards will be given out.