BARRY’S BAY – A new program aims at retaining and expanding local businesses in their home communities.
Kent Fitzhugh is an agriculture and rural economic development advisor from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. He made a presentation at the October 8 development and property committee meeting regarding the business retention and expansion program.
Fitzhugh said the program is administered through a coordinator and a couple of volunteers, who go out into the community and ask business owners a series of opened-ended survey questions. Often, these interview-type surveys can take up to an hour or two to complete. The survey hopes to identify what threats businesses perceive they have along other foreseeable challenges.
“You would be amazed,” he said. “It gets that deep.”
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