Ontario Initiative Network
Before I get to the exciting news, on behalf of Ontario Immigrant Network and the communities that we serve, I need to say this: Thank You Libro Credit Union – for selecting OIN from a long-list of very worthy causes, and for recognizing the role that you can play in a very important issue: financial literacy and entrepreneurship for both Canadian and newcomer youth.
Here is a great event coming up thanks to the great team at the Sarnia-Lambton Chamber of Commerce. I am delighted to e presenting, and I hope that if you are a business owner in Lambton County, that you will take the time to join us.
Entrepreneurship in Sarnia Lambton is booming. The area has thousands of entrepreneurial businesses.
This is something that we in Sarnia Lambton often forget and something that those outside the area simply don’t know about.
Entrepreneurs are everywhere in Sarnia Lambton. They are in agriculture and industry. They are in services and sales. They are young and old. They are creative. The diversity of the entrepreneur community reflects the diversity of the Sarnia Lambton economy.
We hope to inspire Sarnia Lambton with stories from the entrepreneurs in our midst. We hope to show that Sarnia Lambton is more than just beautiful beaches, challenging golf courses and a caring community.
Sarnia Lambton is the home of opportunity, entrepreneurship and business in Ontario.
It’s time for us to tell our story.
Are you an Entrepreneur?
Do you want your story told? All you have to do is contact the Digital Napkin and we will interview your to capture the story behind your business.
What’s in it for you?
The Digital Napkin is viewed by hundreds of people from the Sarnia Lambton area, the local region and across North America every month.
Your story will be told to a large audience. It may be the subject of further coverage. Most importantly, your story will be a key part of our effort to have Sarnia Lambton be seen as the entrepreneurial and economic powerhouse that it is.
Our new website – www.oinweb.ca – has been revamped to better reflect our desire to better support our goal of connecting immigrant entrepreneurs to business succession opportunities. By working with key stakeholders,
we aim to make rural communities sustainable by helping them to attract and retain immigrant entrepreneurs.
This goal represents the culmination of 18 months of research under a Labour market Partnership, funded by the Ontario Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities.
While our LMP has concluded, we are able to continue our work with the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF). Through OTF funding, Ontario Immigrant Network will be able to continue its pilot program in Lambton County. In collaboration with the Sarnia-Lambton Econic Partnership, the Sarnia-Lambton LIP, the Sarnia-Lambton Workforce Development Board, the Southwest Economic Alliance, and others, we will build a program that will take skilled, educated and experienced immigrants, and connect them to business succession opportunities that maximize their human capital.
This site is quite a bit different from our initial site – which is still available here – as it is meant to be an example of a web portal that could be used by an economic development agency of other stakeholder to promote their community, immigrant success stories and business succession opportunities. This new layout (and some new features) are very much a work in progress. I welcome any feedback that you may have, as we move from an informational website to a platform that is interactive, and ultimately a call to action.
Rodolfo Martinez
Project Manager, Ontario Immigrant Network