THUNDER BAY - Businesses and entrepreneurs in the region will be provided with a unique training opportunity to help grow their business through innovation.
The Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre is partnering with Business Development Band of Canada (BDC) to create the Innovocorps Program, a first of its kind innovation program in the region.
“Currently there is no training like this being offered in Northwestern Ontario,” said Melissa McClement, director of corporate innovation for the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre.
“This is a trend that we are seeing globally. We saw the trend, we educated ourselves, BDC saw the opportunity and now we are partnering with the right individuals to make this happen.”
The Innovocorps program will provide training related to new technologies, new human resource practices, and new ways of encouraging customer satisfaction. John Guarasci, business centre manager with BDC Thunder Bay, all businesses need in order to expand beyond the region.
“Looking at way to improve their business is always a need,” he said. “We partnered with the Innovation Centre because we felt there was a true need in the marketplace for entrepreneurs to learn more about what they can do to change in their business and grow their business and how they can go about finding new opportunities and how they can take advantage of those opportunities.”
The training programs will start with a one-day conference on March 2 that will cover design thinking, innovation processes, and how to act like a start up.
Following the conference, training sessions will roll out quarterly and McClement said the program will be open to everyone.
“We are diversifying our services,” she said. “This is for any type of business that can have a saleable idea. Anyone out there who feels they want to grow or add a new product but don’t know how to do it, that’s what the partnership is going to provide for them.”
According to Guarasci, businesses in Northern Ontario often need a helping hand when it comes to giving them an edge in the region.
“There are challenges in the region and there is always a need to look at how you can do more being in an isolated area, how you reach more markets that are not just in Northwestern Ontario,” he said. “We are talking about helping them grow so they can market to southern Ontario and across Canada and even get into an international scale.”
