Central Alberta Economic Partnership has launched a project specifically to help existing businesses rather than focusing on attracting new ones.
 
They have started reaching out to local business owners this week through a phone survey as part of the business retention and expansion project, looking to gain a better understanding of how businesses in the region are doing as a whole, where there are strengths and where more support is needed.
 
CAEP Board Chair Patricia MacQuarrie says in the end she hopes this project really creates a more business friendly region in Central Alberta.

“I think it’s going to build the capacities of our communities to be stronger in their business relationships and to allow our businesses to find supports where they need to growth their own internal strengths.”

The project was launched following conversations with a number of the Economic Development Officers in their 37 member communities, and they've hired an external consultant to work on the project.

MacQuarrie says the phone survey will really act as a gauge of the current business climate.

“It’s really important to look at how businesses are doing in the region as a whole and find out where the major strengths in the region are and where there needs to be a little bit more support.”
 
Businesses participating in the phone survey will be asked capacity questions like where they are doing business the most, where their direct competitors are, supports they have available to them , how much they are accessing those supports, and what kind of supports they would like to see.