Presentation for the Ontario Association of CFDCs on the Business Retention and Expansion Program

1. Ontario Association of Community Future Development
Corporations Annual Conference
September 2015
CFDC's Involvement in Business
Retention + Expansion

2. Sessions Objectives
• Provide an overview of the revised
Business Retention and Expansion
Program (BR+E)
• Share lessons learned and successes
from recent CFDC BR+E projects
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3. Please raise your hand if you have been
involved in a Business Retention and
Expansion project in your community?
3

4. Please write down your answer to the
following question on the sticky note
provided:
What are the first words that come to
mind when you think about business
retention and expansion?
4

5. What do you feel are the benefits of
Business retention and expansion?
5

6. Regional Economic Development
Branch
Core Purpose:
• To develop and deliver leading edge
economic development resources that
support a thriving rural Ontario.
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7. a Proven Economic
Development Process
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 The BR+E program
was introduced in
1998
 Since 2009, over
3,100 businesses
have been
interviewed as part
of 73 BR+E projects

8. 2013 Review Process
8
Collect
&
Analyze
Develop
Plans &
Priorities
Implement
& Monitor
Modify

9. Review Findings
Successes to Build on:
• Acting on Results
• Monitoring outcomes
of their action plans
• Training
• Staff support
Challenges to Address:
• Survey
• Database system
• Data Analysis &
Reporting
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10. 10
If economic
development strategies
were a family, business
retention and
expansion (BRE) would
be the hardworking,
reliable, but largely
unrecognized often
overlooked sibling…
Janet Ady
Economic Development and Site
Selection Consultant

11. What is ?
 An action-oriented and community-based
approach to business and economic
development
 Focuses on nurturing existing
businesses
 Helps communities to
prioritize their efforts
11

12. What is ?
Trained volunteers to conduct confidential
interviews
Data analysis and action planning to address
issues and opportunities
Ideally, it is incorporated into the community’s
ongoing economic development strategy
12

13. 13
Why undertake a ?
Existing businesses create more jobs
 74% - 90% of new jobs
 Investment attraction is expensive and difficult due to
high volume of competition

14. 14
Existing businesses are already invested in
the community
 Existing businesses have a stake
 Easier and less expensive for communities to
retain than to attract
Why undertake a ?

15. Why undertake a ?
15
Existing businesses can be ambassadors for
the community
 Can support business attraction efforts
 Existing and growing businesses may be
targets of other communities’ recruitment
efforts so it is important that they feel
supported
 “A community’s best companies are your
competitor’s best prospects” Eric Canada

16. Why undertake a ?
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Can provide an early warning system
 Assists communities in being proactive rather
than reactive
Improves the community’s self-
awareness

17. A Four Stage Process
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STAGE I
PREPARATION
STAGE II
COLLECT DATA
& ANALYZE
STAGE IV
IMPLEMENT &
MONITOR
STAGE III
DEVELOP GOALS
& ACTION PLANS

18. CFDC’s Recent Involvement in
BR+E
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19. CFDC’s involvement with BR+E
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20. Chukuni Community Development
Corporation
Supports Ear Falls, Red
Lake and the surrounding
area.
Project Overview
• Two separate projects
• Ear Falls project
completed in June
2015, 25 businesses
interviewed
• Final report submitted to
Township
• Red Lake project
underway, 28
businesses interviewed

21. Greenstone Economic Development
Corporation
Serves the municipality of
Greenstone (one of the
largest in Canada).
Project Overview
• May 2013-April 2014
• All sectors interviewed
• Stakeholder committee
with 17 representatives
• 49 businesses
interviewed
• Final report had 59
recommendations

22. Wellington-Waterloo CFDC
Serves the rural townships of
Waterloo regional and the
County of Wellington (excluding
Wellington North and Minto)
Project Overview
• 7 municipalities
• 4 targeted sectors
(Agriculture, Manufacturing,
Healthcare and Creative
Econ)
• Project leadership team
County ED group host by
CFDC
• 280 Businesses interviewed

23. Why did you become
involved in BR+E
What was your role
WWCFDC • 2007 Strategic plan found
business in the community
were not engaged
• The County of Wellington
lead the project. CFDC
provided funding and
people
Greenstone EDC • GEDC first conducted
BR+E in 2003
• BR+E began in 2013 as
business climate has
changed greater
• GEDC lead the project
Chukuni CDC • CCDC completed BR+E
projects for Red Lake and
Ear Falls in 2003. It was
time to update
• CCDC hire by Ear Falls
to complete the project
• CCDC completing the
Red Lake project without
financial assistance

24. Challenges/ Lessons learned
WWCFDC • Coordinating seven member municipalities to
meet timelines (they were responsible for
interviewing)
• Communication during the project was at times
a challenge
Greenstone EDC • Coordinator was not local so people were more
apt to divulge information
• Sector specific surveys posed a challenge with
too small sample sizes to release information
Chukuni CDC • The areas is quite small so very difficult to find
volunteers
• Had funding for an Intern but were unable to fill
it

25. SOUTH SIMCOE
BUSINESS
RETENTION AND
EXPANSION
PROJECT
M A N U F A C T U R I N G
S E C T O R
A W I N / W I N
P R O P O S I T I O N

26. THE BR+E EXPERIENCE
South Simcoe
One Region
Five Municipalities
Manufacturing Sector

27. HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
Since 1998, Nottawasaga Futures has engaged in
eight BR&E projects for the five municipalities
that make up South Simcoe.
Participation results:
Over 300 businesses surveyed
195 participants involved in 8 Task Forces
Over 350 volunteers

28. HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
96% of the businesses surveyed had either Red
Flag issues or requests for information or
support
As a result of the follow up on these issues,
invaluable connections were made between the
community and local business

29. MANUFACTURING SECTOR OVERVIEW
In 2014, the Manufacturing sector
accounted for 18.8% of all jobs in South
Simcoe, making it the largest
employment sector in the region.

30. THE BR+E EXPERIENCE
128 businesses were
selected as a
representative sample for
the region.
45 businesses agreed to
participate in the survey.
The South Simcoe Manufacturing Sector

31. PARTICIPANTS BY MUNICIPALITY
Adjala-Tosorontio
13%
Bradford West
Gwillimbury
24%
Township of Essa
5%
Town of Innisfil
20%
Town of New
Tecumseth
39%

32. THE PROCESS
Letters were sent to all manufacturing businesses
introducing the South Simcoe Manufacturing BR+E
Letters were followed up with telephone calls and
emails
Members of the task force conducted interviews
partnered with a certified BR+E consultant from
Nottawasaga Futures

33. THE PROCESS
Red Flag issues were directed to a designated
“point person” identified by each municipality
Requests for information were facilitated by the
Nottawasaga Futures Business Excellence
Resource Centre
Municipal staff and industry experts were
consulted as required

34. CHALLENGES AND LESSONS LEARNED
Struggles with uptake – Innisfil Project
Paper mail vs email
Importance of a good data base
Benefit of involving municipality, added credibility

35. INTERNET RELATED BARRIERS
One of the issues at the forefront of businesses
concern across South Simcoe was that of poor
internet services.
¾ of respondents indicated that they are facing
technology barriers from either internet access,
internet cost or internet speed.

36. SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMES
Regional roundtable event hosted by the County of
Simcoe to discuss collaboration on regional
issues
Collaborative municipal workshops developed to
address survey requests

37. THANK YOU
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture ,Food and Rural Affairs
The County of Simcoe
The Township of Adjala-Tosorontio
The Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury
The Township of Essa
The Town of Innisfil
The Town of New Tecumseth

38. Do you have any
suggestions/tips on how these
challenges could be addressed?
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39. Proud aspects of the
project
Successes
WWCFDC • Brought the seven municipalities
together
• County approved a $175,000
Implementation Fund for the
municipalities
• More open dialogue with the
business community
• Issues identified
• Hydro outage issues
• Business unaware of
services
• Need to market the county
as a whole
• New online business directory
• Business resource breakfast
Greenstone
EDC
• 49 of 182 businesses surveyed
• Report supported local strategic
planning and highlighted at
Community Leaders Luncheon
• 13 businesses were planning to
expand
• Succession Planning Workshop
• 2014 Grow Greenstone
presentation
• New Tourism strategy being
undertaken by municipality
(encompasses many
recommendations
• Continuous tracking of
recommendation by GEDC
Chukuni
CDC
• Too early on in the project

40. Is right
for your Community?
40
New Seven Community Assessment Questions

41. Resources and Support
 Coordinator’s Manual
 Business Surveys
 Executive Pulse System
 Provincial BR+E Survey Results
 Coordinator Training
 Provincial Staff Advisors
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42. New Coordinator Manual
Step-by-step process with a
greater emphasis on:
• Project design
• Performance measures
• Data analysis
• Priority setting

43. BR+E Survey Review
Question review principles:
• Assist with strategic planning
• Identify specific business
growth or retention
opportunities
• Provide general business
information
Number of questions
in the retention survey
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
2008 2015
110
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44. A Comprehensive Survey
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Business Information
Business Climate
Future Plans
Business Development
Workforce
Community Development

45. Optional Sector Surveys
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Tourism
Manufacturing
Agriculture
Downtown Revitalization/
Retail
Local Food

46. Executive Pulse System
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Online Business Retention + Expansion data management
system

47. Provincial BR+E Survey Results -
Business Climate
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N=3,121 N=3,072

48. Coordinator Training
Updated two-part training program
• Part 1 – Preparing, Interviewing
and Addressing Immediate
opportunities and concerns (1.5
Days)
• November 25-26 Prince
Edward County
• Part 2– Data Analysis,
Reporting and Implementing (1
Day)

49. Success Story: Northumberland
 Regional Local Food BR+E
project undertaken in 2012
 Identified a need for value
added food processing
 2014-15 creation of a 15,000
sq. ft. facility. $1.1M
investment
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50. Success Story: Northumberland
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51. For More Information
 Visit our website to request
a copy of the BR+E
Coordinator’s Manual or to
register for training
http://ontario.ca/b34h
 Talk to your Provincial
Regional Advisor
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52. Questions
This presentation will be available at:
www.onregionalecdev.com
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