LaunchIt Minto is streamlining its assistance and outreach programs it an effort help more local businesses get off the ground.
The Minto-based business incubator’s popular Business Flight program is being shortened to from a 10-week program to five and will focus on five fundamentals of business in a more structured program.
Somer Gerber, business development coordinator for the business incubator program, funded jointly by the Town of Minto and the Minto Chamber of Commerce, with assistance from the County of Welllington, notes the restructured course offers training in sales and marketing, customer service, business plan creation, business bookkeeping and finance and market research. While there is a $250 fee for participants, half the money is refunded upon successful completion of the course.
Gerber notes the training and information provided through Business Flight and other LaunchIt programs is available to the general public, but registrants also get access to a mentorship element and an online business training library through the Waterloo Wellington Community Futures Development Corporation (WWCFDC).
“We have eight mentors on our roster they range from everything from human resources to finance to marking and communication and just people in the community that have had businesses in the community for many years and have been quite successful,” said Gerber. “They understand the hurdles, the challenges involved in small community business versus a larger centre. There’s different challenges wherever you are.”
LaunchIt also works in partnership with other agencies such as the Guelph-Wellington Business Enterprise Centre, Innovation Guelph and Saugeen Economic Development Corporation, as well as the WWCFDC, helping clients to access services through those organizations as well. In those cases, Gerber says LaunchIt plays “matchmaker” connecting clients to the programs and services that fit their needs.
“I won’t maybe know all the answers, but I can find somebody who does,” she states.
LaunchIt clients can also access the services of a small business advisor from the Business Centre of Guelph-Wellington who visits the incubator on a regular basis.
Local business and organizations can also utilize the facility’s boardroom, equipped with a smart TV, and access to fibre optic WiFi internet service for meetings.
Providing affordable rental space for fledgling businesses at the LaunchIt offices at One Elora Street In Harriston is another element of the incubator program.
However Gerber notes the program has experienced more demand for “occasional” space than longer-term rentals.
“When we first started LaunchIt in 2014 there was a real need for that,” which was discovered through a business retention and expansion survey done by the municipality. “Since then, Renew Northern Wellington has come into place and The Old Post has been renovated with all the offices at a fairly reasonable rental rate, and right in the downtown area. So other programs and facilities have filled that need. That being said, what we’re finding is more demand on the training aspect and assistance for business, but also occasional renters,” she added.
“So if you want to have an office here, a place to hang your hat one day a week or two days a month or whatever the case may be, then we can facilitate that need at a reasonable, per-use basis as opposed to you paying overhead constantly.”
Gerber said the incubator boasts a number of success stories from operations, including a printing company and an engineering firm, which began with satellite offices at LaunchIt and now operate from permanent locations in the community. LaunchIt is also currently home to a massage therapist and a financial planner who work from facility on a part-time basis.
“We’re flexible,” explained Gerber. “We assess what the business is, where they’re starting off point is. If it’s a satellite office they can afford to pay a little bit more because they’re growing their business. If they’re just a fresh start up coming out of their basement, or this is a brand new idea then we kind of do on an escalating scale, or that’s a possibility … we work with them financially to make it work for them as well as us.”
Gerber said LaunchIt has become a busy hub for local entrepreneurs involved in both new and existing businesses. She notes the facility recorded 1,200 visits last year. Although many of those were repeat visits, she points out “the door is swinging.”
Still, Gerber said, “getting the word out” continues to be one of the challenges for the incubator, which offers services to businesses from the wider region, as well as Minto.
“Letting people know what we do, that our services are low- to no-cost, that we’re really just here to help. You’re not getting involved in a huge time commitment. It’s just basically use us how you need it.”
For more information or to access LaunchIt Minto services contact Gerber at 519-510-7400 or info@launchitminto.com.
