Six small businesses operated by eight Peterborough-area entrepreneurs have each been awarded a $5,000 microgrant in the fall intake of the Starter Company Plus program offered by the Peterborough & the Kawarthas Business Advisory Centre.
Funded by the Government of Ontario, the program provides aspiring or experienced entrepreneurs in the City and County of Peterborough with five weeks of business training to help them launch a new business or expand an existing one.
For the fall intake of the program, 16 entrepreneurs operating 12 small businesses participated, with six of the businesses selected to receive the $5,000 grant based on the overall strength of their business plan and business pitch.
The winning entrepreneurs and their businesses are:
- Angela McDonald of The Florest in Peterborough, offering fresh-cut flower bouquets with a selection of blooms.
- Brad Carson of Toureka! in Peterborough, a mobile app and web-based platform that allows organizations of any size to offer their event-based tours in a brand new way.
- Caitlin Smith of ReCreate Space in Peterborough, a professional organizing company helping residents and small businesses of Peterborough & the Kawarthas get more organized!
- Dreda Blow and Bruno Merz of Showmakers Ptbo in Peterborough, a musical theatre program for children all about making a show.
- Lynda Todd of Vision Imports Ltd in Peterborough, a manufacturer and distributor of keyboards and mice that can be disinfected and cleaned.
- Patrick and Deanna Leahy of Leahy Farm (final name to be determined) in Douro-Dummer, a family farm that offers locally processed meat (beef, chicken, lamb, and turkey) as well as eggs from pasture-raised hens, with priorities of environmental sustainability and animal quality of life.
“We had a wide variety of businesses in the program this time around,” says Hillary Manion, the entrepreneur officer with Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development who oversees the program. “From farm businesses to technology-based start-ups, the participants were able to learn from each other throughout the workshops.”
Since its launch in 2017, the Starter Company Plus program offered by the Peterborough & the Kawarthas Business Advisory Centre has assisted over 190 local entrepreneurs and over 150 small businesses, which have created more than 190 jobs in the local economy.
