Our gorgeous new website received funding from the DER3 Program in September

MacBook, iPad and iPhone on a wood desk with Fiddleheads' site on all screens

Fiddleheads' owner Rhiannon Nachbaur is passionate about providing for the best possible tech boosts to her new website, which she started actively building in February 2019. Our customers will recall we were selected for a Launch Online maximum amount $7500 website grant in the spring, which saw complex back-end programming out of her own skillset completed.

During the same time, Rhiannon participated in the DER3 (Digital Economy: Rapid Response + Resiliency) Program offered by Innovate BC, a Crown Agency of the Province of British Columbia which funds entrepreneurial support programs in the province. Innovate BC focuses on the support of technology startups and entrepreneurs through programs, sponsorship and competitions that facilitate technology commercialization.

DER3 itself is a free small business supports program delivered by a network of experienced business/technology mentors. It utilizes experts with decades of experience aiding businesses in leveraging digital tools online. Under this particular program, business owners gain a stronger understanding of digital tools a strategies, specific to their business, that help them expand in the digital economy.

Unexpected Funding

Following her participation in the first phase of the program, which analyzed her in-progress new site and her impressive overall use of digital technology, Rhiannon was invited to apply for funding to further her "digital transformation project," aka, this Magento 2 platform website.

The grant application was overseen by the Kamloops Innovation Centre, who confirmed on September 8 that Fiddleheads was approved again for a maximum support grant, this time in the amount of $4000.

Dr. Lincoln Smith, Founding Executive Director of Kamloops Innovation, said, “Businesses in the Central Interior have been immensely impacted by the pandemic and we are excited to offer new programming to directly connect them with experienced Business Advisors to support their digital transformation."

He went on to say to Rhiannon, "There were many worthwhile expressions of interest for DER3 grant funding and only a select few were funded during this grant cycle." He then congratulated her for efforts to continue her journey on the transition.

Restructuring Architecture

This most welcome funding funding helped Fiddleheads relocate and restructure the website's server architecture.

"The old days of running a static HTML site are behind us," said Rhiannon. "This site is complex and it needs a solid foundation to serve our customers reliably and securely. The funding provided by the Innovation BC's DER3 grant allowed us to invest in our future." 

As Fiddleheads shared on Facebook to customers the day after the move, "With your help we can find loving homes for a lot of lovely little fiddles so we can keep the devs/architect busy making all Rhiannon's advanced wishlist items come true!"

Moving Forward

Many businesses are in the same boat, needing to transition to more complex sites to serve growing demands on Ecommerce and non-Ecommerce businesses.

Program coordinator Nicole Cook Bruce of Venture Kamloops said, "As we see an acceleration of success in bricks and clicks business models and the ability for local businesses to expand their market by selling online as well as in-store, we are looking forward to helping Kamloops business owners explore this concept and gain knowledge through customized solutions."

With the architecture implementation and server migration complete as of October 16, Rhiannon looks forward to working on more items from her website wish list. Next up are CSS/design changes, adding additional user functionality and designing new features. She and her new tech consultants anticipate great things for Fiddleheads and thank the DER3 program for selecting Fiddleheads.

Rhiannon extends her heartfelt appreciation to Kamloops Innovation and Venture Kamloops for their ongoing support.

 

Coming October 21: The Kamloops Business Excellence Awards, in which Fiddleheads is a finalist for two honours, the Environmental Leadership Award and the Small Business of the Year Award. [UPDATE: Fiddleheads won the Environmental Leadership Award. Read Press Release]