Initiative of the ICC of Montcalm
Linda Mallette, coordinator of the CCI de Montcalm
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In March 2020, faced with the massive closure of shops and certain businesses, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the MRC de Montcalm was quickly called upon to change its ways of doing things. Its role was first of all to direct its members to the right resources, particularly with regard to financial assistance. Then, she put forward a series of training courses, meeting the needs of entrepreneurs.
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“We have held numerous virtual meetings, sometimes bringing together up to a hundred people. People wanted to know what was happening with government aid, specifies Linda Mallette, coordinator of the CCI de Montcalm. SADC had even hired a dedicated consultant to help them with requests for salary subsidies for human resources. “
The Chamber also organized a number of virtual networking activities, an initiative much appreciated by the members since many of them felt isolated, the coordinator confided.
Local purchasing movement
Over the past year, the Montcalm CCI has also become a promoter of the Program actions concertées pour la maintenance en emploi (PACME). “So we organized a series of spring / summer virtual training sessions,” says Ms. Mallette. These were offered free of charge to our businesses. The timing was perfect since several of them were stopped. We have offered training in marketing, customer service, social networks… meeting their needs. It was a great success, all the training sessions were complete. “
Then, in the fall, in the wave of local buying, the CCI de Montcalm wanted to highlight the merchants of Montcalm for holiday shopping. “We launched promotional videos of our merchants, in collaboration with the newspaper L’Express Montcalm. ”
To this day, the Chamber of Commerce continues to offer training, while looking into the creation of focus groups, under the aegis of SADC. “They will bring together self-employed workers, professionals and retail traders. We want to know what the challenges and impacts of the pandemic have been, other than the consequences on income. The idea is to know their reality in order to be as best equipped as possible to help them. “
Finally, the Montcalm CCI team is working on a customer loyalty program for retail and service businesses, in collaboration with CIETECH. “This is the ‘I buy near here’ program. CIETECH wishes to expand it throughout Lanaudière. We are working in Montcalm to mobilize traders. The launch will take place at the beginning of April. The idea is to allow traders to bounce back. “
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