Small Business Round Table – Government of British Columbia

COVID-19 Support Service

For the latest information on small business supports, resources and advisory services during COVID-19, please visit Small Business BC’s dedicated website B.C. Business COVID-19 Support Service.

Advisors are ready to help Monday-Friday (9am to 5pm) by toll-free 1-833-254-4357, email covid@smallbusinessbc.ca and live chat. Support will be available in several languages.

COVID-19: Financial Supports for Businesses

Use this COVID-19 Financial Supports for Businesses resource to find updated information for businesses and their workers impacted by COVID-19.

*last updated August 26, 2021

Ziggy Linklater, Tara Doyle, KK Law | Co-Founders of Grand Uproar

Ziggy and Tara worked together on a creative team at a high-growth marketing firm. KK, a contract photographer, worked with them to create monthly content. As the company grew and was acquired, they became more siloed in their roles and realized that they missed the nimble creative collaboration that they had when the firm was smaller. So, they decided to combine forces to start a digital content studio, Grand Uproar.

Lisa Milne | Owner of the Royal Theatre

Lisa moved to Trail 15 years ago. Her husband, Jason, grew up there and often went to the Royal Theatre, established in 1927. Lisa fell in love with the community and the lifestyle in the Kootenays. After a dinner date in 2009, Jason took Lisa to the old one-screen theatre and proposed they buy it and bring it back to vitality. It seemed crazy at first, but she quickly fell in love with “the old girl” as they call it.

Brenda Van Ember | Owner of the The Historic Chilcotin Lodge

Brenda and her husband Kurt both grew up with parents who ran their own businesses. Knowing that they also wanted to work for themselves, the couple gained experience working for franchises before opening their own café chain called “Chestor’s House of Cinnamon” in Salmon Arm in 2003. After many years of hard work, they chose to sell their café chain to franchisees in 2015, before purchasing the Historic Chilcotin Lodge.

Dave Brimacombe | CEO of Wayward Distillery

Dave’s first career was in the Canadian Armed Forces and Air Force. The military supported him to think about what he wanted to do after completing his service. His travels had helped define his palate with rum from Jamaica, beer from Belgium and wine from France; and Dave decided he wanted to become a distiller. When he left the service, he opened Wayward Distillery in Courtenay.

Chris Stephens | Founder and CEO of Twirling Umbrellas

Growing up during the ‘dot com’ era, Chris translated his interest in cars into developing an automotive website. As he worked his way through university, his website became more successful and he learned to code and design more complex websites. He started making websites for friends and family, and soon stumbled into the world of online marketing and started the digital marketing firm Twirling Umbrellas.