Rocky View County (RVC) has become the first municipality to tap into Connect4Commerce.

The Alberta-based online business marketplace was founded by Cochrane entrepreneur Bruce Tannas to help more business owners and entrepreneurs connect, grow, and learn.

It was launched in the spring and new features have been added to the easy-to-navigate service to support business growth, commerce reality, and economic development in Alberta.

"It truly is a business-to-business website," says Tannas. "It's aimed at entrepreneurs and small business managers to help them in terms of finding the thing they need, to learn a little bit, and to bring buyers and sellers together."

Through Connect4Commerce, RVC has created its own branded site, featuring all listings in the municipality, and believes it's a powerful new tool for economic development.

“Connect4Commerce’s commercial real estate feed is an innovative and tech-savvy tool that brings real estate transactions to an actionable level," states David Kalinchuk, RVC economic development manager. "As businesses throughout metropolitan Calgary and the region come to the realization that their taxes are going up, they quickly realize that the best place to relocate and pay lower taxes is Rocky View County.”

Tannas believes Connect4Commerce will benefit any Alberta municipality seeking to foster their economic development, including Cochrane.

"We're going to be making those connections between entrepreneurs and different municipalities, and we can show those municipalities as a great place to be."

Living in rural Alberta most of his life, he sees the numerous opportunities that exist. 

"There's a lot of great stories of why an entrepreneur can grow a business in a rural area. You've got hard-working people--here in Cochrane, we've got hard-working, educated people--and it's not the same as it use to be with the internet. You can live anywhere, so why not live in a place with a great lifestyle?"

Connect4Commerce has recently established a partnership with Pillar 9, created by nine Alberta real estate boards and the Alberta Real Estate Association. It will give Alberta realtors a new platform for their listings and provide potential buyers and sellers with valuable information and tools.

"You're dealing with a lot of professionals who know how to do those things, and they expect that you will know," explains Tannas. "So not only are we bringing the commercial property listings, but we're also bringing a little bit of information about that commercial piece. How do you negotiate a lease? What are the things you should look for as a business owner? So I think we're providing both sides of the equation on one platform."

The educational component provides strategies on various other topics, like ways to keep employees engaged and productive and how to best access small business grants.

Tannas has 30-years plus experience in business development. Six of those years were as business development advisor for Community Futures for the Cochrane area. He was involved with the creation of SMARTstart that is currently being rolled out across the province. While with Alberta Economic Development, Trade and Tourism, he assisted tourism entrepreneurs and was involved with the creation of Indigenous Tourism Alberta. 

You can visit the online business marketplace here.