A growing region with growing demand for business support
The Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission (COEDC) is a function of the Regional District of Central Okanagan, serving the City of Kelowna, City of West Kelowna, District of Lake Country, District of Peachland, Westbank First Nation, and the Central Okanagan Electoral Areas. Its mandate is to foster a healthy, dynamic, and resilient community economy by supporting existing businesses and encouraging new investment in the region.
With roughly 222,000 residents and recognition from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business as the "Best City in BC to Open a Small Business," the Central Okanagan has seen steady growth alongside rising demand for accessible business support. As the region has grown, so has the need to give businesses a clearer view of the resources available to help them scale.
In partnership with EcoMap, the COEDC launched a new digital Business Resource Hub, becoming the first Canadian region to deploy EcoMap Discover.
Explore the Business Resource Hub
Resources spread across too many places
Communities across North America have invested heavily in entrepreneurship and small business support. But the programs behind that work are often spread across disconnected websites, static spreadsheets, and outdated directories. The Central Okanagan was no exception.
Entrepreneurs looking for help with financing, exporting, or starting a business had to piece together information from multiple sources on their own. Support organizations, local chambers of commerce, and Community Futures partners were all doing valuable work, but there was no single view of what was available across the region.
That fragmentation made it harder for businesses to find what they needed and harder for the COEDC to understand where demand was highest or where gaps in support existed.
A Business Resource Hub built for the region
The COEDC's Business Resource Hub brings the region's support ecosystem into one place. Through the hub, business owners can search and filter resources by topic, including starting a business, financing, exporting, Indigenous business, networking, and emergency preparedness. Approximately 250 organizations and programs are included at launch, with support surfaced from regional partners across the Central Okanagan.
The hub is embedded directly into investkelowna.com, so businesses find what they need on the site they already use. There's no separate login, no additional platform to navigate. The information meets entrepreneurs where they're already looking.
EcoMap Discover uses AI to keep listings current without manual upkeep, which means the information businesses rely on stays accurate as programs and organizations evolve.
Advancing the region's strategic direction
The Business Resource Hub directly advances "Drive Economic Resilience," one of the strategic directions in the COEDC's 2025–2030 Roadmap to Resiliency. The hub gives every entrepreneur in the Central Okanagan one place to find the programs and partners that can help their business grow, and it gives the COEDC better visibility into how those resources are being used.
Built-in analytics show what information is being accessed most, which helps the COEDC and its partners make more informed decisions about programming, outreach, and where to direct investment. Over time, that data strengthens the region's ability to plan around what businesses are telling them they need rather than relying on assumptions.
Partnership grounded in ecosystem coordination
The COEDC chose EcoMap because the solution was built for ecosystem coordination. EcoMap Discover allows the Commission to curate resources into collections for specific industries or audiences, keep information current through AI-powered updates, and track how businesses are engaging with the hub.
The result is infrastructure that extends the COEDC's reach across all seven communities and gives businesses across the Central Okanagan a consistent, reliable experience when they go looking for support.
The first in Canada
The Central Okanagan is the first Canadian region to deploy EcoMap Discover. The launch positions the COEDC as an early mover in bringing this kind of digital infrastructure to Canadian economic development, and it establishes a model that other regions across the country can look to as they work to make their own business support ecosystems more visible and accessible.
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Learn more about the Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission at www.investkelowna.com.