Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI) was created in 2001 as the province’s business development agency. NSBI was established as a private sector-led agency with the mandate to promote business development throughout Nova Scotia.

The organization is governed by a board of 13 respected business leaders from communities across Nova Scotia who provide guidance and governance for NSBI’s business activities. NSBI’s employees have knowledge and expertise in trade development, business advising, business financing, venture capital and investment attraction. The organization delivers its services through offices located across the province.

NSBI’s success in attracting businesses to the province and in assisting Nova Scotia businesses to grow makes the organization a key part of the provincial economic development strategy, Opportunities for Prosperity, released by the province in 2000. In all of its activities, NSBI’s primary goal is to create sustainable, long-term prosperity for the people of Nova Scotia.

NSBI established two principle targets in its first five-year plan:

1. To create and retain 18,000 private-sector jobs in the province.
2. To generate a 100% return on investment for the province.

By working collaboratively with its clients and partners, NSBI achieved both targets.

In an ever-changing global economy, many Nova Scotia businesses have embraced innovation, improved the way they do business and have claimed a place on the global stage.

Since its inception, NSBI has periodically assessed its progress and results against its stated mission and the changing business climate. Three years into its first five-year plan, NSBI revised its visual identity to more accurately reflect what the organization was learning through its business clients and the strategies of other jurisdictions.

NSBI’s new visual identity addressed the organization’s awareness that while job creation at any level continued to be a primary goal, the long-term prosperity of the province through the generation of highvalue, sustainable jobs was a principle of growing importance.

Revitalizing NSBI’s brand resulted in: Opportunity. Growth. Prosperity. – three strong words that underscore the organization’s commitment to deliver results to the people of Nova Scotia.

In 2006, the Province of Nova Scotia updated its economic growth strategy with the release of Opportunities for Sustainable Prosperity. Export development was identified as a key component, and this led to the development of the provincial strategy, Going Global, Staying Local. These strategies will assist NSBI as it approaches the next five years.

Moving forward, the agency will build on its successful results since 2001 and continue to deliver results that generate further business and economic growth for the province, its businesses and its people.