1. Unlocking the Potential of Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Guelph and Wellington Maritza Robertson Entrepreneurship Supports Action Committee member & owner of Health Insights Inc. Lifestyle Planning

2. 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

3. 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)

4. 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

5. 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

6. Supporting Immigrant Entrepreneurs ●Training ●Individualized supports ●Help accessing financing ●Networking ●Support for existing businesses ●Targeted promotion

7. 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.

8. Ways to support this work ●Municipalities can:  Partner on the resource mapping project  Critically 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

9. Thank You Ella Henderson, Project Specialist ella.henderson@guelph.ca, 519-822-1260 ext. 2565 For more information about the GWLIP, visit… guelphwellingtonlip.ca