Canada will spend $4 billion to finance small and medium-sized businesses
Loans and grants will go to 160,000 business owners as part of Canada's digital inclusion program.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced the launch of a digitalization program. The application process began this Thursday.
The program will run for four years, during which the Canadian government plans to allocate $4 billion CAD to help 160,000 small— and medium-sized business owners. According to Statistics Canada, such businesses employ about four-fifths of the country's workforce.
The Canadian government hopes the program will boost the competitiveness of domestic companies in a new global environment in which online shopping and virtual doing business have become more commonplace.
A total of 2 streams will be created at Business Development Bank of Canada, through which owners will be able to apply for financing:
- "Expand Your Business Online".
This program is aimed at small businesses with at least one employee. They will receive $2,400 CAD in microgrants to offset the costs of website development, search engine optimization, e-commerce platform subscription fees and social media advertising. In addition to funding, they will initially be assisted by a dedicated network of youth advisors. There will also be about 11,200 jobs for young people. It is planned that about 90,000 small businesses will be supported under the program.
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