London, ON business Starlim North America was recently awarded $4M as part of the Investing in Business Growth and Productivity program (IBGP). Under this FedDev Ontario program, businesses can receive up to 25% of eligible project costs in a 0% interest government loan. This Canadian government funding program is ideal for large business expansion projects that include capital equipment and leasehold improvements.
Starlim IBGP Success
Starlim were awarded loan funding under the Investing in Business Growth and Productivity (IBGP) Canadian government funding program to help support their facility expansion project. Funding from the government will help offset the cost of a facilities expansion and the acquisition of new equipment. This project will allow them to diversify their customer base and create up to 20 new permanent full time positions. Ultimately this project will help support their growth and improve their international competitiveness.
Other Business Expansion Programs
Businesses in Southern Ontario can benefit from a variety of business expansion programs. In addition to the Investing in Business Growth and Productivity Canadian government funding program, businesses can leverage a range of funding programs including the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund (Ontario government grant for businesses located in Southwestern Ontario to support business expansion and investment in innovative capital equipment) and CME SMART (Ontario government grant to support investment in highly innovative capital equipment to help companies access or grow in export markets). To learn more about business expansion programs please review our list of available business funding programs.
Expanding your Perspectives on Canadian Government Grants
Many of our clients only look at the immediate costs in front of them – how much will this piece of capital equipment cost? In doing so, however, they may be missing out on larger funding opportunities or other strategies for improving cash flow planning. When exploring Canadian government grants and other funding mechanisms to support your projects it’s important to build out a budget that includes all aspects of the costs: will your staff need training on the new equipment? Is it internal or third party training? Will you need to retrofit your building to install the new equipment? etc. All of these questions should be considered to capture the full scope of a project.
Once you begin to look at projects in this way you gain an understanding of the true cost of the project and the wider impact it will have on your business. This will allow you to rethink your approach to government funding for businesses – what was once a capital equipment project becomes a much larger business expansion project, or will generate a training project, or you may need to complete an internal process audit.
If you are interested in learning more about how to get started with government funding and improve your cash flow planning, sign up for one of our free government funding webinars. You can also sign up for our free weekly business funding e-newsletter to stay up to date with all things government funding. As always, follow me on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn to get regular funding updates.