Local events planned for Small Business Week, Oct. 18 to 25

CENTRE WELLINGTON – Small Business Week is an annual celebration of entrepreneurship that the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) has organized for over 40 years.

Every year, close to 10,000 entrepreneurs gather to learn, network and celebrate the people building businesses across the country.

Locally, the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce (CWCC) Small Business Week Celebrations are sponsored by Bensol Consulting Inc.

CWCC is taking this week as an opportunity to launch several new initiatives for the business community, all designed with recovery and resiliency in mind.

Awards of Excellence Nominations

Over the last 20 years, the annual Awards of Excellence event has evolved, but the reason the business community gathers year after year remains the same – to thank all of the individuals and businesses who support the community.

Nominations are typically accepted into 13 award categories for several months prior to the event.

As a pilot project for the 2021 event, year-round nominations will be accepted for three of the award categories: Citizen of the Year, Youth Citizen of the Year, and Customer Service Excellence.

The hope is that this allows nominations to be submitted when they are top of mind for people.

Nominations forms and more details can be found at www.cwchamber.ca/Awards-of-Excellence.

Twenty-Six Coffees

Twenty-Six Coffees is CWCC’s new B2B networking program, sponsored by Enbridge Gas, designed to help participants meet new people, exchange ideas, and grow their network.

The idea is to challenge community members to have one coffee (virtually or otherwise), bi-weekly, with a new person each time, and let the chamber assist in the follow-through.

“We provide the schedule. We provide the contact information. You agree on a day, time, and place, and enjoy meeting new people with the potential to generate new customers, collaborations, ideas, friendships, and perspectives,” officials state.

Registration is open now for this program through to the end of November.

The meeting schedule will be shared in December, to get started in January.

Registration and more information is available at www.cwchamber.ca/events.

Chamber success stories

As part of CWCC’s new Member Moments video series, members have been asked to share their chamber success stories. These are being shared all week on CWCC’s social media accounts, and all business owners are invited to share as well.

Simply record a quick video, or take a photo and include the story in the caption, post on social media and tag CWCC.  Posting a video is one entry to win three months on the electronic sign with a prominent location on Highway 6.

Contest will run until the end of October.

Facebook: @cwchamber Instagram: @cwchamberofcommerce Twitter: @CW_Chamber.