Promoting and Maximizing Growth
Halifax prospers when businesses can easily invest, grow and succeed here. Halifax Partnership helps drive that growth by attracting new business and investment while helping local companies scale, adapt and compete. With deep knowledge of Halifax’s business landscape and strategic connections across key sectors and markets, we help companies access the right resources, partners and opportunities to turn goals into growth.
Fueling Business Growth and Success
Our SmartBusiness team helps Halifax businesses solve challenges, strengthen operations and move opportunities forward. In 2025-26, the team supported more than 590 unique businesses across HRM, helping companies navigate shifting trade conditions, diversify markets and supply chains, improve productivity, and access funding, talent, and industry connections.
The SmartBusiness Program is supported by the Province of Nova Scotia and delivered in collaboration with the SmartBusiness Action Team.
Making Progress on Productivity
The Productivity Puzzle mobilized leaders across business, government, and post-secondary to tackle one of Nova Scotia’s most pressing challenges: lagging productivity and its impact on our economy, standard of living, and future growth.
Through a series of research and events featuring insights from leading economists and public and private sector leaders, this initiative has turned complex productivity issues — from taxes and regulation to competition and labour — into opportunities for action that would strengthen competitiveness, economic performance, and long-term prosperity in our city and province.
In June, we hosted our second Productivity Puzzle event, ‘Breaking Down Barriers: Unlocking Canada’s Economic Potential’, in collaboration with the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, and the Public Policy Forum. Left to right in photo: Wendy Luther, President & CEO, Halifax Partnership; Angela Houston, Executive Director of Trade Policy, Government of Nova Scotia; Carlo Dade, Director of International Policy at the School of Public Policy, University of Calgary; Mike Davis, President and CEO, Davis Pier.
Advancing on the Road to Prosperity.
Led by community, the African Nova Scotian Road to Economic Prosperity (ANSREP) is addressing systemic and historic barriers to improve economic and quality of life outcomes for African Nova Scotians.
Halifax Partnership and HRM collaborated with ANSREP leadership to implement the final year of the ANSREP 2021–2026 Plan. This work supported community revitalization and development priorities, unity and capacity building, and sustainable funding and operations. A key focus was advancing community action plans in Beechville, East Preston, Lake Loon/Cherry Brook, and the Campbell Road Land Trust (Africville).
The year marked significant milestones, including the development of ANSREP’s 2026–2031 Plan and the establishment of the independent, community-led African Nova Scotian Road to Economic Prosperity Secretariat Society.
Participants at the fifth annual Road to Economic Prosperity Summit reflect on five years of progress and look ahead to building stronger, more prosperous African Nova Scotian communities.