The Bermuda Economic Development Corporation is launching a virtual social media campaign to highlight Bermuda businesses and encourage local shopping. The campaign focuses on micro, small and medium size enterprises. “MSMEs play a vital role in stimulating economic growth and providing employment for vulnerable groups in all communities,” MSME officer Donte Hunt said.To celebrate International MSME Day on Saturday, the BEDC will be going live on its Instagram channel, @bedcbda, partnering with Danielle Paynter of the Nab app and some of Bermuda’s MSMEs.The live interviews, from 11am to 4pm, will feature businesses that have done an exceptional job at pivoting their traditional business model and have made significant changes to adapt to the challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic brings. Those who tune in will get a live tour of the locations, get to know the owners, and learn about a few feature products and promotions that the businesses are running. “MSME Day was created to shine a light on and bring awareness to small businesses that together make a huge impact on the economy,” BEDC MSME director Ray Lambert said. “These businesses are sometimes overlooked because of their size but they are at the heart of the community. They are enriched with the culture of Bermuda, the smiling faces of local employees and the hard work of dedicated owners. It is because of this that these businesses should be celebrated; not just on MSME Day but every day.” From now until Saturday the BEDC is also running its Shop, Share, Support campaign which offering the chance to win $500.To take part, people must shop at a Bermuda store, then share a picture of their purchase on Instagram with the tag @bedcbda and the business where the purchase happened. The business tagged in the winning photo also has a chance to win $500. The third step is to encourage friends and family to get involved. Participants are asked to tag a friend in their post and with the hashtags, #MSMEBermuda and #ChooseBDA. The winning shopper and business will be randomly selected and announced at 5pm on Saturday on the @bedcbda Instagram channel.“We are all facing challenging times right now, especially small business owners,” junior MSME officer Dennis Carter said. “We hope that this initiative will encourage the public to shop local, learn about businesses that they may have never visited, and spread awareness on the importance of supporting our MSMEs,”This campaign is taking place island-wide and all business types are included such as retail, local online shopping, service businesses, and experience businesses.For more information about MSME Day and the BEDC please visit www.bedc.bm.