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BCEDA and Spring Activator Launch Province-Wide Partnership for Business Resilience Program








CHILLIWACK, B.C., August 5, 2020 - The British Columbia Economic Development Association (BCEDA) announced today an exciting new partnership to enhance its Economic Disaster Resiliency and Recovery Program.   The partnership with Spring, a global incubator and accelerator that empowers entrepreneurs and entrepreneur ecosystem organizations, will launch the Province-wide Business Resilience Program, an online program created to help businesses recover, adapt, and survive challenging economic conditions.

Spring founder, Keith Ippel, says “as the pandemic hit, it became paramount that entrepreneurs and businesses needed guidance to survive. Our business resilience program goes beyond the short-term monetary relief offered and is designed to scale provincially, nationally, and globally, to provide the crucial framework necessary for increasing levels of tailored support needed to overcome this and future crises.”

This new partnership will allow local, regional and Indigenous governments access an affordable option for them to offer holistic support to entrepreneurs that are facing challenges due to the impacts of COVID19.  Participating communities will have access to the educational content allowing entrepreneurs to work through four core self-paced course modules.  Created by experts in strategic growth and entrepreneurship roles, Spring Activator says the program allows community partners to opt-in and provide their business communities access to the educational content for six months to one year.

“We’re thrilled to have partnered with Spring to offer entrepreneurs and small businesses in British Columbia the Business Resilience Program, a free to business, long-term online solution created to help businesses recover, adapt, and survive challenging economic conditions.  This program compliments our existing Economic Disaster Resiliency and Recovery Program, established in 2012 to assist communities impacted by disasters,” said Dale Wheeldon, President and CEO, BCEDA.  “Once again, BCEDA is showing that it is a leader in Economic Recovery and looks forward to working with our partners and the Province of BC, in leading BC out of the economic challenges resulting from the impacts of COVID19.” 

For more information about the program, visit: https://www.bceda.ca/spring_business_resilience_pro.php
 
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Dale Wheeldon
President and CEO
British Columbia Economic Development Association
T: 604-795-7119  
dwheeldon@bceda.ca  
bceda.ca
 
Keith Ippel
CEO
Spring Activator Inc.
keith@spring.is
https://spring.is/
 
About BCEDA
The BC Economic Development Association (BCEDA) is the leading professional association of economic development practitioners in the Province of BC.  BCEDA currently has over 450 members from communities throughout the province. BCEDA provides services that help member communities grow and expand new and existing businesses, attract new business investments, and work towards strategic infrastructure investment, land use planning, and community enhancement. BCEDA services include an annual summit and networking event, educational and professional development opportunities, public relations, advisory services and resources and partnering with communities and the Province of BC to market British Columbia for business investment. For further information visit www.bceda.ca

BCEDA founded Canada's first Economic Disaster Resiliency and Recovery Program (EDRRP) in 2012.  Since that time, we have provided leadership in designing and implementing programs in BC, throughout Canada and even assisted in the US.  The BCEDA EDRRP has assisted communities in BC (Burns Lake, communities and businesses impacted by wildfires in 2017 and 2018, Grand Forks), Alberta (11 Recovery Plans following 2013 flooding, the US Virgin Islands, the US Mariana Islands, and other areas in Canada and the United States.
 
About Spring
As a certified B Corporation®, Spring is a global incubator and accelerator that empowers entrepreneurs and entrepreneur ecosystem organizations to build better businesses and change the world. Through its global advisory services, it has helped more than 70 different incubators, accelerators, foundations, and governments on 5 continents enhance their capacity to maximize impact both in their local communities and globally. With their impact programs, they have helped more than 700 entrepreneurs create 350 companies and raise more than $22M in funding.