The Small Business Internship Program (SBIP) is a Government of Canada program that is administered by the Department of Industry.  The program provides financial support to Canadian small and medium-sized businesses to employ a student intern who can assist them in increasing the usage of e-business strategies to improve their productivity and competitiveness in the marketplace.  SBIP is also part of the Youth Employment Strategy (YES) initiative. 

SBIP provides funding support of up to 75% for SME's interested in hiring a college/university student for 420 hours to assist with e-commerce development and implementation.  Some examples of e-marketing techniques and tools include:

• Emailing
• Blogging
• Search Engine Optimization
• Social Networking
• Viral Marketing
• PodCasting

Business Eligibility:

• Must be a Candian SME located in rural British Columbia
• Registered corporation or sole proprietorship
• Been in operation for more than 1 year
• Have not had a student under the SBIP program in the past
• Have cashflow to pay for student for the 420 hours (reimbursement after completion and receipt of final report)
• Have an appetite for marketing products and services using on-line tools
• Have a desire to utilize new tools to improve internet marketing (such as website analytic tools, social media, etc)

For more information on the Small Business Internship Program, please visit:  http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/sbip-pspe.nsf/eng/home