Salmon Arm is one of 13 municipalities named as finalists for the 2014 Open for Business Awards.
The awards are designed to recognize communities that support small business through local-government measures aligned with the BC Small Business Accord.
They are issued by the BC Small Business Roundtable, established in 2005 to be the voice of small business to government.
This year, the roundtable received submissions from all eight economic regions, with seven new community applicants. The applications are evaluated based on how the communities enhance small-business competitiveness, recognize the contributions of small businesses to the community and promote the principles of the BC Small Business Accord. The roundtable noted the 2014 applications are the strongest to date, with the majority of applications coming from smaller communities.
Other finalists are: Delta, Grand Forks, Kelowna, City of Langley, Nelson, Parksville, Port Coquitlam, Revelstoke, Smithers, Surrey, Vernon and Whistler.
To promote an “open-for-business” culture, the province is providing awards of $10,000 to each winning community to support the implementation of measures that benefit small business. Winners will be announced on Sept. 24 at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) annual conference in Whistler.
