Starting a Business

 Business Resources

There are several ways for our local business community to access business support opportunities offered by Perth County and/or local partners. Explore available business resources and support programs below. To review all Business Resources, click HERE.

• Stratford Perth Centre for Business offers business advising and training for new and existing small business in all sectors, as well as assisting you in new business loans through the Perth Community Futures.
• Business Training: Perth County offers a range of training opportunities designed to support and empower local businesses, including e-courses, webinars, and resources from trusted partners like Tourism Café, Digital Main Street, Startup Canada, and more. These programs help entrepreneurs build skills in marketing, business planning, digital tools, and community engagement.
• Prosper in Perth County Program: This free program led by the Economic Development team, supports local business growth by offering free resources tailored to the needs of business owners. Services include business tours, networking events, training, and promotional features, as well as help with grants, loans, recruitment, and expansion. The program also provides access to key data, community insights, and connections to landowners, developers, and municipal contacts.
• Tourism Programming: Perth County’s tourism programming supports business growth by providing free marketing and promotional opportunities through initiatives like the Discover More Adventures and Discover More Flavour Farm Gate Map programs. These programs help businesses enhance their offerings with expert support, professional media, and paid advertising, connecting them with a wider audience and driving tourism-related sales.

 Provincial Resources

• E-Business Toolkit
• One-Source - for Business - All you need in one place incl. permits, licenses and registration
• Starting a food processing business
• Value Added On-Farm Processing Information

 Federal Resources

• Canada Business Network - Services for New Businesses
• Employment and Insurance Special Benefits for Self-Employed People

 Available Land & Properties

 Recruitment Resources

• Connect2Jobs: This aggregator tool scrapes 25 local, regional, provincial and national job banks every hour and places them in one spot for jobseekers. Employers posting their jobs on popular free job boards including the Government of Canada's Job Bank and Indeed will have their open positions appear on Connect2Jobs.ca  
• WARET: Perth County and investStratford have created a resource toolkit for employers. The Workforce Attraction and Retention Employer Toolkit (WARET) is your one-stop shop for guides, templates, policies, forms and more to help you implement innovative retention and attraction practices that have helped businesses across Canada become employers of choice. CLICK HERE to register and access WARET