Summer grants available for student businesses
High-school and post-secondary students looking to start a business will continue to receive support in Niagara Falls.
That’s because the City of Niagara Falls and the provincial Ministry of Economic Development and Growth have signed an agreement to continue the delivery of the summer company program this year.
It’s a program offered by the Small Business Enterprise Centre in downtown Niagara Falls, which has been available since 2004.
The agreement will last until Nov. 30, and provides $41,000 for the duration of the agreement.
The program offers high-school and post-secondary students entrepreneurship training, mentoring and grant funding to operate a full-time summer business. The ministry provides the city annual funding to assist with the operation of the centre for the last 13 years.
It was also announced last month the centre will receive $200,000 from the provincial government to operate a Starter Company Plus program for the next two years, until March 31, 2019.
The plus program builds on the Starter Company program, and will provide new and existing businesses with access to training, mentoring and an opportunity to obtain grant funding to start or expand their businesses.
The ministry, along with the Ministry of Research and Innovation, has also provided program specific funding, including the summer company program, which requires students to prepare business plans and cash-flow forecasts as part of their application. Successful applications can receive funding of up to $3,000 to cover start-up costs, 12 hours of entrepreneurship training, and five group mentor sessions throughout the summer with local business professionals and entrepreneurs. Michael Warchala, small business consultant with the centre, said the number of students accepted into the summer program differs from year to year, depending on the funding provided by the province.
Typically, he said the program accommodates six to 10 students each summer.
He said the students don’t have to be from Niagara Falls, but they tend to be since the centre is in the municipality.
“The big key is that the student has to be in school right now and then returning to school in the fall, whether that’s high school, college, university,” said Warchala.
“They can submit an application through the provincial website (ontario.ca/summercompany) and then they have to fill out a quick eligibility questionnaire and then submit a business plan and cash flow. We provide assistance with the business-plan development and cash-flow development. There’s also an online template that they can follow.”
The deadline for applications is May 6.
In addition to a start-up grant, Warchala said students get $1,500 for start-up expenses, whether it’s equipment, marketing, registrations, plus an additional $1,500 upon completion.
“In my opinion the big benefit is the mentorship component that’s also included in the program,” he said.
“All participants are required to attend bi-weekly mentor sessions throughout the summer, so it’s typically five to six mentor sessions. The mentors are made up from local community volunteers, so they’re entrepreneurs, other business professionals — we have accountants, lawyers, insurance professionals.”
Warchala said these business professionals help answer any questions students may have, or clear any hurdles they may be facing.
“We sit at a roundtable — all the students, all the mentors — and for an hour, hour and a half, sometimes two hours, just kind of discuss what strategies they might want to employ to make their business more successful, or what things they might want to look into or what things could be potential issues, especially from a legal perspective down the road.”
He said the program requires postsecondary students to put in 420 hours, and high-school students 280 hours, which is equivalent to two/ three months.
“It’s a program that I find has been really successful,” said Warchala.
“There have been a lot of students who have gone through the program in the past who after graduation have taken that business and made it a full-time career.” rspiteri@postmedia.com