Have you heard the great news? The Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation & Trade has renewed a $10 million investment into Digital Main Street- an Ontario-wide program that has been helping small brick-and-mortar businesses take advantage of the power of online marketing, sales and back-office operations.
There are two grant streams available:
- The Digital Transformation Grant provides $2,500 to qualifying brick-and-mortar small businesses to help cover the costs of adopting digital technologies; One major change to the Digital Transformation Grant from previous years is the new location criteria. Small businesses no longer need to be part of a zoned main street area to qualify. Eligibility may be granted to small businesses in other commercially zoned areas which opens up the online training and $2,500 grant to thousands of additional businesses across the province.
- The Digital Service Squad Grant is available to Municipalities, BIAs, Chambers, and Small Business Enterprise Centres to fund digital technology specialists who will provide hands-on assistance to small businesses in their areas.
Both Grant programs are now open to receive applications from eligible organizations/small businesses.
The Digital Transformation Grant portal closes on October 31st, 2021 or as soon as the grant funds have been exhausted. Follow this link to learn how the Digital Transformation Grant program can help your business: Digital Transformation Grant 3-0
The Digital Service Squad portal closes on September 30th, 2021. Oxford County businesses interested in accessing this program, please contact the Small Business Centre in Woodstock. To learn more, visit: Digital Service Squad 3-0
ABOUT Digital Main Street
Digital Main Street is a program that helps main street & commercially zoned businesses achieve digital transformation. The program is built around an online learning platform, structured training programs, and Digital Service Squads (teams of street-level team members who help main street businesses grow and manage their operations through technology).
Digital Main Street is supported by a group of strategic business partners, including Google, Mastercard, Shopify, Microsoft, Facebook, Intuit QuickBooks, Square, and Yellow Pages.
Ongoing investments from the Government of Ontario, FedDev Ontario, TABIA & OBIAA have expanded the Digital Main Street Platform in order to support more businesses to go digital as a response to the impacts of COVID-19. digitalmainstreet.ca
If you have questions about which Digital Main Street program is best for you, please contact our team:
Or email Darryl Julott, Managing Lead at Digital Main Street directly at: Darryl.Julott@digitalmainstreet.ca
