Vancouver Island has a population of nearly 1 million people. Nanaimo is the primary business and service centre for about half of this population. The city is still in the process of becoming. It’s unfinished, full of contrasts, and undefined. It’s urban, rural, and suburban. It’s industrial and surrounded by natural beauty. It’s close to Vancouver, yet somehow still far away. There’s room for you here…
Our Objectives
Develop and sustain an attractive business climate
Solve problems, reduce barriers, provide support to retain and expand businesses
Promote Nanaimo’s dynamic economy and investment prospects
The Nanaimo Prosperity Corporation (NPC) exists to help ensure a thriving and resilient local economy. With partners in business, government, First Nations, and community, the corporation generates ideas and leads collaboration on initiatives to solve problems and promote opportunity.
Nanaimo has everything you need, including significant unrealized potential – a perfect setting for your new idea to take root.
Nanaimo is a city you don’t want to overlook.
Why
Nanaimo?
Closer to Vancouver than Victoria; closer to Victoria than Vancouver; closer to all of the Island’s world renowned recreational opportunities and destinations than either; Nanaimo is a small, growing city of over 100,000 people, situated just 60 km (37 miles) from Vancouver on the Salish Sea (Georgia Strait). Surrounded by the natural coastal beauty of British Columbia, Nanaimo enjoys easy access to the abundance of recreational activities in the Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands region.
Key Industries
Nanaimo’s economy was historically commodity-based, enabled by the abundance of natural resources on Vancouver Island. Today, the economy is diverse with a concentration of product and service offerings for a regional, Central Island client base. Like the rest of the BC economy, Nanaimo’s 6,500 businesses are mostly small and medium-sized enterprises including an emerging cluster of techno-industrial enterprises – water systems, software, robotics, etc.
Explore our key industries for details and statistics on the businesses and sectors that make up the Nanaimo economy.
Retail
Technology
Tourism
Education
Manufacturing
Construction
Transportation & Warehousing
Healthcare & Social Services