New Business Support Initiative from County

On November 27, at 4:00 pm, Cobourg Council will have a special meeting to receive a report on the Venture 13 program announced last May.  This will involve using a building at the Northam Industrial park to house an Economic Development Tech Innovation Centre (see link below for details on this).  But the County already has a more generalized group that supports business.  The Business & Entrepreneurship Centre (BECN) provides services for businesses to help them be successful – see the “Faster Forward Business Success Program” video below.  But they are not stopping with that; they have now announced “the Grand Opening of The Factory: a creative, modern co-working space for entrepreneurs that will further support the growth and sustainability of local small businesses.”

The “Factory” is located at 600 William Street and  consists of 1000+ square feet of indoor/ outdoor space dedicated to helping entrepreneurs connect, grow and prosper.  It’s a communal office space – the advantage is that it can be an extra office or a temporary office at a low cost that also allows entrepreneurs to network with their peers to “share knowledge and ideas to help grow their business.”

It will have 30 individual spaces and 14 seasonal spaces with these benefits:

  • Flexible work spaces: hot desks, meeting areas, planning and idea-generating space, collaboration corners
  • An enclosed outdoor sun quad
  • A workshop/training/conference room
  • High speed internet and WiFi
  • Parking
  • A coffee bar and
  • Regular access to programs and services (seminars, coaching etc) available through the BECN  

The fee charged is $60 a year – obviously subsidized.

This looks like another good initiative by Dan Borowec – the County’s Director of Economic Development.  He was the man that made the successful Agri-food centre happen.

Faster Forward Business Success Program – by the BECN

Links

 

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Frenchy
6 years ago

Seems to be some over lapping of some services with Venture 13. Do we really need two groups trying to do the same thing? It almost feels like the jobs being created are their own.

Lydia
6 years ago

Congratulations to the County EcDev Department for this wonderful initiative. I wish I’d had a spot like this when I had my home-based business.