Community Futures Small Business Training Centre Wins Award for Excellence and Innovation

The Small Business Training Centre offers courses on business-related topics such as bookkeeping and technology.

Janeen Mather, Community Futures Central Kootenay Small Business Training Centre Coordinator with the CFBC 2018 Award for Excellence and Innovation. — Photo courtesy Community Futures

Central Kootenay, B.C.—Community Futures Central Kootenay (CFCK) is pleased to announce that the Small Business Training Centre won the Community Futures British Columbia (CFBC) Award for Excellence and Innovation at the 2018 CFBC Conference. The Small Business Training Centre, a service unique to CFCK, was recognized as a program that could benefit other Community Futures offices across the province.

In 1993, CFCK staff identified that the self-employment clients and the broader business community could use extra support with certain areas of business management. From this, the Small Business Training Centre emerged. Since then, over 4,000 people have accessed training on topics ranging from marketing, bookkeeping, human resources, and technology. In the the past year, over 970 people attended workshops, delivered by 15 instructors, in Nelson, Creston, and Nakusp.

"Some of the workshops, such as Bookkeeping Basics, we've run for decades." said Janeen Mather, Small Business Training Centre coordinator, "Frequently, we'll introduce new workshops to address changes in how business is done in our community. For example, we offer several workshops on social media for business. We've partnered with ANKORS to offer Trans 101: Be An Ally to the Trans Community. And we're always looking for workshops on technology that will benefit businesses."

"Small, local business is part of what makes Central Kootenay so unique." said Andrea Wilkey, Executive Director of CFCK. "Training that supports businesses to adapt and thrive in a changing economy and social landscape is critical to their ongoing success."

The CFCK Small Business Training Centre has a busy autumn schedule coming up. Visit futures.bc.ca/workshop-schedule to stay up-to-date on business training opportunities.