Province Helps Small Business in Valley

A Kings County small business is becoming more competitive and preparing for future opportunities with support from the Business Development Program.

The province invested $9,000 in Acadia Management Group in Greenwich, to develop a browser-based energy monitoring and control system to help companies reduce energy use at industrial and commercial facilities.

"To help businesses prepare for the opportunities on our horizon, we are making strategic investments in businesses of all sizes through jobsHere, the plan to grow our economy," said Education Minister Ramona Jennex, on behalf of Percy Paris, Minister of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism.

"Acadia Management Group is a great example of a company that is becoming more innovative and competitive, while creating good jobs, so people can raise their families in rural areas like Kings County."

Acadia Management Group expects the new system to eventually allow it to hire more people, sell its product to more companies at home, and identify markets with the most potential, nationally and internationally.

"The support from the province through the Business Development Program enabled us to move forward quickly and complete the initial development in less than six months," said Jim Retallack, president and CEO, Acadia Management Group Inc. "That sort of speed enables us to address markets here and worldwide with considerable confidence. We employ four people now, and will be adding more as we strengthen our understanding of the market."

Designed to help small businesses get started and expand, the Business Development Program helps make companies more productive, competitive, and innovative. Small businesses receive up to 50 per cent of a project's cost, to a maximum of $10,000.

This year, the program's funding increased to $540,000. Last year, the province helped more than 45 small businesses become more competitive through the program.

For more information on the Business Development Program and other programs and services available to Nova Scotia businesses, visit http://business.novascotia.ca.