Businesses

CRA launches new tool to help businesses through COVID-19

By Gertrude Aziz 3 days ago

(REUTERS)
(REUTERS)

The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) hasn’t gotten the uptake Ottawa hoped for, with businesses calling it restrictive and confusing. Now, there’s a new tool to help businesses take advantage of the emergency benefit to help Canadians make ends meet through COVID-19.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), with the help of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), launched a new and improved online calculator to help all types of businesses apply for the next period of the CEWS program, which opens for applications on August 17. 

CEWS covers 75 per cent of the wages of workers at companies

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Loan program ends, hard-hit businesses hope for 2nd chance

By Gertrude Aziz 1 week ago

NEW YORK (AP) — Small businesses are in limbo again as the coronavirus outbreak rages and the government’s $659 billion relief program draws to a close.

Companies still struggling with sharply reduced revenue are wondering if Congress will give them a second chance at the Paycheck Protection Program, which ends Saturday after giving out 5.1 million loans worth $523 billion. While the program that began April 3 has gotten mixed reviews, business owners still need help as the virus continues to spread and hamstring the economy.

“They’ve exhausted their funds and are looking for a Round Two,” says Molly Day, a spokeswoman for the National Small Business Association, an advocacy group.

Congress is debating further help for small business as part of a broader coronavirus relief package. One proposal would allow the hardest-hit businesses, those whose revenue is down over 50%, to return for a second PPP loan; there’s still

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What Congress got right with PPP, and what it should do next for small businesses

By Gertrude Aziz 1 week ago

These days, you hear a lot about the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), and not in a good way. 

The historic program was designed to rapidly distribute up to $659 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses across the country, helping them stay afloat and keep employees paid during the pandemic.

It’s difficult to overstate how unprecedented that number is. For context, the Small Business Administration (SBA), which runs PPP, provided a total of $28 billion in loans in 2019. 

Rolling out so much money in just two months has come with complications. Banks often prioritized existing customers and their most profitable borrowers when distributing funds, leaving the smallest businesses behind. Bad actors took advantage of the program to get money they didn’t need. And as the forgiveness stage nears, there’s widespread concern over the government’s exposure to fraud. 

But is that the real story of the PPP? 

At this very

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London’s Designers Battle to Rebuild Businesses in Testing Times

By Gertrude Aziz 1 week ago

LONDON — Usually, at this time of year, Emma Davidson of the luxury fashion recruitment firm Denza would be looking to fill 50 jobs on behalf of her corporate clients.

Right now, she’s looking to fill exactly 11 posts, and is inundated with CVs from prospective candidates, who are willing to drop down the management ladder, take a pay cut, and relocate if it means finding work. She said they’re no longer as picky as they were in January.

More from WWD

As soon as COVID-19 began sweeping across Asia, and later into Europe and North America, companies first put the brakes on recruitment, then they sent workers home. With stores shut for months during lockdown, shoppers wary of spending, and the future uncertain, these companies are now shedding jobs.

“Everybody is streamlining, and headcount is the one place where companies can save money quickly. There are a lot of

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Avoid the top 7 tech mistakes most small businesses make

By Gertrude Aziz 1 week ago

There was a time when small-business people did not have to be geeky or tech savvy.

How quaint.

Especially now, in this COVID-19 world, it is vital that anyone owning, running or working in a small business be as smart about technology as they are about business.

That is sometimes easier said than done.

Here are the most common tech mistakes that small businesses make, and how to avoid them.

1. Looking small

Of all the great things the internet has brought to small business – and the ability to sell anywhere, anytime is just for starters – maybe best of all is that there is no need to ever look small again. You may be small offline, but online, you can look every bit as big as your biggest competitor. If your website and social presence aren’t top notch, you are leaving money on the table.

2. Lack of

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Frustrated Amazon sellers slam Bezos for claiming his retail platform empowers small businesses

By Gertrude Aziz 2 weeks ago

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos testifies remotely during a House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, July 29, 2020.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos testifies remotely during a House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, July 29, 2020.

Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP

  • Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos joined the leaders of Apple, Facebook, and Google on July 29 to testify before Congress on antitrust issues. 

  • For Bezos, how Amazon competes with its third-party selling business comprised quite a bit of the questioning. 

  • Bezos maintained that Amazon elevates small business owners like its third-party sellers. But some Amazon sellers don’t agree. 

  • Amazon did not respond to a request for comment for this story. 

  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

When Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos testified with three other tech leaders on July 29 on antitrust issues, many of those who make their livelihood on Amazon’s retail marketplace tuned in.

There are approximately 1.7 million third-party sellers on Amazon, according to Bezos, and more than 200,000 of them generated

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More businesses are folding and leaving laid-off workers in the lurch

By Gertrude Aziz 3 weeks ago

The number of businesses going under in South Florida is growing at an alarming rate, cutting the chances for laid-off workers to find other jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Yelp, the national online business listing firm, nearly 3,000 businesses closed in the tri-county area between March 15 and July 1.

Owners are losing their investments. Employees are losing jobs. And lower income workers — among the most vulnerable to layoffs because they work in hard-hit service industries — are under severe financial pressure as they struggle to find new employment, according to ParentsTogether, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group for parents across the country.

In a survey conducted among its Florida members from July 16 to July 19, ParentsTogether found that “a vast majority of families,” including 73% in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, consider themselves to be struggling economically as a direct result of the COVID-19 crisis,

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What is it and how can businesses help prevent it

By Gertrude Aziz 3 weeks ago

Figures suggest that the rise in this type of fraud is due to online shopping and card-less transactions becoming increasingly common in society. Photo: Getty
Figures suggest that the rise in this type of fraud is due to online shopping and card-less transactions becoming increasingly common in society. Photo: Getty

Friendly fraud is on the rise as online shopping gains more popularity – but what is it and how can you protect yourself?

Described as first-party fraud, it is when a consumer purchases a product or service online using their credit card, but then later call up the credit provider to dispute the charges.

It is different from traditional third-party fraud, which is when someone uses another persons details to make fraudulent purchases, according to Barclaycard.

READ MORE: Branded printer ink more expensive than 32-year-old Scotch Whiskey

What causes friendly fraud?

Figures suggest that the rise in this type of fraud is due to online shopping and card-less transactions becoming increasingly common in society.

What’s more, for commerce merchants it may now account for a

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3 New York City businesses on what it’s been like reopening in the first U.S. epicenter of the pandemic

By Gertrude Aziz 3 weeks ago

Subscribe to How To Reopen, our weekly newsletter on what it takes to reboot business in the midst of a pandemic.

New York City quickly became the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States this past spring. As the novel coronavirus has spread rapidly elsewhere nationwide, New York has been able to bring cases down and began to reopen businesses this summer, making it a possible blueprint for other American cities once they have the virus under control.

Anyone who has ventured out to a store or small business that is not a grocery store or a pharmacy (which are also quite different than they used to be but remained open during the shutdown) knows that retail experiences and services are not like what they once were. There are a lot of new rules put in place to keep customers and employees safe, which might look very different

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Virus Resurgence Sends A Clear Message To Small Businesses That The Future Remains Uncertain

By Gertrude Aziz 3 weeks ago

Small business owners are contending with some of the most trying economic conditions in recent memory. Suppliers are seeing their orders limited by a hobbled supply chain, shops and retailers are facing lower sales from a financially insecure client base and restaurants and bars are being forced to weigh the needs of their staff against the lower capacity imposed by socially-distanced dining areas.

But the most trying aspect of running a small business in the time of a pandemic is the reality that these conditions may continue for months on end. The U.S. and many other countries are already seeing a resurgence of infections and hospitalizations after just a few weeks of reopening measures.

Small Business Strife

The COVID-19 pandemic has put a halt to many business owners’ innate hopes for future growth. A recent article from William Dunkelberg, the Chief Economist for the National Federation of Independent Business, describes

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