Small businesses can enter this week to win a free data privacy course that prepares them for new privacy laws for all Bermuda businesses.

When the new Personal Information Protection Act comes online, it will impact large and small businesses in Bermuda.

The legislation was passed in 2016, but has not yet been set into motion. It will regulate the way that companies handle the personal data of their clients.

“There has been a lot of content put out about it, but a lot of micro businesses are still not aware of what it means and how it will likely impact them,” said Taheera Lovell, of the TLC Group of Companies, a business that provides courses on data privacy and technology.

To help to alleviate this problem, the TLC Group has teamed up with Lennox Cumberbatch, director of accounting services at Abacus, to offer free data privacy courses to four small Bermuda-based businesses.

“I do quarterly live streams with Lennox,” Ms Lovell said. “He has a lot of operational knowledge and I lean more towards data protection. For each show we talk about ways that organisations can prepare, and we give free advice.”

The free courses are offered as part of this quarter’s live stream session theme, Knowledge is Power.

Ms Lovell said it is sometimes assumed that Pipa mainly targets larger businesses because they are the ones to collect reams of client data, but Pipa is for all businesses no matter the size.

“Whether I am sharing my information with a lemonade stand’s newsletter to get a free slushy or sharing information with a bank, I would still expect the same level of privacy,” she said.

Ms Lovell said small businesses sometimes have challenges with staff resources.

She said: “If they only have three or four individuals on staff, they may not have the time or capacity to devote the time that is needed to getting their data-protection programme and holistic data-protection practices in place in their organisation.”

The free courses are: certified data privacy champion, certified cybersecurity champion, certified privacy lead and certified privacy officer course. They are online self-study, and meant to give a good grounding in data privacy.

The offer is open only to Bermuda-based businesses with staff of under 20 people.

Those who wish to take part must fill out a form and answer a few questions. The deadline is Friday at 5pm.

Ms Lovell and Mr Cumberbatch will pick four businesses based on the answers to the questions on the form, and decide which of their courses would be best for that business.

The winners will be announced during the TLC Group’s live stream on September 29 at 12.30pm.

The businesses that are not chosen will still get a free consultation.

“We can meet with them and see what needs they have,” Ms Lovell said. “We are developing more affordable packages for small business. These are more along the lines of templates that will allow them to put things in place.”

Ms Lovell said there is no catch to the offer. They just want to give local businesses information to help them to better prepare for Pipa. It is not yet known when Pipa will come into effect.

Ms Lovell is a Bermudian who runs the TLC Group out of England.

www.thetlcgroup.pro/thetlcgroupofcompanies