Many countries, at federal, provincial/state or local levels are rolling out support measures to help small businesses manage through the COVID-19 shut down. Most small businesses are saying that these measures are sufficient, or they exclude small business owners. If you are looking for assistance, this list, while not comprehensive, might be a starting point.
Everywhere:
If you carry insurance, call and see if disaster relief is included in your policy. Many people have this coverage and don’t realize it.
USA:
Paycheck Protection Plan Outline
These are programs that are set up as forgivable loans meant to cover company payroll during shutdown periods.
Check to see if your particular state has similar programs in place here.
Canada:
Business loans to cover payroll, of which 25%/10,000 can be forgiven. Many small businesses have rightly criticized this program for not protecting small businesses, and that going into further debt is not the answer. The government is constantly re-tweaking requirements and aid response, so keep an eye on updates from your financial institution in case this changes.
The individual provinces are also starting to roll out additional services, though the details are not yet finalized in many cases. Check with your specific province to see updates- for example, Provincial relief updates can be found on the CFIB website here.
Toggle to your province on the menu on the left.
2021 resources:
Managing your business during COVID-19 – Canada.ca
UK:
Government relief options for businesses can be found here.
We will continue to update this article as further resources and details become available.
2021 Updates:
With COVID variants raging around the world, business is not quite back to usual and still in a precarious position. Resources of interest to help ride out the next wave as a small business owner: