Power point presentation for cfdc's on monday

Objectives of Our Meeting

Pilot program: Create high paying jobs by connecting students (in the region) to small businesses.

Agenda

1. Research findings: What we’ve discovered about the challenges facings businesses and CFDC’s in Northern Ontario

2. What is Flourish

3. Case Studies

4. Assets of the Program and benefits of businesses participating

5. Roundtable discussion

6. Discuss next steps

Our Research Indicates:

✓Time

✓New Customers

✓Broadband Availability

✓Qualified Talents

✓How to leverage social media to get more customers

✓How to stand out and differentiate

Challenges facing businesses in Northern Ontario have a lack of:

• Reduce failure rates – 9 out of 10 businesses fail within the first 10 years.

• Create high paying jobs?• Re-attract youth back into the region?• Leverage limited funding between different

communities?• Provide strategic value to local small businesses

and help them grow?

Challenges facing CFDC’s is how to:

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Problem we want to solve - Youth Unemployment

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What does social media have to all with all of this?



How are large corporations using social media ?

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How is Social Media Helping Businesses Grow?

Flourish is a program designed by One Million Acts of Innovation.

We help businesses (CFDCs included) access new customers and new markets in a different & and refreshing way.

We provide social media savvy students to businesses challenged with time, creating engaging content and having the right digital media strategy.

How Flourish is using social media to create high paying jobs

Why Businesses Should Hire Students from Flourish?



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Case Studies:CFDCs and Regional Innovation Centres

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Why CFDC supports One Million Acts of Innovation’s Flourish program?

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8 months later - CFDC noticed job creation



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Flourish helps regional innovation centre with growth and creates jobs

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Case Studies:Small Businesses

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Flourish helps small businesses grow and create jobs



Flourish students - remove FEAR

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Case Studies:Students in your region

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Flourish students get high paying jobs

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In addition to everything... we have capabilities no one else offers



Tourisim/Retail/etc. can access ethnic markets

To see more case studies on how our program is creating real business growth and helping to create high paying jobs, please visit our website at:

www.flourishsocialmedia.net

http://www.flourishsocialmedia.net/

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How is this different to existing activities?

Small businesses are Small businesses are challenged with:challenged with: The Flourish Program offers:The Flourish Program offers:

Time Students who have time

How to get more customersProven model in how to leverage

social media to get new customers

Access to internetStudents working in various

regions where they already have access to broadband

How to differentiateCreative and innovative thinking

students

Rising cost of business and how to leverage social media

students

A government funded program to help businesses leverage digital media by connecting

them with social media savvy students

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Existing What’s different with Flourish

Seminars put by chambers/boards of trade/etc. provide valuable content - but no real economic activity gets created

Flourish students work with a business for a period of six months - they set up & optimize social media pages, develop a custom social media marketing strategy and execute it by creating content for social media sites, build contact lists and engage prospects and drive traffic back to client’s business

Local schools provide interns to businesses

Flourish screens businesses and students and provides a dedicated PM to ensure business objectives have been met.

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Suggested Pilot Program

Year 1: Pilot • Help small businesses get access to new customers/new markets and grow

• Help youth in the region get the experience they need to get high paying jobs

Year 2:Sustainability & Growth

• We hire/work with local web designers to project manage activities.

• One Million Acts of Innovation to leverage experienced youth and provide them with opportunities - help them setup their own businesses

• Local retailers/ not for profits, etc. will have access to a NEW pool of resources that they don’t have access to now.

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1.Road Tour - to all participating CFDCs/Schools/etc to promote the program

2.Capture businesses/students and local web designers/marketing agencies, etc.

3.Have everyone screened and trained and supported via webinars.

4.Connect local students, businesses and have a local project manager, manage them.

5.Provide ongoing reports and share results

How would we deliver the program:

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1.Start with providing 25 students to committed CFDCs in March 2014.

2.As we grow and gain momentum with CFDCs and businesses, we will add 25 students - every 16 weeks.

3.We will notice business growth first. Over a longer period we will notice contracts & job offers.

1.Here we will promote other government related incentives (digital media tax credit, hire a full time employee tax credit, etc.)

4.We will ask experienced students to consider starting up their own businesses and to market them as a resource to ALL companies EVERYWHERE.

Suggested Execution Plan:

• Experience: We are a global non profit with experience in helping businesses in various communities, increase their revenues AND create high paying jobs for the youth. We also have experience working with over 17 universities/colleges/trade schools.

• We are neutral: We are not sponsored by any university/college/technology platform and e remain neutral.

• Can provide a sustainable approach : We work with local social media experts/SEO/Web design consultants and engage them in our program in order to sustain the program once we are gone.

Some of our assets include:

• An increase in customers & productivity - by outsourcing their marketing to our social media savvy students.

• Limited need for broadband: Students working remotely have access to broadband and hence limit the need for broadband use - in remote areas

• Refreshing Ideas: Flourish students are highly creative and engaging

• How to leverage social media to grow: train people in how to fish vs. fishing for them.

• Increased cash flow: more and more of their marketing will be on social media vs. print, TV or other social media platform.

Participating businesses will exprience:

Questions we have for you:

Do you see anything we need to add in that would make a difference to the results we want to produce?

Let’s assume we’ve completed a small pilot program....

How would this be helpful to you & your organization?

How would this be helpful to businesses in your local area?

How would this be helpful to other stakeholders?

Assume we added something that would make this project REAL EXCITING (something truly different)– what would it be?

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Results we are looking for

A pilot program that will create high paying jobs for the youth in the region by connecting them to local small businesses

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1 last thing - we think we will have ‘unexpected’ and side effects from this project.

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Possible side effects:

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Promise of the program in your region is a proven framework that will deliver the

follwing:

1.Enhance the effectiveness of participating CFDCs2.Growth for small/local businesses (in terms of

customers and brand awareness)3.Access to ethnic markets4.Increased employment (contract or full time) in the

region5.A series of ‘un-expected positive events’

If FedNor was sponsoring the outcomes created what would be your requested budget?

What are your suggested next steps?

Some of our sponsors/supporters include:

Thank you for your time!

Contact information:

Taimour Zaman: Flourish’ Program Executive and CEO of One Million Acts of Innovation. [email protected] (416.629.7924)

Power point presentation for cfdc's on monday

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