As New Brunswick starts to loosen COVID-19 restrictions, the business community is looking to the next steps.
The Saint John region’s economic development agency has released its COVID-19 response and recovery plan.
Ron Gaudet, CEO of Economic Development Greater Saint John, said the first several weeks of the pandemic were focused on triaging industry concerns to government so they can understand what the local needs are.
“Now we’re trying to move to that what’s next, how do we really come together as a community and lift the economy out of this,” said Gaudet.
Gaudet said the plan has been broken down into three priority areas, the first being preparing for the post-pandemic economy.
“Clearly as we come out of this, it’s going to be a different reality, so it’s really important that we understand the impact at the local level that this crisis has had,” he said.
Actions include gathering and analyzing local data to better understand the needs of local businesses, focusing on employment support strategies, advocacy, and providing resources and tools to help business reopen.
The second priority focuses on enabling entrepreneurs in the Greater Saint John region to succeed in the new reality.
Actions include providing hands-on support for hard-hit businesses to adapt to the new reality, such as creating new revenue streams and adopting to technology, and continuing to offer programming and resources to new and emerging entrepreneurs.
“Thirdly, how do we as a region restore confidence in our business community at all levels – small, medium and large – and how do we begin to look at the possibilities coming out of this for enhancing some aspects of our business community,” said Gaudet.
Actions include engaging the community to advance the Innovation District, highlighting and sharing local success stories, and promoting the Greater Saint John region and the large exporters who are headquartered here.
“We all know that we’ve been impacted dramatically by COVID-19 and it’s incumbent upon the region to start to look at what does transitioning out of this look like,” said Gaudet.
