Unlocking the Potential of Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Guelph and Wellington Maritza Robertson...

Unlocking the Potential of Immigrant Entrepreneurs in

Guelph and Wellington Maritza Robertson

Entrepreneurship Supports Action Committee member & owner of Health Insights Inc. Lifestyle Planning

What is the Entrepreneurship Supports Action Committee?

●Improve community supports for immigrant entrepreneurs to foster their success.●Key workplan activities:• Engaging local resources to increase support & awareness of immigrant entrepreneurs• Marketing available resources to immigrant entrepreneurs• Supporting proposals to build new resources

Immigration and Economic Development

●PROSPERITY 2020: Adapt to position Guelph in global marketplace (2010)

●WELLINGTON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY: Initiatives to attract and retain immigrants (2013)

●WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY: Attract diverse immigrants. Develop retention strategy (2013)

●LOCAL LABOUR MARKET PLAN: Attract and retain new immigrants and secondary migrants to rural communities (2014)

Immigration In Guelph Wellington

● Highly educated (business, engineering, health, precision production, education)

● Optimum working age, at the peak of their careers

● Resilient, highly motivated risk-takers

Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Guelph Wellington

●25.3% of immigrants in the county, and 9.2% of immigrants in the city are self-employed

●Self employment accounted for about 5% of all ‘working’ income for immigrants

●Investment in local economy●Links to new markets ●Ability to reach diverse customer base●Innovation

Supporting Immigrant Entrepreneurs

●Training ●Individualized supports●Help accessing financing●Networking ●Support for existing

businesses● Targeted promotion

The Entrepreneurship Supports Committee is…

●Working with Innovation Guelph towards an interactive online map of business support resources.

●Conducting a scan of local, regional, and online resources to improve referrals and access to information for immigrant entrepreneurs.

Ways to support this work●Municipalities can:

Partner on the resource mapping projectCritically examine local environment with

immigration lens●Business support organizations can:

Partner on the resource mapping project Integrate immigrant issues into planning

and services●You can:

Join an action committee

Thank You Ella Henderson, Project

Specialistella.henderson@guelph.ca,

519-822-1260 ext. 2565

For more information about the GWLIP, visit…

guelphwellingtonlip.ca