Small and Medium-Sized Business Recovery Grant

The Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Competitiveness recently launched a new funding opportunity – the Small and Medium-Sized Business Recovery Grant. The program opened for applications in early October.

The new grant program is part of government’s Stronger BC for Everyone: BC’s Economic Recovery Plan, and will help an estimated 15,000 small businesses to continue operating and support more than 50,000 jobs for British Columbians.

Program Overview

The Small and Medium-Sized Business Recovery Grant program will invest up to $300 million in targeted financial support for some of the hardest hit businesses in B.C. that employ between two and 149 B.C. residents and have experienced declines in revenue since March 10, 2020.

Grants of $10,000 to $30,000 are available. Recognizing the profound impact that COVID-19 has had on the tourism sector, an additional top-up grant of up to $10,000 will be available to eligible tourism-related businesses.

The program runs until March 31, 2021 or until the funds are fully allocated, whichever comes first.

Program Steps

• Step 1 – Businesses apply for funding and provide information to demonstrate that they meet the eligibility criteria.
• Step 2 – As part of the grant intake process, eligible businesses will be provided with professional services valued at up to $2,000 per business to help assess their situation and develop a recovery plan that will describe a realistic path to remaining solvent until COVID-19 is behind us.
• Step 3 – Once a recovery plan is developed, submitted and approved, funding is provided to the business to implement the actions outlined in their recovery plan.
• Step 4 – Businesses must provide regular updates that account for the spending and status of their recovery efforts supported by the grant funding.
• Step 5 – All businesses must agree to participate in a third-party audit at the end of the program.

Program Criteria

To be eligible, businesses need to have between 2 and 149 B.C. resident employees, have experienced an initial COVID-related revenue reduction of at least 70 percent during March and April 2020 and continue to have revenues below 50% of pre-COVID levels.

Visit the Stronger BC program page for more information about what businesses are eligible for the program.

Program Questions

Program Staff are ready to help by phone at 1-833-254-4357 or email BusinessRecoveryGrantProgram@gov.bc.ca