Businesses in Pinawa, Man. can now begin taking advantage of Bizpal, an online business permit and license service that helps startup founders cut down on paperwork and get working on their companies.
On Friday, the town of Pinawa, located about an hour and a half outside Winnipeg, announced it’d be rolling out the Bizpal program to small business owners in its area.
Set up with the help of Pinawa’s municipal government, as well as the provincial and federal governments, the Pinawa chapter of Bizpal will help small local businesses navigate all of the local and provincial permits they need to operate. For example, the owner of a coffee shop in Pinawa can do a search by location and keyword to figure out which permits he or she will need – whether those are for registering a business, recruiting or hiring workers, serving or selling food or alcohol, doing electrical installations, and so on.
The town of about 1,400, which celebrates its 50th birthday this year, has developed a “diversified economy,” said Peter Bjornson, Manitoba’s minister of entrepreneurship, training and trade.
“BizPal has been recognized for its innovation in reducing red tape for businesses and making it easier for entrepreneurs to access important information,” Bjornson said in a statement. “Now with BizPal, entrepreneurs will have another tool to help them start and expand their businesses.”
Bizpal has been around since 2005. The program is free for entrepreneurs and serves businesses all across Canada, with the town of Pinawa joining about 700 other municipalities using the service.