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Business Walk Partners
What is the Business Walk Program?
The Summerland Chamber of Commerce along the District of Summerland, Community Futures Okanagan Similkameen, WorkBC South Okanagan, Accelerate Okanagan and other partners conducted their first post-covid "Summerland Business Walk" June 1-3rd, 2022. Results from this recent Business Walk will be published in late August 2022.
The purpose of the business walk is to ensure individual business owners and managers have the opportunity, to meet with the business and civic leadership, who have the ability to act on their behalf and to help foster a prosperous business climate in the District of Summerland. The “walk” is also a celebration of local businesses and entrepreneurship.
The Chamber will collate the responses to generate a simple, easy-to-read report that decision makers can use to help strengthen their local businesses. In addition, this information will provide guidance to those within the sphere of influence to affect change to advance our community and make it a great place to conduct business.
How does a Business Walk Work?
Business Walks involves the multi organization partnership organizing teams to canvass local business corridors. The team will conduct a brief interview and include a series of simple questions.
Why do a Business Walk?
- To understand the issues facing the local business community
- To build working relationships between decision makers and local businesses
- To celebrate and promote local businesses
- To provide businesses with resources and assistance
Outputs
- Enables the Summerland Chamber to take the business pulse of the business community and communicate successes and obstacles in doing business in Summerland
- Allows the ability to track the business pulse over time to gauge the business climate, thus impacting program development and messaging
- Catalyst of establishing contact with individual business to identify companies who require follow up and one on one assistance. e.g. Identification of second stage growth companies who require assistance for growth, risk of downsizing etc.
Why Businesses Should Participate in a Business Walk
The benefit of business walks is that individual business owners and managers have the opportunity to meet with the business and civic leadership of Summerland who have the ability to act on their behalf to ensure a prosperous business climate.
A Business Walk is about making connections with businesses in our community at their place of business. This program will provide an excellent opportunity for community leadership to listen to the business community and identify common themes for action while bringing together resources, district services and representatives of the business community for specific action plans that assist business growth and development.
Want to see how we have done in the past?
Click on the links below to see results of past Business Walks.
Business Walks 2015 Final Report