Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation Doug Schweitzer (Photo: Chris Schwarz / Government of Alberta)

By Abby Zieverink

Government of ALberta

Provincial funding aims to help small businesses develop online presence

Nov 2, 2021 | 11:37 AM

As technology is continually advancing, the Government of Alberta hopes their latest funding announcement will help more small businesses compete in the digital space.

This comes as the province announced $10 million dollars in funding over the next two years through the Digital Economy Program, to help small businesses grow their e-commerce presence.

Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation Doug Schweitzer says throughout the pandemic, they have noticed an acceleration in online sales from large companies.

“We’ve got big companies growing their presence internationally, so we want to make sure small businesses across Alberta can compete with these big players.”

The Digital Service Program has two streams, the ShopHERE and the Digital Service Squad Grant program.

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The ShopHERE program, as Schweitzer describes, is for Alberta small businesses with 50 or fewer employees.

“Some of them may have a website, it might be three to five years old and they’re looking for an update, or maybe they don’t have a web presence at all. It’s really there to help them get online,” he said.

“They get access to some amazing services, from Google, Mastercard, Yellow Pages, Facebook, Shopify, these are folks that have cutting edge e-commerce technology that will be available for them.”

The Digital Service Squad will provide funding to hire post-secondary students and recent graduates in Alberta for a regional digital service squad.

Schweitzer says this will provide funding to organizations such as chambers of commerce, local businesses, and business communities, to hire post-secondary students and recent graduates.

“To help educate small businesses, work with them on their strategies to get online to get their e-commerce presence, help them with social media strategies to grow their presence in the community so, it’s really here to help them with all things digital in Alberta.”

Schweitzer says these programs are free for qualifying businesses to use, more details on the program, and a link to apply for ShopHERE and Digital Service Squad.