Starter Company Plus Enrolment Opening Soon
by Bob Montgomery
Huron County's Starter Company Plus enrolment opens on July 1, 2024.
The program provides business training, coaching, mentorship, and an opportunity to be awarded a grant of up to five-thousand dollars for eligible participants to start, expand or buy a small business.
Huron County's Director of Economic Development, Vicki Lass, says the program has been running for more than fifteen years now. “The goal of the Starter Company Plus program is to give small businesses the opportunity to either start or to grow or to buy a new small business, and to offer skills training, coaching and mentorship. Last year we had twenty-seven applicants. We accepted twenty and seventeen graduated and either started a new business, expanded their business or bought an existing business.” Lass says they've had people who have been in business for several years come into the program and are still learning new skills that they can apply to their business and a lot of them have said the chance to get five-thousand dollars is great, but coaching and mentorship they get through the program is even more valuable.
The Starter Company Plus program is a popular and highly competitive program that receives dozens of applications each year. Those interested in applying to the 2024 program must submit their completed intake forms no later than July 31 at 4:00 pm. Applicants will be required to participate in a brief interview, and successful candidates will be notified of their acceptance into the program by mid-August. Business training, coaching, and mentorship components of the program are scheduled to take place from September to November 2024.
To secure the micro-grant funding, program participants must assemble a comprehensive Business Plan Package, which includes a business plan, cash-flow projections, SWOT analysis and more. Participants are also required to deliver a 10-minute pitch explaining their business start-up or expansion concepts to an external Grant Review Committee.
The Starter Plus Company program is offered across Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade and in partnership with the County, in Huron County. Lass points out Huron County has a higher percentage of self-employed people than most other areas. In a survey they conducted asking people if they were self-employed, over ninety percent of the seven hundred people that answered the survey said they were.
This program aims to address local and/or regional economic development needs, and where appropriate, focus on specific industries and sectors.
For more information about the Starter Company Plus program, program eligibility criteria, and applications please visit www.HuronCounty.ca/economic-development or contact the Huron Business Centre at 519.524.8394 ext 6.
