The Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) are offering additional services and grant funding for small business solutions to executive and managerial challenges. The Embedded Executive Program provides financial support to those businesses looking to acquire the services and knowledge of an experienced entrepreneur or business executive for a limited period of time. Participating organizations will also receive access to OCE’s extensive network of management experts and corporate executives to choose the candidate that will be of the greatest value to their companies’ sector and present situation.
OCE: Ontario Government Funding Programs
The Embedded Executive Program provides its participants with up to $50,000 in fully repayable small business loans. These funds will go towards the recruitment and acquisition of a skilled individual with extensive experience in upper management and executive positions. The individual would be offered a position where they would advise and influence the decisions of the upper management and staff to improve the business’ performance and profitability. The position would entail a four- to six-month contract as an embedded executive. Participating organizations would be required to match the OCE loan under the terms agreed upon in the Memorandum of Understand and compensation options for executive may include pro bono arrangements, company equity, honoraria or conditional differed fees.
Additional Small Business Funding Grants for Hiring
Businesses who are looking to expand their talent pool may also want to explore some of the Canadian Government Funding opportunities for hiring highly skilled graduates:
- MITACS Enterprise: The Enterprise program provides up to $15K (per grad) in non-repayable business funding grants towards the hiring one or multiple graduates for a 6-month internship related to the science, technical, engineering, or math fields of study.
- Ontario Exporters Fund: Businesses could receive a $50K wage subsidy towards the hiring of an Export Manager. This program is primarily for businesses with a strong export focus and applicants must have 10-50% of their sales in exports to be eligible.
- IRAP Youth Employment Program (YEP): This program provides up to15K in non-repayable grant funding for business to hire a graduate under the age of 31 for a 12-month full-time role within your organization. Businesses could hire up to 2 employees with no restrictions and graduate can be applied to most areas from R&D, engineering, multi-media, market analysis, business development & improvement in customer service.
For additional advice and information towards the current opportunities for Ontario Business Grants for Hiring, please contact one of our Canadian Government Funding Experts or sign up for our weekly Ontario Government Funding E-Newsletter. We also provide regular updates on government funding Canada through our accounts on Twitter and LinkedIn.