REGINA - Federal funding is coming to support business and economic opportunity initiatives in Saskatchewan.
In Regina on Friday, George Chahal, Member of Parliament for Calgary Skyview on behalf of the Minister for PrairiesCan the Hon. Dan Vandal, announced that PrairiesCan would be making a $600,000 investment to three different programs aimed at supporting business development and help in accessing resources.
Regina and District Chamber of Commerce is receiving $250,000 under the Community Economic Development and Diversification program to develop a pilot program for immigrant, minority and Indigenous business owners and entrepreneurs, to support them with mentorship and training opportunities.
Lumeca Health Inc. is getting repayable funding of $200,000 under the Business Scale-up and Productivity program, aimed at expanding their market reach by hiring sales and marketing staff, and so they can make improvements and upgrades to their Lumeco Go platform for emergency communication.
Finally, Saskatchewan Interactive Media Association Inc. will receive $150,000 under the Regional Innovation Ecosystems program, which will allow them to conduct a labour market economic impact study on opportunities in the Saskatchewan digital technology sector.
“I think it’s important to recognize the importance of our western economy, the importance of Saskatchewan in building and growing and diversifying our economy,”Chahal said. “Today’s announcement touches healthcare and technology, which is so important for everyone across the province, and then the work the Chamber is doing to make sure our diverse minority and Indigenous communities are also given those opportunities to be able to build and grow their businesses here in Regina and across the province.”
The recipients are selected in process where applications come in and reviewed against the program criteria. Representatives of the recipients, who were at the announcement at Innovation Place, pointed to what they will be able to accomplish with the funding.
Darcy McLane, CEO of Saskatchewan Interactive Media Association, Inc., said the new study will build on a previous study done in 2020. “We’re looking at GDP, we’re looking at growth in the sector, we’re looking at startups entrepreneurship changing the dynamics of that factor, so a lot of the data that was originally in the May of 2020 collection, there has been substantial increase in not just core data… that’s a big changing mark for us in the new study that’s coming out.”
McLane says they want to do a study that will be a benchmark for the next three years going forward. The plan is to launch this newest study this September; Nordicity is the firm being taken on to do the data collection.
Lindsay Brownridge, Vice-President of Administration with Lumeca Health, Inc. pointed to what they hope to accomplish in the health sector.
“We know in Saskatchewan and everywhere all over Canada emergency services are in a reduced number, and sending out an ambulance to a location when it’s not requiring one is not a good use of our resources. So we wanted to find a way to that we could maximize the resources that we do have and ensure that the proper resources are sent to that location.”
Right now Lumeca Health has an app called Lumeca Connect which can be used by physicians in clinics to send invitations to patients for consultations; there is also the Lumeca Go platform that they are focusing on, which is primarily for emergency services. One of the new features they hope to build with Lumeca Go in is to be able to text patients to be able to help them join a meeting for a video consultation.
“It’s meant for emergency services, so if somebody is in an emergency situation, they don’t have to go through (finding) an app, download an app or go for a different phone call, different connection. They can just be on the phone call, receive a text and that link will take them to the video consultation.”
Tony Playter of Regina and District Chamber of Commerce said the funding will help them on a variety of levels.
"It's opening opportunities for us to reach out into newer communities and help nurture that entrepreneurial spirit that we have in our community. It's going to help grow business and provide mentorship and learning opportunities for new entrepreneurs, and for businesses that have been in business, three or five years or so looking to expand and grow."
He said it will help "young people and newcomers to Canada feel like there's an opportunity to be an entrepreneur and Saskatchewan and especially in Regina and we know that Regina is such a caring, open community so we're going to see new restaurants, new shops, different types of opportunities to grow a business or take over a business."
