Supporting Cortes Island's Small Businesses

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - In January, the Cortes Community Economic Development Association, or CCEDA, hired a Business Mentorship Coordinator. In the four months since then Tamlyn Collingwood has worked with a number of Cortes Island’s small businesses, developed procedures to help them and is about to unveil a series of new market opportunities in conjunction with Hollyhock. “I was contracted to support small businesses in any areas needed. There’s so many different aspects to business and, for many folks, they might be good at a few things and they might have a few challenges in some of those areas,” she explained. “My job is to help them in the areas I can, either providing one on one direct support or helping connect folks with resources that can help them or with other mentors in the community who can help them.” “So far I've been working with over a dozen businesses, mostly artists and product based businesses. A lot of times folks just need someone to bounce ideas off of or help connect them with resources. I've done a lot of sort of one on one creating labels, creating logos, strategizing and business planning.”