Huron County's Summer Company Program Wraps Up For Another Successful Year

by Bob Montgomery

Huron County's Director of Economic Development says this was the best year the Summer Company Program has ever had.

Vicki Lass says the Summer Company Program provides $3,000 to each student to start and operate a summer business and they normally have spaces for five students. She says this year, thanks to a donation from the McCall MacBain Foundation, they had funding for ten students. The program is available to students between the ages of fifteen to twenty-nine but Lass says they often just get high school students. This year the students ranged from fifteen to twenty.

Lass shares something else that's unique about the program is that they provide the students with mentoring and coaching and regular meetings throughout the summer and many of them continue with their business past the end of the summer. “One of the best models of this is Blake Street Bakery in Goderich. They were originally a Summer Company student but continued their business and they now have a bricks and mortar building with staff.”

Lass says the skills they learn while taking the program will continue to be useful for them throughout their life whether it leads to starting up their own business or working for someone else. She says the range of businesses this year was amazing, starting with skate sharpening, car detailing, wood working, drone photos of farms, riding lessons and horse training just to name a few of them. Lass says Huron County, on a per-capita basis, tends to have more self employed people than a lot of other communities. She says a survey they conducted showed 94% of Huron County businesses surveyed were owner operated with the owner on site daily. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Huron County. 

You can find out more about the summer company business graduates by checking out their Facebook page @huroncountyeconomicdevelopment or their Instagram account @huroncountyecdev