Canadian Chamber awards $10K grants to 62 small businesses

Ottawa – Sixty-two businesses received a $10,000 grant from the Canadian Business Resilience Network Small Business Relief Fund.

The funding was designed to help small businesses across the country stay afloat and support their recovery efforts, paying salaries, retrofitting their workplaces and acquiring technology to adapt their business model.

Supported by the Canadian government and led by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Business Resilience Network is a co-ordinated, business-led, inclusive campaign to help businesses emerge from this crisis and drive Canada’s economic recovery. The fund was managed by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by digital customer relationship management company Salesforce.

“Reviewing the applications was both heartbreaking and inspiring,” said Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber. “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.”

More than 1100 small businesses across Canada applied to the relief fund. The recipients best demonstrated their financial strain, how the business will use the grant to change or innovate, how the change or innovation will sustain the business’s recovery and allow it to prosper, and how the grant will support the role each business plays in their community.

“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,” said Margaret Stuart, Canada country manager at Salesforce. “The applicants have further demonstrated what we at Salesforce already knew to be true – that Canada is rich with innovation and entrepreneurial talent.”

See a complete list of the winners.