The New Brunswick Community Business Development Corporation (CBDC), which helps small businesses grow and modernize, wanted to support New Brunswick companies interested in preparing to buy or sell with succession planning. Stiletto was engaged to conduct research to confirm the need and identify gaps in providing support to companies.
An initial phase included interviews and focus groups with companies throughout the province. The outreach underscored the need for tools and clear pathways to succession planning. To respond to this gap, Stiletto conducted extensive secondary research from exemplary jurisdictions and trends and best practices to create a 10-step process for both buyers and sellers. Stiletto also developed a training toolkit to prepare and onboard training delivery partners. Materials included facilitator guides, slide decks, marketing and promotional materials, train the trainer guides and a train the trainer session to help onboard the delivery partners to prepare to launch the program.
The project resulted in CBDC engaging a full-time program manager to lead this initiative. The manager has onboarded more than a dozen delivery partners, including provincial economic development agencies, federal and provincial departments, and business support organizations, and the program is being launched provincially.