Building Business Resilience: Halifax Partnership Helps Businesses Bounce Back

When disaster strikes, businesses are often met with urgent and unprecedented needs. This year alone, Halifax business owners have weathered several significantly impactful events that interrupted regular operations. Following the wildfires and floods, many businesses found they did not have the necessary plans in place to quickly navigate unexpected disruptions.

In the days immediately following the wildfires, our SmartBusiness team was quick to convene a Disaster Response Team. Working in collaboration with HRM, Discover Halifax, and Invest Nova Scotia, the team reached out to over 300 businesses directly impacted by the fires. Through their outreach, we were not only able to keep businesses informed and offer support, but we were also able to help them access relief funding, access counselling and support services for their employees and families, and help them reopen more quickly.

We recently expanded our SmartBusiness program to include Disaster Recovery Business Support to assist businesses during any disaster that results in a business disruption, be it a widespread disaster like the recent wildfires or floods, or a localized disaster such as a building fire or structural damage.

The Disaster Recovery Business Support registration page links to our Business Continuity toolkit that helps businesses plan and prepare for future business disruptions. Launched in 2020 as part of our COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery Plan, this step-by-step guide is being used by businesses who want to be better prepared for future business disruptions.

COVID-19 and the recent wildfires and floods showed us just how quickly business conditions can change. From closures to supply chain interruptions to transportation restrictions to staffing challenges, businesses were faced with countless issues during a continuously evolving situation.

By using our toolkit, small and medium sized businesses like yours, can:

• Understand your critical business processes.
• Examine how each area of business activity is affected by any major disruption.
• Asses your risk tolerance, and prioritize the options for recovering from disruptions.
• Communicate challenges and train your employees.
• Develop a step-by-step response and recovery plan so you have appropriate solutions to safeguard your operations.

With our changing climate we are seeing more frequent disruptions due to natural disasters. Having a plan in place before disaster strikes will help you deal with any situation more quickly, leading to a faster, cost-effective recovery for your business while keeping you connected to your customers and staff. “Hope for the best, but plan for the worst” is sound advice and by implementing a business continuity plan, you will be ready for whatever comes next.

Halifax Partnership’s SmartBusiness team works with businesses across the Halifax region to connect them to the resources they need to overcome barriers to growth and help them succeed. For more information, visit halifaxpartnership.com or contact Jason Guidry at [email protected].