The Okotoks & District Chamber of Commerce still has a few events coming up for Small Business Month.

Typically, multiple events are held in the span of a week, but the Okotoks Chamber’s executive director Dawn Lemaistre says they wanted to spread events across the month to give business owners some breathing room between them.”

“What we tried to do is put together a whole bunch of events that would help local business leaders and entrepreneurs get some personal and professional development and take some time to get back to their own business, which in return can give back to our business community and make it stronger.”

This Wednesday (Oct. 18), they’re hosting “Small Business Month - Growing your Business by Building People,” from 7:30-9:30 a.m.

Lemaistre says it’s a topic on the minds of many business owners and operators.

“That’s one of the biggest concerns our community currently has, and not just our community, straight across the province and the country; hiring retention. First of all, finding good employees and then keeping them. It’s a struggle for everybody.”

Their next event, “ADAPT TO EXCEL,” is being held the following day from 7-9 p.m.

Local runner Dave Proctor, who broke the record for the fastest cross-Canada run last year, is the keynote speaker for the event.

“He’s coming to talk to us about how he adapted to excel to make his second attempt at the journey a success and bringing a couple of his team folks with him to talk about the ups and downs of being on that journey, and then relating it back to business, because he is a local business owner, who has a massage therapy business that runs out of Momentum Sport,  here in town,” says LeMaistre.

The last event, on October 26, is “WTF is Economic Development.”

“Really, we’re just going to do a deep dive into unlocking business challenges. What does economic development mean to you, what should it mean, and what does it stand for in the community? What is their role, what is our tour and how can we partner with them to make Okotoks a viable place to come and do business?”

Tickets are available to members of the public as well as members of the chamber.

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