Archive

Orangeville maintains push for business community growth

August 15, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Orangeville aims to continue the business growth momentum experienced last year.

Katrina Lemire, the town’s economic development and culture (EDC) manager, walked town council through some of the steps that will be taken toward continued success.

She told council when it met on Aug. 12 that a key project for the town in 2024 was the creation of a new EDC strategy. Data from the 2023 annual report as well as in-depth community analysis and stakeholder engagement were used to inform that process.

Orangeville’s business community experienced steady growth in 2023. That demonstrated resiliency in overcoming market challenges such as rising inflation, high interest rates and workforce constraints.

Total employment grew by three per cent or 450 jobs, matching Dufferin County’s growth and surpassing the province’s two per cent increase.

According to the town’s 2023 numbers, jobs in health care grew by six per cent, and other increases were seven per cent in construction, three per cent on the finance and insurance sector, three per cent in scientific and technical services, and eight per cent in the arts and entertainment industry.

The total number of businesses increased in Orangeville in 2023 by five per cent to 2,937.

An EDC strategy will keep that momentum going through 2024.

“We aim to ensure that Orangeville is a great place to do business,” Lemire said.

She said there will be a continued focus on giving tailored support to entrepreneurs and a further effort to foster tourism and culture opportunities.

To that end, the town will continue to provide services and recourses to the Orangeville & Area Small Business Enterprise Centre. That continued support will include incremental funding from the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade to support the centre’s Starter Company and Summer Company programs.

“The reason the Orangeville & Area Small Business Enterprise Centre is so important to our business community is that over 90 per cent of our local businesses are small businesses,” Lemire said.

Small businesses refer to those with up to 10 employees, she said.

“This is obviously the heart of our community, the heart of our business community,” she said. “It’s very important they have those resources available to them.”

The EDC aims to host monthly small business workshops covering relevant topics presented by local experts. October will be a busy month with a job fair on Oct. 1, followed by an Ask the Expert Expo on Oct. 24.

The ongoing execution of the Tourism Strategy and Action Plan includes expanding on the “Love, Orangeville” brand and the exploration of new initiatives to encourage visitation to the community.

The new Community Improvement Plan, in partnership with the municipal Planning Department, is designed to encourage private sector investment in buildings and properties.

“To effectively do this work, we really do need to understand our business community,” Lemire said.

That understanding can be supplemented through sector-specific information.

“This really helps us to better understand where any growth and declines are happening in our community,” she said.

Councillor Joe Andrews, chairperson of the economic development committee, said one of the key things that’s happening is the economic development strategy. Many local stakeholders have had a hand in the process and contributed input to the plan.

“Communities like ours shouldn’t be chasing smokestacks,” he said.

There was a time in the past when communities like Orangeville would work to lure an anchor company or industry on which to build its economy. But that doesn’t work anymore.

“Ninety per cent of our business activity is small entrepreneurs, small businesses that are in fact the pulse of our community from an employment perspective, from an investment perspective,” Andrews said.

However, employee readiness is an obstacle encountered locally, he added.

“They either can’t get someone to work or, when they get that individual who has applied, they just don’t have the life skills,” he said.

Lemire said the EDC works with educational partners to provide support, skills, and information so potential employees can better understand what’s needed from them to be successful in a job.

“We typically rely on our partners who have a little bit more experience and certainly the education and the breadth around that to really bring that information forward,” she said. “But we help support it through events like the job fair.”


Readers Comments (0)





Please note: Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment. There is no need to resubmit your comment.