Prince Rupert restaurant, Fukasaku, is the recipient of a $10,000 grant from the Canadian Business Resilience Network Small Business Relief Fund, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce announced on June 29th.
More than 1100 small businesses across Canada applied for one of the 62 grants available. The $62,000 was awarded to those who best demonstrated their financial strain during COVID-19, the media statement said.
The funding was designed to help small businesses across the country stay afloat and support their recovery efforts, paying salaries, retrofitting their work-places and acquiring technology to adapt their business model, Salesforce, who partnered with the Chamber to provide the grants, said.
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“Reviewing the applications was both heartbreaking and inspiring. We saw how seriously small businesses across Canada have been hurt by the pandemic, but we also saw how determined these entrepreneurs are to preserve their employees’ jobs and to serve their customers and their communities,” Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber said.
“Today is a happy way-point, not an end point, and we won’t stop finding new ways to help Canada’s businesses reopen and recover. We’ll be with them every step of the way,” Beatty said.
Businesses also had to establish how they would use the grant to change or innovate and how the changes would sustain the recovery of the business to allow it to prosper.
“I was planning to diversify my business to stabilize it and to contribute to local community much more before these crazy times,” Dai Fukasaku restaurant owner, said.
“Though I was ready to move forward, I have to admit that I was relying on the revenue coming from this summer to cover the cost of this project. This grant sure will help me to fill the financial gap created by this pandemic and motivate myself to move to next stage …” Fukasaku said.
“It has been incredible to see the resilience coming from Canada’s small business owners over the last few months. We know it hasn’t been easy,” Margaret Stuart, Canada Country Manager for Salesforce said.
“The applicants have further demonstrated what we at Salesforce already knew to be true - that Canada is rich with innovation and entrepreneurial talent. We’re hopeful that these grants will provide essential support to small business owners as they return to work.”
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K-J Millar | Journalist
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