Community Futures project provides resources

By Community Futures Wild Rose News Releaser

Eight Community Futures offices in southern Alberta have developed a succession matching and planning (SMP) project to address the need for succession planning and education resources within rural business communities.

In partnership with SuccessionMatching, the Alberta Business Family Institute and Commercial Ventures, Community Futures will hold a series of workshops and masterclasses over the next 21 months.

Community Futures has an increasing number of clients approaching its offices asking about assistance with the sale of their business or its transition to a family member. Smaller communities in the regions have businesses simply choosing to shut down, thereby impacting the entire community. In many cases, business owners are unaware of their options or unsure about how to go about selling their business. This project will provide the resources and education needed to solve this problem. 

The project has been made possible by the Rural Opportunities Fund, which is supported by Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD). The Rural Opportunities Fund supports community economic development projects and business retention initiatives, including community resiliency projects and business retention initiatives such as succession planning for small business owners.

The project is being coordinated by Community Futures Highwood, in collaboration with seven other Community Futures offices including Community Futures Wild Rose based in Strathmore.

The SMP workshop and masterclass series project aims to raise awareness and educate business owners and their “circle of influence” such as bank personnel, realtors, municipal government employees and community stakeholders, and to provide access to resources through its vendors. Community Futures endeavours to see businesses successfully transition to new owners, ensuring those businesses remain a vital part of the local economies.

This project is open to registration and targets rural entrepreneurs who are looking at transitioning out of their respective businesses in the future, either via a family transition or a sale to an unrelated party. Event registration can be accessed through the Community Futures Facebook pages or via Eventbrite link (https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/selling-your-business-expert-panel-webinar-tickets-111251813168).