Business development groups upbeat despite pandemic pain
Economic development agencies that get cash from London city hall are preparing to report to council about their work during the last year.
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Economic development agencies that get cash from London city hall are preparing to report to council about their work during the last year. Here are the highlights from another pandemic-plagued year for those organizations, plus the budget requests headed to politicians on Tuesday:
NEW JOBS
A plant that makes snacks with crickets. Health-care companies producing drugs and mask materials. The agency charged with attracting and retaining business, the London Economic Development Corp. (LEDC), says 1,100 new jobs have been created in the city so far this year. That includes big-ticket investments from companies such as Aspire that’s building a cricket-processing factory in London to produce protein powders and bars. Biosa Technologies announced a new 4,000-square-foot (360-square-metre) plant in London to make an eco-friendly material that blocks virus particles, even when wet. The material, made from agricultural byproducts, can be used for masks and other protective equipment.
DIGITAL CUES
Some of London’s economic development agencies saw big boosts in web traffic during the pandemic. Visitors to TechAlliance’s digital pages were up 257 per cent between April 2020 and March 2021. The LEDC has seen 207,000 page views so far this year, compared to 193,000 throughout all of 2020.
PUMP UP MAIN STREET
London’s Small Business Centre is asking council to earmark $57,000 in COVID-19 recovery funding to help it apply for a new Main Street business program that would allow the organization to hire and manage ambassadors to support businesses along selected streets. The centre already has applied for the program – run by senior governments – and wants city hall to cover its stake. That would leverage a total of $630,000 in federal investments, including $400,000 in non-repayable contributions to new and existing businesses in London. The program starts in January 2022. City politicians will consider the request at Tuesday’s committee of the whole meeting, when the Small Business Centre and other organizations also will present annual updates.
PANDEMIC PAIN
Requests to the Small Business Centre from existing businesses were up 94 per cent this year. Training attendance and requests for consultations are booming, too. The centre serves a range of companies, about 41 per cent start-ups, 29 per cent established, and the final 30 per cent those investigating launching a small business. The Small Business Centre reports 186 new businesses launched, creating 378 jobs, in the last year.
INVESTMENT FLOWING
The hub for tech startups and companies involved in digital media and other sectors, TechAlliance, worked with some promising clients last year. During its financial year, from April 2020 to March 2021, there was a 5,577 per cent increase in capital raised by companies that had some involvement with TechAlliance.
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