The new President of the British Columbia Chamber of Commerce summarizes the challenges facing business in the province she advocates – resilience and recovery.
According to Fiona Famulak, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a number of disruptions to business owners over the past year.
“Those two streams of data – recovery and resilience – converge for all business owners, but across the province each chamber business member is in a different state so there is no one-size-fits-all solution going forward,” said Famulak.
| Fiona Famulak |
In the Thompson-Okanagan area, Famulak cited a recent membership survey by the British Columbia Chamber of Commerce, which found that 72 percent of respondents are executable in very good form, 65 percent have seen sales decline, and 49 percent are very optimistic about economic improvement next year.
Across the province, the poll of the Chamber’s 36,000 members found that 75 percent of those polled had received government grants or financial support. Despite this drop in sales last year, there is still an optimistic expectation for improvements and an increase in employment for the next 12 months.
For the Thompson-Okanagan, she says the positive survey response coincides with the increasing demand from resort communities for people to live and work with.
“Because technology gives many people the potential to live in a community of their choice and work anywhere in the world, they are not bound to have to live in large urban areas,” said Famulak.
“We see people moving from dense urban areas to places like the Okanagan, which offer more space, access to nature and a more balanced work-life balance.”
Famulak is familiar with this lifestyle change as he was the former executive director of the Whistler Chamber of Commerce.
It recognizes that the growing populations of communities like Whistler and Kelowna, as a benefit to the corporate sector, also poses problems with affordable housing and rental costs and infrastructure requirements such as more schools and community facilities.
She noted that the BC Chamber is working on a policy statement on housing demand – Famulak is the former president of the Vancouver Construction Association – which it will hopefully complete and unveil in May.
In terms of resiliency, the British Columbia Chamber wants to ensure that entrepreneurs struggling with cash flow problems are aware of the financial resources made available to them by the provincial government.
She cites the recent announcement to lower the threshold from 70 percent to 30 percent of lost revenue to qualify for assistance and extend the qualifying deadline for this program from March 31 to August 31.
The other reality of resilience is that tourism is having a huge impact on the economy due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. However, Famulak remains confident that global tourism demand will return to BC if these restrictions are relaxed.
“The tourism industry will return, but it will take time … but we need to double up on domestic travel in the coming months to support tourism businesses, encourage people to travel responsibly, and empower businesses in their own region. ”
On the recreation side, according to Famulak, the BC Chamber focuses on three areas: creating an innovative and inclusive business environment with a competitive tax system; Incentivizing and accelerating investment in high-tech development; and support business transition to a lower carbon economy that encourages business growth and job creation.
She adds that the impact of COVID on the business world will have an impact that will linger long after the pandemic ends.
“There is a new normal for consumers. We cannot go back to the old way of doing business. That just won’t hurt in a new environment that is still evolving, ”she said, citing examples of how more people are working from home, the ongoing technological surge in consumer shopping habits and the lessons of success by Amazon during the pandemic of delivery of goods and services.
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