MY Biz Info (MBI)

A municipality-powered smart business platform — conceived, designed and pitched to the City of Airdrie by me.

Personal / Concept Project 2020 City of Airdrie Pitch

The Problem

During COVID-19, local Airdrie businesses lost foot traffic overnight while Calgary-based businesses dominated Google search results. Big corporations with SEO budgets won visibility. Local businesses with loyal communities had none of those tools — and no platform built for them.

Slide: Covid hit sudden and changed everything. Having a website doesn't mean you are visible. A globe wearing a surgical mask, beside a list: e-commerce sales more than doubled year over year, ROPO and showrooms, Google my business, multiplatform.
Slide: Who owns the visibility and data right now? A winding path with Google, Facebook and Other SM markers and a map pin.

The vision

Not SEO. Not ad spend. Proximity, fairness and smart technology.

I conceived MBI as a Progressive Web Application (PWA) that fundamentally changes how local businesses compete online — giving every licensed local business the same tools as national chains, without the cost.

"When businesses grow, so does the economy."

Key points of MBI: a phone with a map and labels for Smart Directory, Smart Marketing, the PIPEDA 10 Fair Information Principles Checklist, Scalability, Compete against global competition and Jobs Search.

What made MBI different — 7 key differentiators

01Fair indexing — not SEO

Search results based on proximity, not ad spend. Every local business gets equal visibility.

02Chamber of Commerce verification

Registered businesses receive a verified badge — instant credibility for consumers.

03Geofence smart marketing

Real-time automated promotions triggered by proximity. No manual campaigns. No ad budget needed.

04Digital loyalty cards

Built-in loyalty programs giving local businesses the same retention tools as national chains.

05Canadian data sovereignty

PIPEDA compliant. Canadian servers only. Individuals control their own data — no American third parties.

06Hyperlocal job search

Municipality-to-municipality job matching. Keeping local talent and opportunity local.

07Scalable municipality to municipality

Built to start in Airdrie and replicate across any Canadian municipality — same fair indexing, same smart tools, same community focus.

The MBI logo: black striped MB lettering with an information mark and the words MY Biz Info, Connecting Communities, on white.
Logo — bold, modern, community-first
Members Dashboard concept: a navy sidebar with the MBI logo and profile photo, a Business Profile form and a yellow Choose a File button.
Members dashboard — business profile & booking
Flow 1: Members Dashboard hero and Business Profile member dashboard, step by step.
Flow 1 — business discovery-dashboard
Flow 2: Business Profile, Promotions and Loyalty Cards on the Members Dashboard, with feature tags along the bottom.
Flow 2 — affiliate & membership

The research

-2.1%Small business real output drop, Q1 2020
+110%E-commerce growth year over year
-84%In-person clothing retail sales drop
Chart: How COVID-19 changed how Canadians shop. In-person spending fell and online spending rose across retail types, such as clothes down 84.2 percent in person and furniture and home up 191.2 percent online.

Data sourced from Statistics Canada & CBC News, 2020

Presented to the City of Airdrie’s Website Task Force on behalf of Distinct Graphics & Software Solutions. The concept was validated at a municipal level — the city was supportive of the vision but had prior infrastructure investments already committed. The door remains open."

— Cigdem Fareed, owner & developer, MY Biz Info · 2020

Quote: When businesses grow, so does the economy. MY Biz Info, mybizinfo.ca.
My role: full concept, brand identity, logo design, UI/UX design, members dashboard, user flows, business strategy and municipal pitch. Collaboration: Lindsay Coyle. Personal concept project, 2020.

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